Brussels tells the Netherlands, other EU countries to clean up golden visa schemes

DutchNews, January 23, 2019

The IND offices in The Hague. Photo: Depositphotos.com

The European Commission is urging the Netherlands and 22 other countries to halt schemes granting ‘golden’ visas and passports to foreign investors because of the risk they could involve criminal cash. 

The commission said in a new report on Wednesday that allowing people to pay for citizenship or residence presents serious risks to the country itself, but given free movement rules, has an impact on the entire union. 

Bulgaria, Cyprus and Malta grant foreign investors citizenship without requiring them to live in those EU countries in return for hefty fees. And the Netherlands is one of 20 countries offering a residence permit in return for payment. 

In the Netherlands people can qualify for a residency permit if they invest €1.25m in an innovative company or a firm which has added value for the Dutch economy. 

The commission said there is a lack of ‘transparency and oversight’ for the residence schemes, including too few statistics on how many people obtain a residence permit in this way. It plans to set up a group of experts to improve the supervision of the schemes. 

Spain, Cyprus, Portugal and Britain are said to gain the most financially from operating the schemes. 

A foreign ministry spokesman told the Volkskrant that officials are looking into abolishing the Dutch system. DutchNews.nl has contacted the IND for comment.

The European Union urged member countries on Wednesday to crack down on schemes granting "golden visas and passports" to foreign investors, warning they can bring corruption and money laundering in their wake https://t.co/CdlHrAwUBX

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 23, 2019

Rainbow flags fly across Europe at Gay Pride parades

Yahoo – AFP, June 9, 2018

Marchers carry a rainbow flag aloft at a Gay Pride parade in Zagreb, Croatia
(AFP Photo/STRINGER)

Bucharest (AFP) - Thousands of people took to the streets to support LGBT rights in cities across Europe on Saturday, with marchers waving rainbow flags and condemning discrimination in all its forms.

Peaceful parades took place across European cities including the capitals of Italy, Greece, Latvia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland.

In Bucharest, some 3,000 people marched through the city centre with many celebrating a ruling made by the EU's top court earlier this week.

The European Court of Justice ruled in favour of Romanian gay man Relu Coman's right to have his US husband Robert "Clai" Hamilton live with him in Romania.

"Clai and I are two people who did not accept discrimination. If more of us did the same, the world would be better," Coman told AFP at the march.

Romania does not recognise same-sex marriage and had argued that Hamilton was not entitled to EU residency rights awarded to spouses.

The European court ruling means that same-sex partners of EU citizens have the right to live in any member state whatever their nationality, even in countries that do not recognise gay marriage.

Two men kiss at the Baltic Pride parade in Latvia's capital Riga (AFP 

Photo/Ilmars ZNOTINS)

In Warsaw, tens of thousands marched for the annual "Equality Parade" to protest discrimination not just against LGBT people but also women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.

Organisers said 45,000 people took part, while the town hall gave a lower estimate of 23,000.

'Love knows no boundaries'

"I come from a small town and first marched for equality 10 years ago, without telling my parents," Dominika Wroblewska said at the Warsaw parade.

"It's very moving for me, especially since I came out a year ago," she said.

Rainbow flags fly at the parade in Riga (AFP Photo/Ilmars ZNOTINS)

Her partner Alicja Nauman said she was marching "because I want to live in a place where all love is accepted, because love knows no boundaries".

"The situation in Poland is bad because same-sex couples cannot marry or adopt children."

Thousands, including members of a LGBT police association, also turned out for the 14th edition of Gay Pride in Athens.

The Athens events had previously been largely shunned by institutions and notably harassed by far-right groups, but this year's edition was attended by a delegation from the liberal-conservative New Democracy party.

Not to be outdone, the facade of parliament, overlooking Syntagma square at the heart of the festivities, was symbolically lit up in all colours of the rainbow in a government initiative.

Since the leftist government took office in 2015, Greece has extended civil partnerships to same-sex couples, authorised sex changes from the age of 15 and legislated for children to be adopted by same-sex partners -- though New Democracy voted against the reforms which the powerful Orthodox Church also opposes.

The "Baltic Pride" parade in Latvia's capital Riga included members of the gay community from fellow Baltic states Estonia and Lithuania.

A handful of anti-gay protesters rally before the parade in Riga (AFP Photo/

Ilmars ZNOTINS)

One of the organisers, Kaspars Zalitis, told AFP that about eight thousand people marched.

