After many years of deep political instability, Bulgaria held a general election on April 19th. It brought to power Rumen Radev, a former air force general and previously president of Bulgaria whose central campaign promise was to “topple the [Bulgarian] oligarchy”. His Progressive Bulgaria party won an overall majority, the first in Bulgaria won by any political party since 1997. The election was held just one week after the Hungarian contest which saw Fidesz lose power for the first time since 2010. There was intense speculation in the wake of the Bulgarian election that the European Union now had “another Viktor Orbán” sitting at the European Council table.

Many analysts pushed back against this narrative, with some arguing that Bulgaria has been a very reliable member of both Nato and the EU for many years and would not put its international reputation in jeopardy to help Russia.

Three months on from that election, it looks like those who were sceptical of Radev may have had real cause for concern.

Radev’s administration has made a number of moves that indicate a striking change in Bulgaria’s position towards Ukraine and one that is increasingly placing it at odds with its EU partner states, and with Ireland as it tries to broker agreements between member states as part of its council presidency work.

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