Bulgaria

Rosen Zhelyazkov’s minority government, formed in January 2025, resigned on 11 December 2025 after mass protests over the draft 2026 budget and corruption. Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026. President Rumen Radev stepped down to contest the elections, and Vice President Iliana Iotova succeeded him on 23 January 2026.

In the early election of 19 April 2026, Radev’s newly formed coalition Progressive Bulgaria won 131 of 240 seats. ODIHR found that it offered voters a genuine choice amid significant political polarisation. Parliament elected Radev Prime Minister on 8 May 2026. Ahead of the presidential election scheduled for 25 October 2026, which 27 candidate pairs will contest, Iotova is running with Kiril Valchev, Director General of the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), as her vice-presidential candidate.

Reporters Without Borders ranks Bulgaria 71st of 180 in its 2026 World Press Freedom Index with a score of 60.28, compared with 70th place and a score of 60.78 in 2025. The European Commission’s 2026 rule of law chapter reports that physical attacks on journalists have decreased, but that SLAPPs and other forms of legal pressure against journalists persist. After the Commission opened infringement proceedings in July 2026 over the EU anti-SLAPP directive, parliament passed a law protecting journalists and others from abusive lawsuits on 30 September.

ODIHR found the media environment during the April election diverse and pluralistic but constrained by political and economic influence. It noted that the removal of a journalist from bTV in December 2025 was widely perceived by its interlocutors as undue influence, that paid and pre-arranged coverage prevailed in the campaign, and that defamation remains a criminal offence.

State Media Monitor maps three media organisations in Bulgaria. The two public broadcasters are overseen by the Council for Electronic Media (CEM), three of whose five members are elected by the National Assembly and two appointed by the President; RSF states that their political affiliation negatively affects the editorial independence of the public media. In its July 2026 report, the Commission noted that legislation to strengthen public service media independence had not yet been adopted.

Bulgarian National Television (BNT) has been classified State-Controlled (SC) in every review cycle since 2022. After the CEM elected Milena Milotinova as Director General on 20 February 2026, ODIHR reported that several interlocutors viewed the appointment process as highlighting vulnerabilities, including political influence over public media governance. SMM retained the classification because documented political influence over coverage had not been demonstrably overcome by the new management and editorial safeguards introduced in 2026.

Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) was classified SC from 2022 to 2025 and moved to Independent State Funded and State Managed (ISFM) in 2026, as sustained government direction of its editorial coverage was not established. BNR has internal mechanisms intended to protect editorial autonomy, although political pressure remains a concern.

BTA, classified ISFM since 2022, is headed by a Director General elected by the National Assembly.

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