"Latvia is in last place in the European Union when it comes to the rights of LGBT people," Zalitis said.

"There is no protection against hate crimes, no respect for trans people, that's why we think this issue is greatly urgent."

About 30 people protested before the start of the parade in Riga, following a call by a rightwing group for a demonstration against "the promotion of homosexuality".

In Rome, thousands also marched Saturday just days after Italy's new families minister from the far-right League party caused a storm, saying homosexual families do not legally exist.

"It's very important that we're here, because we need to respond and show that it's not true that we don't exist," said Andrea, 27.

Tax fraud drains potential from Romanian economy: analysts

Yahoo – AFP, Mihaela Rodina, 24 Aug 2014

Vendors arrange their fruits and vegetables to be sold at a marketplace in

Bucharest August 20, 2014 (AFP Photo/Daniel Mihailescu)

Bucharest (AFP) - Tax evasion is eating away at the heart of Romania and holding back the country, among the poorest in the European Union, in its efforts to catch up, analysts warn.

The estimates for the costs of the so-called black or undeclared economy are huge: about one quarter of economic activity and one quarter of people in work are believed to be beyond the reach of tax inspectors.

If all activity were taxed fully, national tax revenues would almost double.

Fruits and vegetables for sale at a

marketplace in Bucharest August 20,

2014 (AFP Photo/Daniel Mihaikescu)

Undeclared activity exists across the 28 members of the European Union at a cost of at least 1,000 billion euros ($1,333 billion) per year, the European parliament estimates.

In some EU countries, the shadow economy accounts for a significant slice of activity, but the European parliament said that Bulgaria and Romania were the most severely affected.

This is despite campaigns by EU authorities to encourage governments of new members in eastern Europe to crack down on corruption and tax evasion.

Bulgaria is the poorest member of the EU, and Romania comes second.

A recent report by the Council of Europe's anti-money laundering committee said that in Romania, the shadow economy accounted for 28.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2013.

That represented about 40 billion euros ($53 billion) a year of uncollected taxes in an economy in which tax revenue amounts to about 46 billion euros.

"Tax evasion is on the rise in Romania and it poses a threat to its national security," economist Ionut Dumitru, head of the country's fiscal council, told AFP.

The revenue shortfall translates into dilapidated hospitals, patients unable to get treatment or schools lacking basic facilities.

"With revenues accounting for less than 33 percent of GDP, compared to an EU average of 45 percent, Romania will never have an education system as good as Germany's for instance," Dumitru said.

"And sacrificing a nation's education and health means sacrificing its future."

Sophisticated fraud schemes

From the underpaid mason working on the black market to the prosperous businessman benefiting from fraud, tax avoidance is omnipresent, prompting authorities to toughen their stance.

View galleryFruits and vegetables for sale at a marketplace in …

Fruits and vegetables for sale at a marketplace in Bucharest August 20, 2014 (AFP Photo/Daniel Mihai …

In 2013 a special anti-fraud body (DGAF), tasked with clamping down on criminal rings, was set up within the tax agency.

In one of the most spectacular cases uncovered by the DGAF, a network of 30 Turkish, Jordanian and Romanian nationals cheated the government out of 24 million euros in value added sales tax (VAT) dodging.

The alleged fraudsters set up a complex chain of 58 dummy companies to cover up their fraudulent operations selling 100 million euros' worth of fruit and vegetables on the Romanian market.

Twelve of them were arrested.

"Another major case concerned a network of 22 Romanian and Chinese nationals who created 15 companies selling household appliances without paying VAT," DGAF vice-president Romeo Nicolae told AFP.

The loss was estimated at 12 million euros.

Alina Bica, head of the prosecutor's office dealing with organised crime and terrorism, said that fraud schemes were becoming increasingly sophisticated.

"Doctored bookkeeping, fictitious companies active for 30 or 40 days before disappearing, concealed revenues from illegal transactions ... white-collar criminals find new ways to cheat," she said.

Bica added that 659 large-scale tax dodgers were put on trial in 2013, and frauds estimated to have cost more than 200 million euros were uncovered.

But sometimes tax evasion allegations tarnish the top of the law-enforcement system itself.

The former head of the tax agency Sorin Blejnar is facing trial in two cases for alleged complicity in tax evasion related to two criminal rings which defrauded the state of about 60 million euros.

