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Vassil Donev / EPA
Demonstrators throw stones at riot police during a protest in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Tuesday. Eleven people were hospitalized and 11 arrested. The protest, spurred by anger over high gas prices and austerity measures in the impoverished country, appeared to be the last straw for Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, who announced Wednesday that he and his rightist party would resign.
SOFIA, Bulgaria -- Bulgaria's government resigned Wednesday after violent nationwide protests against high power prices, joining a long list of European administrations felled by austerity during Europe's debt crisis.
Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, a former bodyguard who swept to power in 2009 on pledges to root out corruption and raise living standards in the European Union's poorest nation, now faces a tough task to prop up eroding support ahead of a probable early election.
Wage and pension freezes and tax hikes have bitten deeply in a country where living standards are less than half the EU average. Tens of thousands of Bulgarians have rallied in protests that have turned violent, chanting "Mafia" and "resign."
AFP - Getty Images
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, right, leaves the parliament building in Sofia on Wednesday after announcing his government's resignation.
On Tuesday, 11 people were hospitalized and 11 arrested after protesters threw flares at police, who fought demonstrators with shields and truncheons.
"I will not participate in a government under which police are beating people," Borisov, who began his career guarding the Black Sea state's communist dictator Todor Zhivkov, said as he announced his resignation on Wednesday.
Parliament was expected to accept the resignation later in the day.
The spark for the protests was high electricity bills, after the government raised prices by 13 percent last July. But it quickly spilled over into wider frustration with Borisov's domineering manner and unpredictable decision-making.
The prime minister made sacrifices in an attempt to cling on, firing his finance minister, cutting power prices and risking a diplomatic feud with the Czech Republic by punishing foreign-owned companies, a move that conflicted with EU norms on protection of investors and due process.
Borisov's rightist party, Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, or GERB, is the dominant faction in parliament but will not take part in talks to form a new government, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said, indicating that an election planned for July will now be held early.
"He made my day," student Borislav Hadzhiev, 21, in central Sofia said, said about Borisov's resignation. "The truth is that we're living in an extremely poor country."
GERB's popularity has held up well and it still leads, barely, in the polls, largely because budget cutbacks have been relatively mild compared with those in many other European countries. Salaries and pensions were frozen rather than cut.
But the last opinion poll, taken before protests grew last weekend, showed the opposition socialists were nearly tied with the ruling party, and analysts said the protests had boosted the socialists' chances.
Unemployment in the country of 7.3 million is far from the highs hit in the decade after the end of communist rule but remains at 11.9 percent, and average salaries are stuck at around $550 a month.
Millions have emigrated in search of a better life, leaving large parts of the country depopulated and little hope for those who remain.
Related:
UK prime minister pledges to hold referendum on quitting EU
Violence breaks out amid austerity protests in Europe
Extreme right strengthens as Greek economy sinks
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If it were only that easy to get a Government to resign...
Have you seen what happens to countries that don't have a govt? They turn into Somalia. A bad govt is still better than none at all.
I hope the vast majority of Bulgarians participate in these early elections. The country needs to stick together to have any hope of not turning into a failed state.
Wilson usually gets deleted, feisty usually doesn't and as long as feisty doesn't accidentally post on newvine controlled talks, she doesn't usually get time off for bad behavior.
Wilson's only comment is "Deleted".
Really need to expand your vocabulary Willie. :-)
The Bulgarian Parliament 'froze' government wages, they didn't 'cut' them, yet the problems got worse over there. There is a big lesson to be learned in this story, but sadly most Americans will adopt the attitude that we are 'smart' enough to not let it happen here.
Big, expensive government is not the solution. Government drains the economy, it doesn't power it. You might land a government job and have your life OK for a while, but it will ultimately collapse the country when everyone works for the government.
A mildly regulated, free-market economy is the only fair solution. Something America has practiced since its inception. There is still a job for government, just not a large one. The government does not need to micro-manage everything.
Learn from this and vote to get rid of the huge government we now have, or it too, will collapse. Not tomorrow, but when your kids are trying to make a living and you are retired.
The illusion is that Obama is growing government and that's not true. Government jobs exploded under Bush.
January 6, 2012, 12:53 pm61 Comments
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/under-obama-a-record-decline-in-government-jobs/
We see this here on the local level already - California cities, Detroit, etc. Will we learn before it becomes a national crisis? Not freakin' likely. Spend, spend, spend!
No, because we have too many people living in our country that
- don't think that will happen to us
- only care that their promised benefits continue to come
- think money grows on a tree in a rich man's back yard
BTW anyone else noticed companies sending post-dated checks now? Since January 1, that has been increasing. Something about making the rich pay more. The trouble with the rich paying more is that the IRS get's first priority mostly, leaving all others the possibility of less timely payments to them for services rendered.
Another example of Obama socialism destroying a country.
The only social program Obama initiated was Obamacare which is fully funded. Bush passed a 100 billion drug plan and allowed illegals kicked off the food stamp roles under Clinton back on. Whose the socialist again?
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/10/us/bush-plan-seeks-to-restore-food-stamps-for-noncitizens.html
And yet there people that want this administration to fund a study to see if there is a correlation between gun ownership and health issues. More proposed government spending waste.
Federal government's #1 job is to protect US Borders and even with unlimited printing of dollars can't even do that.
Obama is the best black president we've ever had.
Yet still better by far then Bush and Bush Jr.
how is he far better if things have gooten worse??!?!?!?!?
People keep saying stop blaming Bush.
I know someone personally who overspent himself into deep debt guess what 10 years later he's still trying to get back to even.
The damage junior did with two wars unfunded is still something we are paying for. Is that everything NO but without that f'up we might have some reserves to get us out of this bad economy.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/may/10/barack-obama/obama-says-border-patrol-has-doubled-number-agents/
Coming to a neighborhood where you park...
Many people there must yearn for the days back when Bulgaria was a satellite state of the Soviet Union.