History of Bulgaria (1990–present)

In fact, the release of tightening started with the end of the Stalinist era and continued slowly to the point that many previously forbidden literary texts were translated, the same was relevant for Hollywood movies, etc., stores appeared with Western products that had elements of advertisement (advertisement of products was generally unknown and not used in the Eastern Bloc since everything was accessible and the same to all), these new features of the late communist years acknowledged the gradual breaking of the Iron Curtain for the Comecon people.

Referring to industry this led to soon failing to work of many factories, etcetera The Socialists (former Communists) presented their political visions as the defenders of the poor against the excesses of the free market.

Videnov was very young when he stepped in the PM post and his inability to show political strength and his incompetence was soon acknowledged by people surrounding him who took advantage of it for own purposes and personal enrichment.

The government was clearly unsupported by Western countries and thus Bulgarian foreign policy seriously suffered, and in 1996 the economy fell into hyperinflation and many banks went bankrupt.

The new Democratic government headed by Ivan Kostov enjoyed strong support and moved the Bulgarian economy ahead,[clarification needed] but allegations of corruption and inability to cope with some of the serious problems in the country caused frustration.

Several years prior to that, in 1996, he had visited Bulgaria with his family of two princes and a princess and it was then when he announced he would soon come back to his homeland to form a new political party[citation needed].

Several years later, Sakskoburggotski formed the National Movement Simeon II (NDSV) and swept away both major parties in the elections of June 2001 with a landslide victory.

Although divided by deep ideological and political differences, the three parties were united by a major goal: accomplishing the reforms necessary for joining the European Union in 2007.

Additionally, Sergei Stanishev's government was caught in his last months by the world financial crisis but denied its existence and refused to initiate steps for protecting Bulgarian economy from it[1] for which he received wide disapproval.

In the parliamentary elections in 2009 the center-right party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) won, taking 117 seats in the 240-seats Parliament.

[2] The new government of Boyko Borisov stated some serious intentions for educational changes for liberation of the system and ability of students to easily choose universities and most important placed the accent on fiscal discipline.

[7] Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, a vocal critic and rival of prime minister Borisov, announced that he will run for a second five-year term of office in presidential elections in autumn 2021.

[8] Borisov's last cabinet saw a dramatic decrease in freedom of the press, and a number of corruption revelations that triggered yet another wave of mass protests in 2020.

[11] All other parties refused to form a government,[12] and after a brief deadlock, another elections were called for July 2021, with Stefan Yanev serving as an interim Prime Minister of a caretaker cabinet until then.

In December 2021, Bulgaria's parliament formally elected Kiril Petkov as the country's next prime minister, ending a months-long political crisis.