One of the rings was headed by Radu and Diana Nemes, two Romanians who were extradited from the US in May this year.

The media said the couple owned a yacht, seven vehicles and hundreds of gold and silver coins which they left behind on their multi-million dollar property.

Working in the shadow economy

Tax dodging takes more mundane forms.

Experts say that undeclared labour accounts for two thirds of the shadow economy.

Fruits and vegetables for sale at a marketplace in Bucharest August 20, 2014

(AFP Photo/Daniel Mihailescu)

Mihai Iancu, 31, is a construction worker employed by a small company.

He earns about 380 euros ($504) a month, which is the average wage in Romania, but neither he nor his employer pays any labour taxes.

"I have no health insurance and if I am sacked I will get no unemployment benefit," he said.

Like him, about 1.45 million people, or 23 percent of Romania's workforce, were working in the shadow economy in 2012, the fiscal council said.

In construction, about 60 percent of employees are not declared.

Last year, in a bid to streamline its tax agency, Romania signed a deal with the World Bank on a 70-million euro loan which will be used mainly to set up an integrated IT system and on training tax inspectors.

Dumitru of the fiscal council said that Romania had to restore confidence to the tax system.

"When they see the deplorable state of social services people tend to say: why should I pay taxes when I get nothing in return."

Hot meals, housing bring cheer to Syrian refugees in Bulgaria

Google – AFP, Diana Simeonova (AFP), 25 January 2014

Volunteers distribute Polish food donations to Syrian refugees in the largest

 Bulgarian camp of Syrian refugees in the town of Harmanli on January 21, 2014

(AFP/File, Dimitar Dilkoff)

Harmanli — Two months ago, hungry Syrian children were shuffling around barefoot in the snow in Bulgaria's biggest refugee camp, while their miserable parents shivered inside ragged tents.

But now the threadbare khaki tents have disappeared, families have moved into freshly-painted rooms and the United Nations is providing each refugee one hot meal a day.

Donations of food and clothes as well as 5.6 million euros ($7.6 million) in EU money have helped ease the grim conditions that greeted Syrians fleeing almost three years of civil war.

A girl crosses a puddle during the first

 snowfall in a refugee camp set in the

 Bulgarian town of Harmanli, south-east

 of Sofia, on November 27, 2013 (AFP/File,

Nikolay Doychinov)

"I'm starting to like this place. It's better than Syria anyway," shrugs dental technician Husain Khatba, 23, one of about 11,000 refugees who fled from Syria to neighbouring Turkey and then sneaked across that country's porous border into Bulgaria.

Bulgaria is a key entry point for Syrian refugees hoping to make their way further into the European Union, but the bloc's poorest nation found itself overwhelmed by the massive influx.

Dire conditions at Harmanli, a former military camp, as freezing winter weather gripped Bulgaria, prompted government appeals for help as the UN refugee agency raised alarm over a "human emergency".

The aid response has brought a touch of cheer to the camp, home to about 1,800 people, as well as six other similar sites in the country.

Rows of metal containers housing people remain, but those who had been living in tents have now moved to two renovated buildings. Each family has its own room furnished with new bunk beds, mattresses, blankets and bed linen. Another building is also being prepared for single mothers with babies.

Portable toilets line up along the main alley and there are several extra showers, even if people say they are still too few.

Volunteers distribute Polish food donations

 to Syrian refugees in the largest Bulgarian

 camp in the town of Harmanli on January

21, 2014 (AFP/File, Dimitar Dilkoff)

Construction debris from the ongoing refurbishments steal part of the glow from the newly painted rooms and hallways. But as Khatba joked: "It's just very bad now but not very, very bad as it used to be."

A tiny medical clinic has also been set up in one of the buildings, while an improvised school organised by the refugees themselves offers English classes for the adults and English and maths for the children.

'Many things have changed'

Even the sounds around the camp are cheerier, as the shouts of children playing football mingle with music blaring from a stereo in one of the buildings.

"Many things have changed. There's aid coming from different people and organisations and it's good," said another Syrian refugee, Rasheed Jamil, 35.

One major improvement has been the distribution by the UNHCR of one hot meal per day. The Bulgarian government is preparing to give out two meals a day in all camps from February.

On the day AFP visited, a truck stuffed with 22 tonnes of aid including clothes, food, bedding, toys and even washing machines arrived from Poland after a campaign there by volunteers Michal Borkiewicz and Maciej Pastwa.

