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handle is hein.crs/govedso0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Updated June 21, 2021 Bulgaria: An Overview Bulgaria is a Southeastern European country located along the Black Sea. After decades of single-party communist rule and a turbulent transition period during the 1990s, Bulg aria joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union (EU) in 2007. The United States cooperates with Bulgaria on a range of s ecurity is s ues but also has raised concerns over corruption and the rule oflaw. Domestic Background Bulgaria is aparliamentary democracy. Theprime minister leads the government, and a directly elected president serves as head ofstate. The National As sembly (Narodno sab ranie) is a unicameral legislature with 240 members. After 12 years of near-continuous rule under Prime Minister Boyko Borisov andhis center-right Citizens for European Developmentof Bulgaria (GERB), Bulgaria entered into a period of uncertainty following parliamentary elections held on April 4, 2021. GERB and its main rival, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), placed first (26%) and third (15%), respectively, but with their weakestresults in years. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms, a party predominantly supportedby ethnic Turkish voters, won 11% of the vote. Propelled by broad dis satisfaction with the status quo, three new groupings together won around one-third of the vote. The populist There Is Such a People (ITN), led by singer and TV entertainer Slavi Trifonov, placed second (18%). Democratic Bulgaria and Stand Up, Mafia Out, which p articipated in a wave of anti-corruption protests in 2020, won nearly 15% of votes combined. With no party able to forma coalition, in May 2021, President Rumen Radev appointed a caretaker government, led by Stefan Yanev, and called early parliamentary elections for July 11, 2021. New allegations of corruption and malfeasance leveled against the former Borisov government, including claims that state security agencies wiretapped GERB's rivals ahead of the April 4 election, have compounded Bulgaria's currentpolitical turmoil. In addition, Bulgaria is scheduled to have presidential elections in late 2021. Radev, who is backed by BSP, has announced thathe will s eek a s econd term. Corruption and Rule-of-Law Concerns Corruption, organized crime, and rule-of-law challenges intens ified during Bulgaria's turbulent economic and political transition in the 1990s. Due to concern that these is sues had notbeen resolved at the time of Bulgaria's EU acces sion in 2007, Brus sels continues to monitor the country's reforms through a transitional Cooperation and Verification Mechanism(CVM). Although the CVM has guided some ins titutionalreforms, many analysts question the EU's overall effectiveness in promoting the rule of law in Bulgaria. Some also assert that EUdevelopment funds have indirectly enabled corruption. Although observers note some progress in Bulgaria's anti- corruption efforts, the core challenges have persisted across successive governments. To date, no senior officials have been convicted ofcorruption. For several years, Bulgaria has ranked last among EU member states in Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index. The U.S. State Department's 2020 Investment Climate Statement for Bulgaria describes corruption as endemic, particularly on large infrastructure projects and in the energy sector and in public procurement and use of EU funds. The influence of oligarchs and other non-state actors over some state institutions also is a concern. Rule-of-law challenges and a weak media environment ny complicate efforts to comb at corruption. Thejudiciary is one of Bulgaria's least-trusted institutions, and analy sts assert that some judicialbodies and processes havebeen compromised. Media watchdog groups caution that Bulgaria's media environment is deteriorating. Bulgaria had the worst score among EUmember states in Reporters Without Borders' 2020 World Press FreedomIndex Source: Map and graphic created by CRS. Widespread public anger over corruption has fueled several major protest cycles. Most recently, a months-long wave of protests broke out in 2020 in response to corruption allegations against the Borisov government. These protests appear to have weakened GERB-and boostednew oppositionforces-aheadoftheApril2021 election. On June 2, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury s anctioned three Bulgarian individuals for involvement in corruption, as well as 64 entities in their networks, under Executive Order 13818, which implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (Title XII, Subtitle F of P.L. 114-328). According to Treasury, these designations are the largest-ever action taken on a single day under the globalMagnitsky program. The State Dep artment concurrently designated five current and fornrr officials (two of whomwere among those designated by Treasury) for involvement in significant corruption under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260). Some of the sanctioned individuals https://crsreports.congress

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