"text":"The Bulgars, a Central Asian Turkic tribe, merged with the local Slavic inhabitants in the late 7th century to form the first Bulgarian state. In succeeding centuries, Bulgaria struggled with the Byzantine Empire to assert its place in the Balkans, but by the end of the 14th century the country was overrun by the Ottoman Turks. Northern Bulgaria attained autonomy in 1878 and all of Bulgaria became independent from the Ottoman Empire in 1908. Having fought on the losing side in both World Wars, Bulgaria fell within the Soviet sphere of influence and became a People's Republic in 1946. Communist domination ended in 1990, when Bulgaria held its first multiparty election since World War II and began the contentious process of moving toward political democracy and a market economy while combating inflation, unemployment, corruption, and crime. The country joined NATO in 2004 and the EU in 2007."
}
},
"Geography":{
"Location":{
"text":"Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Romania and Turkey"
"text":"air pollution from industrial emissions; rivers polluted from raw sewage, heavy metals, detergents; deforestation; forest damage from air pollution and resulting acid rain; soil contamination from heavy metals from metallurgical plants and industrial wastes"
},
"Environment - international agreements":{
"party to":{
"text":"Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands"
},
"signed, but not ratified":{
"text":"none of the selected agreements"
}
},
"Geography - note":{
"text":"strategic location near Turkish Straits; controls key land routes from Europe to Middle East and Asia"
"text":"Prime Minister Boyko BORISOV (since 7 November 2014); Deputy Prime Ministers Tomislav DONCHEV (since 7 November 2014), Rumyana BACHVAROVA (since 7 November 2014), Meglena KUNEVA (since 7 November 2014); note - this is BORISOV's second term as prime minister, he first served between 27 July 2009 and 13 March 2013"
"text":"Council of Ministers nominated by the prime minister, elected by the National Assembly"
},
"elections/appointments":{
"text":"president and vice president elected on the same ballot by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 23 and 30 October 2011 (next to be held in 2016); chairman of the Council of Ministers (prime minister) elected by the National Assembly; deputy prime ministers nominated by the prime minister, elected by the National Assembly"
},
"election results":{
"text":"Rosen PLEVNELIEV elected president in runoff election; percent of vote - Rosen PLEVNELIEV (independent) 52.6%, Ivailo KALFIN (BSP) 47.4%"
}
},
"Legislative branch":{
"description":{
"text":"unicameral National Assembly or Narodno Sabranie (240 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote to serve 4-year terms)"
},
"elections":{
"text":"last held on 5 October 2014 (next to be held in 2018)"
"text":"Supreme Court of Cassation (consists of a chairman and approximately 72 judges organized into penal, civil, and commercial colleges); Supreme Administrative Court (organized in 2 colleges with various panels of 5 judges each); Constitutional Court (consists of 12 justices); note - Constitutional Court resides outside the judiciary"
"text":"Supreme Court of Cassation and Supreme Administrative judges elected by the Supreme Judicial Council or SJC (consists of 25 members with extensive legal experience) and appointed by the president; judges can serve until mandatory retirement at age 65; Constitutional Court justices elected by the National Assembly and appointed by the president and the SJC; justices appointed for 9-year terms with renewal of 4 justices every 3 years"
"text":"Alternative for Bulgarian Revival or ABV [Georgi PARVANOV] ++ Attack (Ataka) [Volen Nikolov SIDEROV] ++ Bulgarian Socialist Party or BSP [Mihail MIKOV] ++ Bulgaria of the Citizens or DBG [Meglena KUNEVA] ++ Bulgaria Without Censorship or BBTs [Nikolay BAREKOV] ++ Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria or GERB [Boyko BORISOV] ++ Coalition for Bulgaria or CfB [Mikhail MIKOV] (coalition dominated by BSP) ++ Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria or DSB [Radan KANEV] ++ IMRO - Bulgarian National Movement or IMRO-BNM [Krasimir KARAKACHANOV] ++ Movement for Rights and Freedoms or DPS [Lyutvi MESTAN] ++ National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria or NFSB [Valeri SIMEONOV] ++ National Movement for Stability and Progress or NDSV [Hristina HRISTOVA] (formerly National Movement Simeon II or NMS2) ++ Patriotic Front or PF (alliance of IMRO-BNM and NFSB) ++ Union of Democratic Forces or SDS [Bozhidar LUKARSKI] ++ Reformist Bloc or RB (a five-party alliance including the DSB, DBG, and SDS)"
"text":"American Embassy Sofia, US Department of State, 5740 Sofia Place, Washington, DC 20521-5740"
},
"telephone":{
"text":"[359] (2) 937-5100"
},
"FAX":{
"text":"[359] (2) 937-5320"
}
},
"Flag description":{
"text":"three equal horizontal bands of white (top), green, and red; the pan-Slavic white-blue-red colors were modified by substituting a green band (representing freedom) for the blue",
"note":{
"text":"the national emblem, formerly on the hoist side of the white stripe, has been removed"
}
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"lion; national colors: white, green, red"
},
"National anthem":{
"name":{
"text":"\"Mila Rodino\" (Dear Homeland)"
},
"lyrics/music":{
"text":"Tsvetan Tsvetkov RADOSLAVOV"
},
"note":{
"text":"adopted 1964; composed in 1885 by a student en route to fight in the Serbo-Bulgarian War"
"text":"Bulgaria, a former communist country that entered the EU on 1 January 2007, averaged more than 6% annual growth from 2004 to 2008, driven by significant amounts of bank lending, consumption, and foreign direct investment. ++ ++ Successive governments have demonstrated a commitment to economic reforms and responsible fiscal planning, but the global downturn sharply reduced domestic demand, exports, capital inflows, and industrial production. GDP contracted by 5.5% in 2009, and has been slow to recover in the years since. ++ ++ Despite a favorable investment regime, including low, flat corporate income taxes, significant challenges remain. Corruption in public administration, a weak judiciary, and the presence of organized crime continue to hamper the country's investment climate and economic prospects."
"text":"defined by the EU's Maastricht Treaty as consolidated general government gross debt at nominal value, outstanding at the end of the year in the following categories of government liabilities: currency and deposits, securities other than shares excluding financial derivatives, and loans; general government sector comprises the subsectors: central government, state government, local government, and social security funds"
"text":"Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has had no independent monetary policy since the introduction of the Currency Board regime in 1997; this is BNB's base interest rate"
"text":"inherited an extensive but antiquated telecommunications network from the Soviet era; quality has improved with a modern digital trunk line now connecting switching centers in most of the regions; remaining areas are connected by digital microwave radio relay"
"text":"the Bulgaria Telecommunications Company's fixed-line monopoly terminated in 2005 in an effort to upgrade fixed-line services; mobile-cellular teledensity, fostered by multiple service providers, is over 125 telephones per 100 persons"
"text":"country code - 359; submarine cable provides connectivity to Ukraine and Russia; a combination submarine cable and land fiber-optic system provides connectivity to Italy, Albania, and Macedonia; satellite earth stations - 3 (1 Intersputnik in the Atlantic Ocean region, 2 Intelsat in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions) (2015)"
"text":"4 national terrestrial TV stations with 1 state-owned and 3 privately owned; a vast array of TV stations are available from cable and satellite TV providers; state-owned national radio broadcasts over 3 networks; large number of private radio stations broadcasting, especially in urban areas (2010)"
"text":"44,736 estimated refugee and migrant arrivals (2015 - October 2016)"
}
},
"Trafficking in persons":{
"current situation":{
"text":"Bulgaria is a source and, to a lesser extent, a transit and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor; Bulgaria is one of the main sources of human trafficking in the EU; women and children are increasingly sex trafficked domestically, as well as in Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and the US; adults and children become forced laborers in agriculture, construction, and the service sector in Europe, Israel, and Zambia; Romanian girls are also subjected to sex trafficking in Bulgaria"
},
"tier rating":{
"text":"Tier 2 Watch List – Bulgaria does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so; in 2014, authorities prosecuted and convicted fewer traffickers and issued suspended sentences for the majority of those convicted; victim protection efforts declined and were minimal relative to the number of victims identified; funding for the state’s two NGO-operated shelters was significantly cut, forcing them to close; specialized services for child and adult male victims were non-existent; the government took action to combat trafficking-related complicity among public officials and police officers (2015)"
"text":"major European transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and, to a lesser degree, South American cocaine for the European market; limited producer of precursor chemicals; vulnerable to money laundering because of corruption, organized crime; some money laundering of drug-related proceeds through financial institutions (2008)"