A Syrian refugee looks out of the container

 window in the largest Bulgarian camp in

 the town of Harmanli on January 21, 2014

(AFP/File, Dimitar Dilkoff)

"It's a small thing but it is better than nothing," said Pastwa, 46, who drove all the way to Harmanli this week to see the truck unloaded.

His friend Borkiewicz, 33, said he was "ashamed and angry" that the European Union had failed to take in larger numbers of refugees.

Amnesty International said in December that EU leaders should "hang their heads in shame" at their failure to provide safe haven for Syrian refugees, estimating only 55,000 asylum seekers had been accepted into the EU.

An estimated 2.4 million have fled the war.

The magic 'green card'

Despite the improvements, the UNHCR earlier this month slammed "deplorable" conditions in Bulgaria, such as a lack of food and healthcare and arbitrary detention.

The agency also flagged concerns over measures taken by Bulgaria to stop more refugees from entering the country.

However many only see Bulgaria as a stopover to a better future elsewhere in Europe.

Michal Borkiewicz loads a truck with over 13 tonnes of aid supplies such as clothing,

 food, housewares and toys for Syrian refugees living in Bulgaria on January 15,

2014 in Warsaw, Poland (AFP/File, Wojtek Radwanski)

After months of living in administrative limbo, the Syrians were recently fingerprinted by Bulgaria's refugee agency, boosting hopes they might soon receive what they call a "green card", the magic word on everyone's lips.

The green piece of paper allows the refugees to leave the otherwise closed camp and is the first step in the lengthy administrative process towards obtaining refugee status or asylum.

"Being here is our biggest problem. We just want to take our documents and go," said Sahar Ibrahim, 21, who came with her family from Aleppo and, like most Syrians here, wants to go to Germany.

"I can't stay in Bulgaria. It's impossible here. I will try Germany or Sweden," added Malik Morkis, 32, from Homs.

Bulgarian students lead wave of protest

Young people occupying institutions all over the country amid growing anger over corruption and unemployment

The Guardian, Kit Gillet in Sofia, Tuesday 26 November 2013

Student protests outside Bulgarian parliament

Opinion polls suggest that around two-thirds of Bulgaria’s 7.3 ­million people support the student protests. Photograph: Rex Features

Just after 1am inside Sofia University, a handful of young people are spray painting protest banners in a dimly lit corridor. Upstairs in a lecture hall, and dotted around nearby classrooms, fellow students are curled up on the floor asleep. Volunteers in yellow jackets are standing guard at the university gates.

It is the fourth week of an occupation. Hundreds of students in a dozen institutions across Bulgaria have taken over all or parts of their universities, padlocking the gates and adding a new dimension to a movement that has rapidly escalated into the biggest rolling wave of demonstrations since the collapse of communism 24 years ago.

Something has snapped in Bulgaria this year. Fury at corruption and nepotism, youth unemployment at 28.7%, low wages and limited job opportunities that force qualified Bulgarians to find work overseas, and a sense that those in power have for too long put their own interests above those of the country, have coalesced this year into one long pulse of anger.

Public opinion polls suggest that around two-thirds of Bulgaria's 7.3 million people support the movement. "We have to try to get morals back into our political system," said Mina Hristova, a 23-year-old cultural anthropology student. "We are here because we need to show our politicians that there are consequences to their actions."

The state has resorted to bussing in supporters to confront the semi-permanent street demonstrations that have choked Sofia this year. "We've gone through difficult times in the last 23 years, but we've always found a solution," the foreign minister, Kristian Vigenin, told the Guardian on a recent march.

The fury spilled out on to the streets in June when tens of thousands marched through the capital in outrage over the appointment of Delyan Peevski, a well-connected media mogul, as head of the State Agency for National Security. Peevski had lost an earlier position as deputy minister of disaster management after allegations of corruption.

For many in Bulgaria this was painful proof of the nepotistic nature of their political system, which, according to Transparency International, is the second most corrupt among the 28 EU member states, beaten only by Greece.

Peevski's resignation less than 24 hours after his appointment did nothing to quell the anger. Instead, protesters demanded the resignation of the centre-left government of the prime minister, Plamen Oresharski, which had been in office for just six weeks.

Oresharski told the people that it was too soon to judge him, but every day since, protesters have gathered outside parliament to shout slogans and demand real political change. In late July, protesters clashed with riot police after a crowd of 2,000 trapped government officials inside the parliament building for eight hours. It was one of the few nights that saw bloodshed in an otherwise peaceful protest movement.

