Bulgarian Fuel Protests Block Up Highways

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, right, with President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, left, in 2018. Wikimedia Commons.

Thousands of protestors in Bulgaria blocked major highways and roads on November 11 to protest high fuel prices, soaring pollution taxes on cars, and predicted increases in car insurance premiums.

Over 2,000 protestors marched across central Sofia, waving national flags and chanting “mafia” and “rubbish.” With an average monthly salary of €575 ($650), Bulgaria is the European Union’s poorest country, and protestors have expressed frustration with rising costs of living.

Other protests were held simultaneously in twenty other Bulgarian cities, and roads, including one leading to Greece, were blockaded by angry drivers for hours. Some protestors demanded the resignation of center-right Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and his coalition government.

A spike in global oil prices has caused Bulgarian fuel prices to rise in the past month. The country’s anti-monopoly regulator has promised to inspect the fuel sector to check for breaches of competition rules that may have contributed to the price increases. The Bulgarian government denied having anything to do with determining fuel prices and views the protests as an attempt to destabilize the country and force snap elections.

In addition to the frustration over fuel prices, a recent government decision to increase taxes on older cars that emit more pollution starting in 2019 has also angered many. This decision was condemned by the opposition Socialists, who said the policy will impact two million low-income car owners in a country of seven million.

After more than a week of protests, the government warned protestors that complaints from motorists over blocked roadways were pouring in. Opposition parties voiced support for the protests but said that they were not involved in organizing the protests.

In various places across Bulgaria, road obstructions left many motorists waiting for hours. One upset motorist caught up in congestion in the town of Pernik fired shots from a gas pistol to express his frustration and was later taken into custody by the police. No one was injured in the incident.

Critics have drawn parallels between recent protests and the mass demonstrations in winter 2013. The 2013 protests brought down Borissov’s first government. “These are once again protests with primarily social demands rather than demands for better governance—like the protests of the summer of 2013,” sociologist Parvan Simeonov of Gallup International said, as he recalled the rallies against Plamen Oresharski's government, led by the Bulgarian Socialists and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms.