Located in southeastern Europe, Bulgaria is a mainly mountainous country. The River Danube forms the northern border, while the popular resorts of the Black Sea lie to the east. The most populated areas are around Sofia in the west, Plovdiv in the south, and along the Danube plain. Bulgaria was ruled by the Turks from 1396 until 1878. In 1908, it became an independent kingdom and was under communist rule from 1947, with Todor Zhivkov in power from 1954 to 1989. The 1990s brought political instability as the country adjusted to democracy and economic reconstruction.

The communist era was marked by assimilationist policies suppressing minority cultural identities. In the 1970s, Bulgarian Muslims, or Pomaks, were forced to change Muslim names to Bulgarian ones. Bulgarian Turks were particularly targeted in the 1980s. Linguistic and religious freedom was granted in 1989, but 300,000 ethnic Turks, or 40%, still left for Turkey. Their farming skills have traditionally been important to agriculture. Recent privatizations have left many Turks landless and have provoked new emigration. The MRF, supported mainly by ethnic Turks, is a minority party whose influence can be strong, a fact borne out by its inclusion in the governing coalition formed in 2001.

Macedonians and Roma each account for 3% of the population. The latter minority suffers discrimination at all levels. Women, especially Turkish women, have equal rights in theory, but society remains patriarchal.

Strengths

Coal and natural gas. Good agricultural production, especially grapes for well-developed wine industry, and tobacco. Strong expertise in computer software.

Weaknesses

Outdated infrastructure and equipment, and outstanding debt throughout industry. Slow privatization and structural reform until 1998.

Profile

Restructuring the economy is linked to privatization – a process delayed for political and technical reasons until the late 1990s. A financial crisis in 1996 triggered the collapse of the national currency, the lev. Foreign investment is still low, despite laws that since 1992 have allowed foreign firms to own companies outright. Trade has shifted toward the EU, while that with the former Soviet Union has fallen sharply. The UDF government, returned in 1997, followed IMF advice, with free-market reforms, backed by foreign loans, successfully bringing inflation under control. After a setback in 1999, attributed to the regional impact of the crisis over Kosovo, forecasts of economic growth suggested Bulgaria's continuing recovery.

Bulgaria is a multiparty democracy.

Profile

Having moved falteringly to a pluralist democratic system after the fall of the communist Zhivkov regime in 1989, Bulgaria suffered during the 1990s from successive weak governments, each brought down by no-confidence votes. The UDF, a broad anticommunist alliance, fell from office in 1992, and by the time of the 1994 general election the former communist BSP appeared to be firmly in the ascendant, winning an overall majority. The BSP government resisted political and economic change. The result was one of the slowest privatization programs in eastern Europe, with the old communist web of patronage still intact. A new UDF government in 1997 launched free-market reforms backed up by the IMF. Its considerable success, and reorientation of policy toward the goals of EU and NATO membership, allowed the UDF to approach the June 2001 elections with some confidence, despite a surge in support for a monarchist party launched by ex-king Simeon II (who had left Bulgaria as a small child in 1946). The poll, however, left the UDF with less than a quarter of the National Assembly seats, exactly half of which went to the NM. Uncertainty over whether the ex-king himself would take on the role of prime minister ended when he formed a coalition with the MRF (representing mainly the ethnic Turkish minority) and was sworn in in July. He took the oath to the republic (although he had not formally given up his claim to the throne) as Simeon Saxecoburggotski, promising "spiritual and economic revival," clean government, tax cuts, and more privatization, with integration with the EU and NATO his top priorities.

Bulgaria is among six "second wave" candidates for EU membership which began negotiations in March 2000. It hopes to join NATO in 2002.

Bulgaria conscientiously adhered to UN sanctions against Yugoslavia, despite the costs of lost trade. Relations with Russia are no longer close, but are maintained carefully because of heavy Bulgarian dependence on Russia for oil and gas. Relations with Turkey have greatly improved since the tensions of the final years of communist rule.

Defense spending fell from 14% of GDP in 1985 to 2.8% in 2000. Plans to join NATO, which were announced in 1997, with the hope of joining in 2002, involved a major reorientation in defense thinking.

In late 1999 the government adopted "Plan 2004," which embodied a radical acceleration of its previous plans to restructure the armed forces. The new plan envisaged downsizing to only 45,000 personnel by 2004, and moving to an emphasis on rapid reaction capabilities. It was considered that this smaller but combat-ready force would be less costly to maintain in the long run.

In 1999 the Kosovo crisis prompted Bulgaria to make its airspace available to NATO.

Bulgaria has modest oil reserves and rather larger ones of coal and natural gas, but still has to import about 70% of its primary energy needs, much of it from the CIS. Unreliable supplies in the past led to frequent winter power cuts. These have largely disappeared since the mid-1990s, as reduced production in heavy industry and improved domestic supply have lowered import demand. Bulgaria is partly reliant on nuclear power. The EU is providing aid to upgrade two reactors at Kozloduy in return for the promised closure of other reactors there which pose particular safety risks. The government also plans to extend the controversial Chaira Dam, which began generating hydropower in 1993. Bulgaria has the northern hemisphere's largest manganese mine.