After five months of protesting, in recent weeks it has been Bulgarian students who have taken the lead, occupying their universities and organising the daily protests outside parliament.

"Every one of us had the feeling that something was wrong from when we were children," said Ivaylo Dinev, a 24-year-old history student and the informal leader of the student protests. "We've seen the influence of the mafia in politics all of our lives, no matter which party is in power. What we need is real change. Before I was 18, I was a rebel without a cause. Now I have a cause."

Inside Sofia University, handmade banners and signs ask students to "talk big" and imagine what they would do if they were in political office. Sleeping bags hang from nearby coat pegs.On a raised platform at the front of the lecture hall, protest leaders discuss plans and strategies.

According to Borislav Gavrilov, a professor of modern history at Sofia University, members of the former communist secret police remain in positions of power across Bulgarian society, wielding unfair influence and stunting the development of the nation. "They are all through the government, the economy, the media – especially the media," he explained. "People are sick and tired of fake change. We had protests in 1997, 2009 – hopefully this is third time lucky."

"Trust in the government has now eroded to an unprecedented degree," said Daniel Smilov, a professor of political science at Sofia University, adding that protesters have lost their faith in all the political parties. "The government complains that the protesters don't want dialogue, but it is unclear what the dialogue should be about, since the protesters' main demand is new elections and the government refuse to consider that," he said.

Last Tuesday, students clashed with riot police as they tried to form human chains around the exits from parliament. Twenty-three protesters were arrested, and the following day a further 25 were rounded up in their homes in an early-morning operation. "We were just sitting on the ground in front of the police singing protest songs when they tried to pull us apart," said Nona Keranova, a 20-year-old law student, who was with some of the group who were arrested.

Keranova was not arrested, but she says she was dragged along the ground by a policeman and pushed up against a wall. It was unknown people later in the evening, she added, and not the students, who clashed with the police and threw bottles at them. "We are trying to change things peacefully," she said.

Not all the students are happy with the occupation, which has shut down many of the university's faculties, including law and languages. Every evening the students gather in one of the lecture halls to discuss the day's activities and vote on important measures.

Students who are not part of the occupation are invited to come to talk and debate. "We try to explain why this occupation is needed, that it is up to us to keep these protests going," said 19-year-old Teodora Shalvardjieva, who began her studies in international relations weeks before the occupation began. "We can't stop this until the government resigns."

Some are persuaded, but many others just want to get back to their studies, fearful that the whole academic year will be forfeit if the occupation continues for much longer. On Monday it was announced that classes would resume shortly, but that the student occupation would remain in place.

Rise of the far right

Almost 10,000 refugees have arrived in Bulgaria this year, most of them Syrians fleeing the civil war. The surge has fuelled xenophobic tensions and concerns over violent attacks and the growth of rightwing parties.

Last week the new Nationalist party was formed, combining football hooligans, ultranationalists and skinheads, while another faction announced the creation of vigilante groups.

Bulgaria is the poorest member of the EU and many say it cannot support a wave of refugees. In a recent poll, 15% said they approved of violence against foreigners, while 20% wanted the border with Turkey closed.

November has seen a spate of attacks and protests against asylum seekers, and Amnesty has warned that "recent government statements risk inflaming the situation".

Bulgarian Students Intensify Effort To Topple Government

Radio Free Europe, Claire Bigg, November 14, 2013

Students held up their hands to protest what they regarded as police violence
during an antigovernment protest in downtown Sofia on November 13.

Unrest is escalating in the Bulgarian capital as students step up street protests calling for the government's resignation.

Hundreds of students are camped out for a third day around the parliament building in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, to demand that the Socialist-led government bow out and make way for snap elections.

The protests are part of an ongoing campaign against what students denounce as the new government's links to murky businessmen amid grinding poverty in the country, the EU's poorest nation.

Over the past three weeks, they have occupied universities across the country and held almost daily rallies, including a thousands-strong "march of justice" in downtown Sofia on November 10.

Demonstrators accuse authorities, whose reaction so far has consisted mainly of attempting to quell the protests, of failing to heed their grievances.

"They are ready for anything just to silence us," Alexander Popov, an English-language student who was injured in clashes with police outside parliament earlier this week, said. "They don't want us to oppose the corruption, the oligarchy, and the system that they have all created and that they feel so comfortable maintaining."

