Authors

Petar Bankov¹;  ¹ University of Glasgow, UK

Discussion

The 2016 EU membership referendum in the UK posed the prospects of a potential domino effect with further EU member-states leaving the union. While such development has not occurred so far, the voices questioning the meaning of the EU membership across Central and Eastern Europe became louder. Bulgaria is an exemplary case in this respect: between 2021 and 2023 the country held five parliamentary elections, which saw the electoral rise of the Eurosceptic and radical right party Vazrazhdane (Revival) with each election. As a counterpoint to this trend, Bulgarian politics also saw the emergence of a grand coalition government between the conservative Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) and the liberal alliance We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB), set around the common goal of further European integration. This paper will look into the extent the elite divide towards the EU in Bulgaria is replicated in Bulgarian society using available data from national and international surveys, as well as official statements from the main political parties, represented in the National Assembly in the period 2021-2023.