Boyko Borisov

Domestic policy

Borisov's policies were mostly aimed at curbing corruption in the public administration^[25] and building an adequate infrastructure. One of the main goals in this direction was the expansion of the national motorway network, of which Lyulin was the first motorway to be completed.^[26] The government has also approved a strategy for the development of the energy sector until 2020, which includes the completion of gas interconnectors with Greece, Romania, and Turkey and expanding renewable energy capacities. The Borisov government stopped the Belene Nuclear Power Plant project^[27][28] after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The acquisition of European funds has also increased from 2.6%^[29] to 20%.^[30]

According to France24, “Once in power, he toured the country incessantly to inaugurate infrastructure projects but failed to enact structural reforms or to tackle the rampant corruption and organised crime that Brussels has long complained about.”^[6]

Specialised police actions have tackled corruption in the administration and a number of high-profile members of the organised crime have been imprisoned, though there has been (as of May 2011) little improvement in the rule of law.^[31] At the same time the government has received criticism from other EU members due to the erosion of media freedom, falling attractiveness for investors and continuing mafia activities.^[32] These criticisms have been leveled repeatedly against Deputy Prime Minister Tzvetan Tzvetanov, who is formally under investigation for wiretapping members of the government and parliament. During his court trial, his actions were found to be justified. In January 2011 Euractive wrote, “The ineffective judiciary has been largely unable to send to jail any high-profile criminals.”^[33]

Borisov is a strong supporter of the total smoking ban. Although initially removing the ban introduced by the previous government, the Borisov Cabinet re-introduced it in 2012^[34] with the aim to reduce the number of smokers from 40% of the population to about 15–20%.^[35]

Borisov in 2014

During its term, Borisov's first government also achieved the second-lowest debt burden in the European Union, and the third-lowest budget deficit in the European Union. Parliament also adopted changes in the organic budget law that mandate budget deficits below 2% of GDP in any one year. These changes were fashioned after a similar legal change in Germany and have the effect of curbing wasteful government spending. The strong fiscal policy is the main achievement of the GERB government. For it Boyko Borisov has received accolades from Angela Merkel, David Cameron, José Manuel Barroso and Barack Obama.

The first Borisov government also initiated administrative reform by cutting the number of ministries and agencies. Two ministries were subsumed by others already in November 2009. Next was the streamlining of government agencies. In 2010, a full list of these agencies was compiled – 122 in all. After a month's work, 30 were slated for closure. Here the reform team incurred the wrath of labor unions and ex-government officials, who at the same time argued that streamlining was necessary but these were the wrong "victims." The government moved ahead and within one year of the start of reforms the government payroll was reduced by 13,000 (out of 110,000 initially). Still, the number of government entities and bureaucrats remained higher than a decade earlier, which was the desired goal. The next step was to create a common salary and promotion structure for the whole administration, starting in 2011. Prior to that, a patchwork of nearly 90 separate laws regulated the pay of public officials in different parts of the government. As a result, some administrations were paid three times more than others, for comparable tasks and responsibilities. Some administrations had double the paid annual leave of others. Some had a bonus system in place; others paid out only fixed salaries. Putting all this into one law required significant work by Parliament - over 200 pieces of legislation had to be amended.

Image

Boyko Borisov's "man of the people" attitude and the failings of the previous government have been seen as the main sources of his popularity.^[36] Borisov had also marked a very wide media presence, being regularly cited in most major media outlets and had made a total of 1,157 statements from his election to the end of 2010.^[37] This trend continues, as Borisov and his party completely dominate the country's media reports,^[38] his name being mentioned in more than 8,000 news articles for 2012.^[39] He has also been the subject of a number of sycophantic plaudits on the part of his supporters, including a poem lauding his "dignified leadership".^[40] In July 2012, he was included as a "historical personality" in history books for high school students, along with former GERB minister Rosen Plevneliev and European commissioner Kristalina Georgieva.^[41] Borisov's popularity has been steadily declining due to ongoing scandals surrounding his most-trusted ministers - Tzvetan Tzvetanov and agriculture minister Miroslav Naydenov. After a public row due to leaked wiretapped conversations between Boyko Borisov, Miroslav Naydenov and the deputy prosecutor general, Boyko Borisov distanced himself from the former agriculture minister and he was excluded from GERB.

In December 2011, Borisov, who occasionally plays as a striker for third division side F.C. Vitosha Bistritsa, collected 44% of about 8,000 votes in a fans' poll to crown Bulgaria's Footballer of the Year, ahead of then-Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov. Following the result, Borisov called for the award to be annulled, claiming it was a protest vote against the poor conditions of Bulgarian football.^[42][43]

Borisov's hardline governing style has received criticism by some media outlets, described by some as authoritarian.^{[44][45][46][47]}

Resignation

Following the eruption of nationwide protests on 12 February 2013 over high energy costs, low living standards and corruption, Borisov and his government resigned on 20 February. Prior to that, Borisov had accepted the resignation of Finance Minister Simeon Djankov – following a row over farm subsidies – and promised a cut in power prices and punishing foreign-owned companies – a potential risk in damaging Bulgaria-Czech Republic relations – but protests continued. He then said: "I will not participate in a government under which police are beating people." The election due in summer were brought forward to 12 May 2013. The resignation of Simeon Djankov was a blow to the center-right credentials of Boyko Borisov, since Djankov spearheaded the reforms during their term in office. He was also regarded as able manager of the public administration. In 2013 Djankov became an adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. In 2013 he also was appointed Rector of the New Economic School in Moscow.^[48]

