Abstract
Bulgarian far-right parties began to express some Euroscepticism, either soft or hard, in the last five years. This was largely a response to public Euroscepticism, which began to rise after the initial expectations of economic prosperity and political stability associated with EU membership did not materialise. This chapter aims to examine the Euroscepticism of Bulgarian far-right parties participating in the EU Parliament elections of 2007, 2009, 2014 and especially 2019. The use of soft and hard Eurosceptic rhetoric is analysed in the campaigns of three Eurosceptic parties (ATAKA, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation-Bulgarian National Movement [VMRO-BND], and the National Front for Salvation of Bulgaria [NFSB]). On the basis of the data presented, the authors argue that the EP elections remain second-order elections and domestic politics significantly dominates parties’ positions regarding the EU.
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Notes
- 1.
The deposit for political parties and coalitions is 2500 Bulgarian lev (€1250), and for nomination committees100 lev (€50).
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Stoyanov, D., Ralchev, P. (2020). Republic of Bulgaria. In: Hloušek, V., Kaniok, P. (eds) The European Parliament Election of 2019 in East-Central Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40858-9_2
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