The Bulgarian Government: steps towards development

«After joining the European Union, Bulgarian government accepted many changes and is constantly trying to improve the current situation in the country.   To continue with, in order to understand the Bulgarian government better, we should explain more about it. There are 6 Parliamentary groups in Bulgaria. The main are parliamentary group of political party Gerb,  Coalation of Bulgaria, Movements for fight and freedom, Independent Members of Parliament, the Blue cCalition, and Parliamentary group of Ataka party.  At the moment the ruling power in Bulgaria is Gerb.  To continue with, Gerb is a centre-right political party established on the 13^th of March 2006, and it has been the ruling party since 2009. Furthermore, the leader of Gerb is Boiko Borisov, the previous mayor of Sofia, and now Prime Minister of Bulgaria.

Moreover, during the past years under the ruling power of Gerb a lot of changes occurred in Sofia. An example is the sms parking in the city. The Blue Zone is in power since 2007, and the innovation which was adopted this year is that there is also green zone.  Blue Zone areas add up to about a third of the centre of Bulgaria’s capital city, and is more expensive than Green Zone. Moreover, citizens have the option to pay 150 leva for Blue Zone parking per a year and those living in Green Zones must pay 100 leva a year.The goal of this initiative is to reduce traffic, because if people don’t want to pay the parking for their cars they will just use the public transport. Yet another advantage is that, pollution from cars will be less.

To continue with, another move, taken by the government of Gerb is towards infrastructural improvements. These changes can be seen in the railway and water infrastructures.  To add up, under a succession of reforms, the Bulgarian rail sector has achieved some ambitious targets-stable traffic volumes and hard-won financial stability that was endorsed by investor confidence during a recent bond issurance for EUR 120 million. Furthermore, railway industry in Bulgaria has never been better positioned to move forward.

A goal for the ruling power in Bulgaria is to make the city more a better tourist destination. They want to attract more visitors from foreign countries, because that would have positive effect on the development of the whole economy. One step toward this is the release of the metro lines all over Sofia. Therefore, the metro includes a link to the central main-line railway station. The line, which has 11 stations, brings the total of Sofia’s metro rail network to 27 stations and 31 kilometers. The line can carry 130 000 passengers a day on 18 new energy-saving trains. In addition, about 476 million euro have been invested by European Union funds, and as a result that leads to a more pleasant urban life for citizens of Sofia. The new metro line will also help to modernise Sofia’s transportation system, in line with its recent economic and demographic growth, while allowing the city to further fulfil its potential.

Another change that had been accepted a few years ago was that one of the main streets in the centre of Sofia: Vitoshka was closed for vehicles. That is a wonderful idea because coffees and restaurants are full of people, others prefer to walk or relax. That enables people to feel better at the place they live, and gives them the chance to forget about the worries of everyday life, and just enjoy the little things.

To conclude, in my view, changes are the best strategy to improve living conditions and economic situation. Bulgarian politicians try to make life for citizens better in any way they can and, as we see it, there are constantly new changes applied because the place where we live shouldn’t be just our residence but also our home.

Sania Nikolova

[artigo de opinião produzido no âmbito da unidade curricular “Economia Portuguesa e Europeia” do 3º ano do curso de Economia (1º ciclo) da EEG/UMinho]