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Bulgarian Prime Minister Submits Resignation Bulgarian Prime Minister Submits Resignation
(about 3 hours later)
Prime Minister Boiko Borisov of Bulgaria submitted his government’s resignation on Wednesday after a tumultuous week of public anger over rising electricity prices, corruption and austerity measures that ignited mass protests and led to bloody clashes with the police on Tuesday night. Prime Minister Boiko Borisov of Bulgaria submitted his government’s resignation on Wednesday after a tumultuous week of public anger over rising electricity prices, corruption and worsening living standards that ignited mass protests nationwide and led to bloody clashes with the police on Tuesday night.
The speaker of the Parliament, Tsetska Tsacheva, said that she had received the official letter of resignation and but that it would not take effect until legislators voted on it Thursday. “The people gave us power, and today we are returning it,” Mr. Borisov said on Wednesday morning in Parliament, according to local news reports.
The protests were triggered by electricity price increases and corruption scandals, including one over the nominee to head the state electricity regulatory commission, which sets rates. She was accused of selling cigarettes illegally online and her nomination was later withdrawn. The speaker of Parliament, Tsetska Tsacheva, said the resignation of the prime minister and his cabinet would not be effective until Parliament put it to a vote on Thursday. Since Mr. Borisov controls Parliament, acceptance would seem sure.
Protests in cities around the nation on Sunday night were believed to be the biggest the country had seen in 16 years. Trying to appease the protesters, the prime minister said Tuesday that the license of the Czech utility CEZ, which provides power to many residential customers in Bulgaria, would be withdrawn. Mr. Borisov cited beatings of protesters Tuesday by the police as one reason for his decision. The protests — the biggest in at least 15 years — were triggered by electricity price increases and corruption scandals, including one over the nominee to head the state electricity regulatory commission, which sets rates. She was accused of selling cigarettes illegally online and her nomination was later withdrawn.
Tempers were inflamed further when Bulgaria’s finance minister Simeon Djankov, the architect of painful fiscal probity, stepped down on Monday. Rather than allaying anger, analysts said the resignation was greeted by the public as an admission that the government’s economic policies, had not worked.
Tens of thousands of Bulgarians took to the streets across the country to protest. Some yelled “Mafia!” Others burned their utility bills.
While the country’s fiscal prudence has helped it to avoid having to seek an international bailout like Hungary or Romania, analysts said that rising unemployment and weak growth, coupled with wage and pension freezes and tax increases, had mobilized the country’s increasingly disgruntled middle class, who felt themselves squeezed during the financial crisis.
Opposition political parties had been trying to exploit public anger over the government’s austerity measures as general elections planned for July approached. Elections are now expected in April or May, and analysts said the opposition Socialist party was expected to benefit from the turmoil.
Daniel Smilov, program director at the Center for Liberal Strategies, a political research organization, in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, said that Bulgarians were disillusioned that the overthrow of Communism in 1989 and the country’s subsequent democratization had not delivered the expected prosperity.
Bulgaria has struggled to shed a reputation for lawlessness and corruption. It remains poor, with an average monthly wage of just $480, the lowest in the European Union.
“What we are seeing is the result of a general distrust in government and the political system,” Mr. Smilov said, noting than protests had engulfed wealthy as well as poorer regions of the country. “These are not the bottom layers of society, but people in the middle strata who been hit hardest by the financial crisis. They fear they are losing their status, and they might become poor very fast.”
Trying to appease the protesters, the prime minister said on Tuesday that the license of the Czech utility CEZ, which provides power to many residential customers in Bulgaria, would be withdrawn. Mr. Borisov cited beatings of protesters Tuesday by the police as one reason.
“Every drop of blood for us is a stain,” he said. “I can’t look at a Parliament surrounded by barricades, that’s not our goal, neither our approach, if we have to protect ourselves from the people.”“Every drop of blood for us is a stain,” he said. “I can’t look at a Parliament surrounded by barricades, that’s not our goal, neither our approach, if we have to protect ourselves from the people.”
Unlike governments across Europe shaken recently for implementing painful austerity measures, analysts say that Bulgaria has maintained tight fiscal discipline since a security board was established in 1997. Mr. Smilov said that after the Parliament accepted the government’s resignation, President Rosen Plevneliev would then appoint a caretaker government. Mr. Borisov said his party would not participate in an interim government.
The global economic crisis has resulted in unemployment and lower income for many Bulgarians, while the cost of living has been going up, according to Daniel Smilov, an analyst at the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia. Mr. Borisov’s resignation could signal the political demise of one of the country’s most colorful political figures. A former karate instructor, bodyguard, fireman and mayor of Sofia with a shaved head and a talk-tough approach, Mr. Borisov was once viewed as being so invincible that Bulgarians called him “Batman.”
“This disparity between incomes and paying the bills is at the root of current problems,” Mr. Smilov says. “The people don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel and the burden is being felt more.” As the owner of a private security company, he provided security services for Todor Zhivkov, the former Communist leader of Bulgaria. Mr. Borisov was then the personal bodyguard for Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the child czar who returned to be elected prime minister in 2001.
Mr. Smilov says that the Parliament, controlled by Mr. Borisov, is expected to accept the government’s resignation. A caretaker government will then be appointed while elections are organized. Mr. Borisov rose to oversee the police at the Interior Ministry, before being elected mayor of Sofia and then becoming prime minister in 2009.
The procedure to elect a new government, involving discussions among the parties in Parliament, will probably be skipped, Mr. Smilov said, because most parties have said that they do not want to participate in an interim government. Mr. Borisov said his party would not participate in an interim government. “Mr. Borisov is a typical populist leader who came to power promising to take revenge against the transition on behalf of the poor,” says Andrei Raichev, a political analyst at Gallup International in Sofia. “Now the people realize that they were lied to.”
Opposition parties have been trying to exploit public anger over the government’s austerity measures. Elections are now expected in April or May. Mr. Raichev said that no one could predict how the public will react to the resignation. “We could even reach the absurd situation that the protests continue against no one,” he said. “Which means that they are against everyone.”
Mr. Borisov, who became prime minister in 2009, has been a leading figure in Bulgarian public life for a decade in many capacities. As the owner of a private company, he provided security services for Todor Zhivkov, the former Communist leader of Bulgaria. He was then the personal bodyguard for Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the child czar who returned to Bulgaria and was prime minister from 2001 to 2005.
Mr. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha appointed him general secretary of the Interior Ministry, putting him in charge of the police. Mr. Borisov founded a political party and was elected the mayor of Sofia before becoming prime minister.
“Mr. Borisov is a typical populist leader who came to power promising to take revenge against the transition on behalf of the poor,” said Andrei Raichev, a political analyst at Gallup International in Sofia
“Now the people realize that they were lied to,” he said.
Mr. Raichev added that no one can predict how the public will react to the resignation.
“We could even reach the absurd situation that the protests continue against no one,” he said. “Which means that they are against everyone.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 20, 2013Correction: February 20, 2013

An earlier version of this article and an accompanying photo caption misspelled the given name of Bulgaria’s prime minister. He is Boiko Borisov, not Boyko.

An earlier version of this article and an accompanying photo caption misspelled the given name of Bulgaria’s prime minister. He is Boiko Borisov, not Boyko.