Corona and Democracy - Bulgaria

Information on COVID-19 measures and democracy

• National lockdown since Mar 13 for 1 month, later extended until May 13. Restrictions on movement within cities, intercity and internationally (for some countries), ban on assemblies, social distancing. Exorbitant fees defined for going for a stroll in the parks: EUR 2500. School and universities, pubs, restaurants closure. Banking and insurance offices, take-away food shops and pharmacies keep operating.

   3 May:

• The government announced the easing of the lockdown measures.

19 May:

• Kindergartens and nurseries to reopen as of May 22, however, parents are to opt for alternative options if available 

20 May:

• Sports facilities are allowed to reopen, however, competitive sports and spectators are still prohibited

29 May:

• Obligatory 14-day quarantine for people arriving form most European countries has been lifted

30 June:

• Temporary ban introduced on the entry of all persons into Bulgaria (subject to some excpetions)

9 July:

• Congress, conference, cultural and entertainment events are allowed at 50% capacity, sports may take place without an audience, nightclubs may only open outdoors operations. Group celebrations of up to 30 people are allowed.

• https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-bulgaria/easing-lockdown-measures-bulgaria-to-allow-movement-outside-local-communities-idUSKBN22F0HI
• https://sofiaglobe.com/2020/05/19/covid-19-bulgaria-re-opens-kindergartens-but-urges-parents-not-to-send-their-children/
• https://sofiaglobe.com/2020/05/20/covid-19-in-bulgaria-health-minister-allows-resumption-of-indoor-sports/
• https://sofiaglobe.com/2020/05/29/covid-19-in-bulgaria-quarantine-to-be-lifted-for-those-arriving-from-most-european-countries/
• https://coronavirus.bg/bg/merki/ogranichitelni-merki

• Voting in elections and referendums in Bulgaria is only by paper ballots and on a single election day. There are no elections and referendums scheduled for 2020. At present there seems to be no disturbance for the upcoming elections next year – parliamentary and presidential. There are fears, however, that the health emergency state might be used by the governing party as a pretext to postpone launch of machine voting planned for 2021.

• An underway procedure to elect a novel National NGO Advisory Council by non-profits throughout the country was discontinued by the government for no good reason, since the procedure was designed and carried out via on-line registration/voting.

• Bulgarian police forces have been authorised to request and obtain metadata from citizens' private communications from telephone and Internet operators. The powers are reportedly to be used to monitor those under compulsory quarantine, and will allow police to track their movement. https://privacyinternational.org/examples/tracking-global-response-covid-19

• Slow response to the public need of practical information. Informing citizens is carried out mainly through daily press-conferences. No on-line publishing of important ordinances issued by the Health Minister.  Government attempted to incriminate fake news with a very vague law,  vetoed by the President. Health policy dissidents bought out  by means of invitation to form a special Medical Headquarters of no clear mandate and reporting directly to the government.

• Government to borrow extra 10 billion leva(over 5 billion euro)  to finance health and economic measures. Parliament passed an amendment to the annual budget to this effect April 5.  http://www.bta.bg/en/c/DF/id/2184088  
• Rumen Radev, President of Bulgaria has spoken up against this move:  "This is an onerous decision for which we will have to pay for years ahead”. He noted that the government was resorting to this huge loan before even tapping the budget reserves or reconsidering budget priorities. http://www.bta.bg/en/c/DF/id/2182972
• Minister of Health used his emergency executive powers so as to conclude a highly controversial EUR48 million deal for the construction of a new children’s hospital without having to wait for the resolution of the Commission for the Protection of Competition before which the deal had been challenged.

   13 April:

• The Parliament voted to extend the state of emergency until 13 May.

  13 May:

• The state of emergency has been ended, and the government declared epidemic situation until 14 June.

• https://sofiaglobe.com/2020/04/03/covid-19-bulgarian-parliament-extends-state-of-emergency-to-may-13/

• Text of the special Act on Emergency Measures and Actions (available only in Bulgarian) https://dv.parliament.bg/DVWeb/showMaterialDV.jsp?idMat=147150
• English language info on emergency measures taken in Bulgaria:  labor measures https://leinonen.eu/bg-en/local-news/measures-during-the-state-of-emergency-in-bulgaria economic support measures: https://amcham.bg/2020/04/03/compensations-for-employers-in-state-of-emergency/ ;  daily living: https://europost.eu/en/a/view/emergency-measures-currently-effective-in-bulgaria-27624; https://sofiaglobe.com/tag/new-coronavirus/
• https://sofiaglobe.com/2020/05/13/covid-19-in-bulgaria-as-state-of-emergency-ends-epidemic-declared-to-june-14/

• Amidst the pandemic the members of parliament gave themselves a salary raise and received immediate public backlash. MPs and staffers of the National Assembly were also among the first ones to be tested for corona-virus.