Environmental degradation led to the foundation in 1989 of the Ecoglasnost party. It circulated information on pollution and nuclear waste dump locations, and brought polluters to court. The Kozloduy nuclear complex, east of Lom, restarted in 1995 despite safety concerns, is under pressure to close its oldest reactors. Air pollution has diminished, but problems remain. NATO bombing of Serbian chemical and oil refineries on the Danube in 1999 has led to downriver pollution in Bulgaria.

At the crossroads between Europe and Asia, Bulgarian railroads and expressways were underfunded under Zhivkov (when north–south routes were left undeveloped) and in the economically uncertain 1990s. Funding for modernizing key routes is now in place. Ferries are used for most cross-Danube traffic. In 2000 agreement was reached with Romania on building a second bridge across the river, scheduled to open in 2005.

Hospital facilities have kept pace with population growth, but the 1997 economic crisis brought the health service to the brink of collapse. A new health policy was formulated in 1999. The plan of action emphasizes primary care. The Bulgarian Red Cross assists in health administration.

Education is free and compulsory between the ages of seven and 16. The system has been changed from a Soviet-inspired to a west European-style model. Government spending on education fell sharply until the 1999 budget. Teaching standards continue to be lowest in the rural and Turkish communities.

In the 1990s Bulgaria became a key narcotics trafficking route to western Europe. Former security agents, party officials, and prestigious ex-athletes have moved into protection rackets, counterfeiting, and similar activities. Violations of minority rights are a sensitive political issue.

Conquering the hyperinflation of 1995–1997 has remedied the most acute crisis, and associated hardship has been reduced. Turks and Roma remain the poorest people.

The tourist industry formerly catered for the east European mass-market. Western tourists are attracted by low prices for ski resorts and beach vacations. Bulgaria is now privatizing the industry and seeks to move it upmarket by stressing its heritage. Since the mid-1990s a slump in earnings has been reversed: Russians are returning in larger numbers and there is a growth in tours from western Europe, especially from Germany.

Bulgaria was part of the Ottoman Empire for five centuries until its independence in 1908. Under King Ferdinand, it sided with Germany during World War I, and subsequently lost valuable territory to Greece and Serbia. Under King Boris, Bulgaria once again sided with Germany in World War II.

• 1943 Child king Simeon II accedes.
• 1944 Allies firebomb Sofia. Soviet army invades. Antifascist Fatherland Front coalition, including Agrarian Party and Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP), takes power in bloodless coup. Kimon Georgiev prime minister.
• 1946 September, referendum abolishes monarchy. Republic proclaimed. October, general election results in BCP majority.
• 1947 Prime Minister Georgi Dmitrov discredits Agrarian Party leader Nikola Petkov. Petkov arrested and sentenced to death. International recognition of Dmitrov government. Soviet-style constitution adopted; one-party state established. Country renamed People's Republic of Bulgaria. Nationalization of economy begins.
• 1949 Dmitrov dies, succeeded as prime minister by Vasil Kolarov.
• 1950 Kolarov dies. "Little Stalin" Vulko Chervenkov replaces him and begins BCP purge and collectivization.
• 1953 Stalin dies; Chervenkov's power begins to wane.
• 1954 Chervenkov yields power to Todor Zhivkov. Zhivkov sets out to make Bulgaria an inseparable part of the Soviet system.
• 1955–1960 Zhivkov exonerates victims of Chervenkov's purges.
• 1965 Plot to overthrow Zhivkov discovered by Soviet agents.
• 1968 Bulgarian troops aid Soviet army in invasion of Czechoslovakia.
• 1971 New constitution. Zhivkov becomes president of State Council and resigns as premier.
• 1978 Purge of BCP: 30,000 members expelled.
• 1984 Turkish minority forced to take Slavic names.
• 1989 June–August, exodus of 300,000 Bulgarian Turks. November, Zhivkov ousted as BCP leader and head of state. Replaced by Petur Mladenov. Mass protest in Sofia for democratic reform. December, Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) formed.
• 1990 Economic collapse. Zhivkov arrested. BCP loses constitutional role as leading political party, changes name to Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). June, election: BSP victory. August, parliament chooses Zhelyu Zhelev, UDF leader, as president. Country renamed Republic of Bulgaria; communist symbols removed from national flag.
• 1991 February, price controls abolished; steep price rises. July, new constitution adopted. October, UDF wins elections.
• 1992 Continued political and social unrest. October, UDF resigns after losing vote of confidence. December, Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) forms government. Zhivkov convicted of corruption and human rights abuses.
• 1993 Ambitious privatization program begins.
• 1994 General elections return BSP to power.
• 1995 BSP leader, Zhan Videnov, heads coalition government.
• 1996 Financial crisis and collapse of lev. Presidential elections won by opposition UDF candidate, Peter Stoyanov.
• 1997 General election won by UDF, whose leader Ivan Kostov becomes prime minister.
• 2001 Despite economic upturn, voters turn to new party headed by ex-king, who becomes prime minister. November, BSP leader Georgi Parvanov elected president.