There is no such government, part 2, w/ Stefan Georgiev

“On the Barricades” s05e10

This week, hosts Boyan Stanislavski and Maria Cernat are speaking with Stefan Georgiev, Bulgarian sociologist and political analyst, about the recent events suffered by the fragmented political party system in Bulgaria. In this second episode Stefan continues the discussion with Maria to elaborate on some parts of the political process taking place during this shift from the government led by Kiril Petkov to a new formation. (Note: this discussion took place in the AM of July 15th, before the third mandate was given by President Rumen Radev to attempt the formation of a ruling coalition from existing members of Parliament).

They cover: what is the role of the Macedonian-Bulgarian dispute that caused (as pretext) Slavi Trifonov’s ‘There is such a people’ party to abandon the government?

How are Russophobia and Russophilia, particularly now at time of war in Ukraine, playing into the electoral strategy and policy of the various parties? These polarities will serve the political players in the potential upcoming general election in October, as was the case in the radical decision of Petkov to expel the entire staff of the Russian embassy on his way out.

Finally, what can we make of the possibility of the inching back into power of a governing coalition led by formerly-entrenched Prime Minister Borisov, whom the pro-change parties have been fighting all this time over the last 1-2 years?