False Start?

Anger over Bulgaria's deep-rooted problems brought down the last government, a center-right minority, in February.

But the new government formed under Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski has lost much of its support amid allegations of corruption.

The deputy leader of the MRF party, a junior partner in the ruling coalition, quit earlier this month and has since been placed under investigation for alleged tax fraud and money laundering.

The latest surge in protests was sparked by the Constitutional Court's decision to allow media mogul Delyan Peevski to retain his seat in parliament despite being appointed as head of the powerful state agency for national security.

Peevski's appointment to the agency in June had sparked an outcry and been quickly reversed by parliament under pressure from protesters.

The protests against what many Bulgarians see as rampant government graft and impunity, however, have not abated.

"Crimes are never punished," Tatiana Vaksberg, a Sofia-based journalist, says. "It's a judicial system that barely functions, where high-profile cases against organized crimes never bring any results. What we need are a state and state structures that function."

So far, the protests have been largely peaceful.

Demonstrators have used nonviolent tactics and humor to press their demands, portraying Oresharski as a "zombie" and putting the Constitutional Court -- which is seen as loyal to the government -- up for auction on eBay.

The October 30 auction, which the site took down after a few hours, described the item on sale as "not functioning as intended and not fully operational" and said it would be most useful to mafia members or corrupt members of parliament.

'Lies And Tycoonization'

But the growing frustration felt by Bulgarians has resulted in tragedy, including a series of self-immolations to protest low living standards that left at least nine people dead earlier this year, leading to the previous government's fall.

Polls show the latest protests are backed by some 60 percent of Bulgarians, who are weary of corruption, political instability, and economic hardship in their country 24 years after the end of communist rule.

Many university professors and teachers have thrown their weight behind the students, issuing a statement that condemned the "lies and 'tycoonization' of the political and social environment."

"There is a growing consensus that this situation is untenable and that preterm elections are the only way out," Daniel Smilov, a professor of political science at Sofia University, says.

According to Smilov, the protests have helped consolidate civil society in Bulgaria and have the potential to bring long-term political change.

"The good thing about these long protests is that they've created networks of active citizens," Smilov says. "Many types of active groups of citizens in the big cities got a chance to communicate with each other, and they started to like it. This makes me optimistic about future events because this is a critical mass of people who could have an impact. I think politicians will have to take the views of these people into account."

Since the communist demise, the birthrate in Bulgaria has dropped, the mortality rate has risen, and emigration is on the rise.

Membership of the European Union has failed to bring prosperity to the country, where the average monthly salary is just $530.

Protests strengthening in Bulgaria

Deutsche Welle, 26 July 2013

Thousands of protesters are gathering daily at the parliamentary building in Sofia. Bulgarians angry about corruption are demanding that the current government resign - and the movement appears to be gaining momentum.

"Bulgaria is a victim of mafia government" reads the sign in the hands of a tall, white-haired, middle-aged man. Pravdolub Ivanov comes to protest in front of the government building in Sofia with a new slogan every night. His messages are witty and topical, so people are often snapping photos of him with their cameras and smartphones. When protesters were accused of being paid, he wrote on his white poster: "I am not paid. I hate you for free."

"Protesting takes me a few hours daily and I have to reorganize my time, my work suffers, my family too. I have two small kids and all that goes to my wife," explained Pravdolub, who's been participating in the anti-government protests in Bulgaria that have been going on for nearly a month and a half now.

Thousands of people gather at the parliament building every night to demand resignation of Plamen Oresharski's government, which is backed by the former communist party BSP, the party of the Muslim minority known as DPS, and the nationalistic and anti-European "Attack" party.

"I have to be here because we need to tear our country free of the hands of the mafia," added Ivanov, who works as a painter when he is not protesting. The protest movement began on June 14 this summer when parliament approved the controversial appointment of 33-year-old media tycoon, magistrate, businessman and politician Delyan Peevski as head of the powerful national security agency. A week later, Peevski's appointment was annulled under pressure - but the protests went on, becoming stronger.

Bulgarian citizens have been the next to rise up against their government,
after recent movements in Turkey and Brazil

Bulgaria ruled by 'mafia'

Tihomira Metodieva, a young accountant and a hobby photographer, said the government "went too far with the appointment of dirty people. It is not normal for criminals to rule the country," she said.