The European People's Party has expressed support for Borissov a month before the 2013 parliamentary elections.^[49]

Later in April, Borisov's former Agriculture minister Miroslav Naydenov revealed that the government has spied on several cabinet ministers, business figures and the opposition under orders of Tsvetan Tsvetanov, deputy chairman of GERB. Several members of parliament have corroborated these claims, as well as members of the wiretapping unit in the Interior Ministry.^[50]

Domestic policy

Boyko Borisov and Angela Merkel

During Borisov’s second government, the business climate and promised reforms took a nosedive. “Reforms failed to get off the ground, in particular changes to the justice system and plans to help cash-strapped schools and the creaking health care system.”^[6]

Additionally, Bulgaria’s parliament rejected an anti-corruption law.^[6]

Business climate

Bulgaria’s business climate deteriorated under Borisov’s second government. Chiefly, longstanding corrupt Bulgarian schemes and practices either scammed foreign investors or dissuaded foreign investments altogether. Business was also stifled by rampant corruption. Two examples are the Vitosha-Ultrastroy construction scandal and the controversy over public tenders to companies connected to Members of Parliament such as Deylan Peevski and Yordan Tsonev.

Allegations of corruption and connections with organized crime

Periodically ensuing corruption scandals and controversies has led to reports of high levels of corruption in Borisov's government. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index, compiled by Transparency International, Borisov's government was as corrupt as previous governments, with two of his closest ministers – Tzvetan Tzvetanov and Miroslav Naydenov—investigated by the Prosecutor General and the Tax Authority for taking bribes while in office. This goes against Borisov's declared mission to fight corruption and organized crime while pressing criminal charges against former corrupt politicians. Despite Borisov's initial promise, no representative of previous cabinets has so far been convicted.

In 2007 Boyko Borisov was accused by the magazine U.S. Congressional Quarterly (CQ) of being directly linked to the biggest mobsters in Bulgaria. CQ asserted that, "the most powerful politician in Bulgaria, Washington's newest ally in the global war on terror, is a close associate of known mobsters and linked to almost 30 unsolved murders in the Black Sea republic."^[53] According to a confidential report compiled by former top U.S. law enforcement agency officials Borisov had used his position as the Chief Secretary of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry to help organized crime bosses attack their opponents.^[54]

On 14 January 2011, journalists from the Bulgarian weekly newspaper Galeria distributed audio records of an alleged conversation between Borisov and Customs Agency Head Vanyo Tanov. The tapes reveal that Borisov instructed customs authorities to immediately stop their investigation of "Ledenika" brewery which had been suspected of illegal activities and tax crimes. However, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov was recorded on tape ordering the Head of Customs to do his work properly and not yield to Borisov's demands.

This created a rift within the government, as it was widely believed that the wiretapping was ordered by Interior Minister Tzvetan Tzvetanov.^[55] Later those tapes were declared "manipulated" (not being able to tell if they were fake or not) by two independent examinations.^[56][57] In early July, Borisov admitted that the conversation had been genuine, though tampered with, while giving an interview to Bulgarian bloggers in the presence of the Interior Minister.^[58][59] A March 2013 investigation by the Prosecutor General suggests that the wire-tapping was ordered by Tzvetan Tzvetanov, Borisov's trusted deputy in the GERB party, with the aim of getting rid of Customs Head Vanyo Tanov.

Allegations of threatening journalists

Michel Barnier and Boyko Borissov at the 2011 EPP summit at Bouchout Castle, Meise.

In early 2011 a number of think-tanks and analysts raised concern about the degradation of media freedom and transparency in Bulgaria.^[60] In 2011 reports surfaced that Borisov had paid cash to journalists so that they would portray him favourably, and threatened journalists who criticized him as long ago as 2005.^[61] In 2012, Bulgaria was ranked as the worst-performing EU member in terms of media freedom, according to Freedom House, and ranked 80th internationally.^[62]

Allegations of racism and xenophobia

On 6 February 2009, Borisov, speaking in Chicago, told Bulgarian expatriates that the human material and the basis of Bulgarian population at that moment included 1 million Roma, 700,000 Turks and 2.5 million retirees. He added that the human material that they are left with as voters and as a pool for recruiting staff is really not that big, as half a million people have left Bulgaria.^{[63][64][65][66]} Vice-president of the Party of European Socialists, Jan Marinus Wiersma, accused Borisov of referring to the Turks, Roma and pensioners in Bulgaria as "bad human material," and claimed that GERB "has already crossed the invisible line between right wing populism and extremism."^[67]

Borisov denied these accusations and in turn accused the Bulgarian Socialist Party of attempting to discredit him.^[68] Borisov stated in a meeting with NGOs on 5 March 2009 that he intends to include representatives of the Roma ethnicity in all levels of government, including a potential minister,^[69] and has reached out to offer inclusivity to Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish population; although these measures and proposals have been seen as politically empty.^[5]