Yelena BONDAREVA Analytical observer, "Voice of Russia" Senior Researcher, Institute of Russian History Russian Academy of Sciences Ph. D. (History) The political crisis in Bulgaria which continued for a greater part of this summer resulted in formation of a new government. The National Assembly confirmed the Left-Center government to be headed by Socialist leader Sergei Stanishev. The coalition includes the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the former ruling centrist party led by ex-monarch Simeon II Sakskoburggotski, and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, representing ethnic Turks. The three parties control 169 of the 240 parliamentary seats between them. The alignment of political forces and the distribution of sympathies within the Bulgarian society demonstrated an important tendency symptomatic of Eastern Europe - in a situation when the society appears to be torn between "liberally" стр. 102 and "socially" oriented poles, initiative is taken over by socially and nationally oriented parties and politicians. This was largely due to the polemics and crisis brought about by the fiasco of the EU Constitution and the attempts to pass the European budget. At the time when the new EU members expressed preparedness to make sacrifices, revise legislative norms, change economic priorities and, quite often, renounce effective economic models, the "old Europe" - France, the Netherlands, UK - expressly demonstrated national egoism, which obviously whipped up protest attitudes in the east of Europe. Bulgaria was the first country to reveal this tendency. "Who is marching out of step?..." The June 2005 parliamentary elections in Bulgaria ended in victory of the Leftist Coalition for Bulgaria led by Sergei Stanishev's Socialist Party, which was followed by a political crisis - the victors lacked strength and experience to form a viable cabinet, whereas the losers - NMSII (National Movement for Simeon II) - no longer had authority to form a government. The resulting pol ... Read more