Metodieva comes every night for the rally, and some hours later comes to "drink coffee" in front of the parliament, as the protesters call their morning demonstration. "When I have to exchange some documents with my clients or sign bank papers, I ask them to come here," Metodieva said. Unlike Ivanov, she has found a way to combine work and protest.

"Mafia" is the word you hear and read most often from the protesters. No party signs or party leaders are visible, only the national flag. A recent survey by the Open Society Institute in Sofia indicated that a record-high 72 percent of Bulgarians see the situation in the country as "unbearable," while almost two-thirds support the protests. The insurgence has no leaders or political party, but is gaining popular support regardless.

Politicians are being accused of serving the mafia, and putting all public resources into the hands of oligarchs and monopolies.

Ognian Yanakiev, a mechanic who has come to protest together with his partner Angelina and their 13-month-old son Yassen, explained the problem from a personal perspective. "I am trying to open a small business, and for the last three months I've been fighting with the monopoly electricity supplier. It's been a dead-end," Yanakiev said. "I want to work, not waste my time on bureaucracy. Something has to change!" he almost shouted.

People at the square provide different answers to the question, "What's next?" But they are perfectly clear about what they want now: "I want them to resign, nothing more. We all demand resignation," answered Metodieva.

On Wednesday (24.07.13), protesters blockaded exit of more than
100 people from parliament for about eight hours

Small group of provocateurs

Victor Dimchev is a 35-year-old television producer and member of a Facebook group whose name plays off the abbreviation for the Bulgarian security agency. "I came here because I see the government leading Bulgaria to ruin," he said. The group supports organization of the protests, coordinates events and monitors for provocations.

On Wednesday (24.07.13) night, the crowd was unable to isolate a small group who started dislodging cobblestones from the street. The police declared the protests no longer peaceful, and a number of people were beaten as security forces tried to evacuate parliamentarians and ministers from the besieged national assembly building.

"I was there, I saw women beaten, I saw people bleeding, I saw flying stones and unimpressed policemen just watching the provocateurs," recalled Victor Dimchev. "I saw angry policemen, but I saw crying policemen too - crying while beating protesters," he added. On the following day, twice as many protesters showed up, and the crowd was more enthusiastic than ever.

Political 'endgame'

Dimiter Dimitrov, a professor of political science at the University of Sofia, said the government is in an endgame. "It's impossible for parliamentary sessions to always end before sunset, and for the parliamentarians to be evacuated by bus every night. It's surreal," he pointed out.

Now, 42 days into the protests, "the fatigue is enormous, I sleep for only three hours a day. But I am not giving up, they have to give up," Metodieva said.

As the sun goes down on the 42nd night of unrest in Sofia, Dimchev shakes the hands of newcomers, almost one every minute. It turns out that those people are his guests: "I asked all my friends to come to the square, and this is the best present I could dream of: I am turning 35 today."

Related Articles:

Time is up: corruption and its economic consequences


"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“…  Government

Let us speak of government. We're not speaking of your government, but of any government - the way it works, how it survives, how it has survived, the way it campaigns, and how it elects leaders. It's going to change.

Years ago, I told you, "When everybody can talk to everybody, there can be no secrets." Up to this point on this planet, government has counted on one thing - that the people can't easily talk to each other on a global scale. They have to get their information through government or official channels. Even mass media isn't always free enough, for it reports that which the government reports. Even a free society tends to bias itself according to the bias of the times. However, when you can have Human Beings talking to each other all at once, all over the planet without government control, it all changes, for there is open revelation of truth.

Democracy itself will change and you're going to see it soon. The hold-outs, the few countries I have mentioned in the past, are doomed unless they recalibrate. They're doomed to be the same as they have been and won't be able to exist as they are now with everyone changing around them.

I mentioned North Korea in the past. Give it time. Right now, the young man is under the control of his father's advisors. But when they're gone, you will see something different, should he survive. Don't judge him yet, for he is being controlled.

In government, if you're entire voting base has the ability to talk to itself without restriction and comes up with opinions by itself without restriction, it behooves a politician to be aware and listen to them. This will change what politicians will do. It will change the way things work in government. Don't be surprised when some day a whole nation can vote all at once in a very unusual way. Gone will be the old systems where you used to count on horseback riders to report in from faraway places. Some of you know what I am talking about. Government will change. The systems around you, both dark and light, will change. You're going to start seeing something else, too, so let's change the subject and turn the page. …”