Elections in Bulgaria, with Daniel Mitov

On this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI's Thibault Muzergues is joined by former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Daniel Mitov, to talk about Bulgaria as the country is about to head to the polls on Sunday, April 4th for legislative elections. Last summer, Bulgaria was rocked by major protests about the country’s rule of law issues, which include corruption, the unchecked powers of the Prosecutor General, and judicial independence. Has the situation evolved since then? If the winner of the elections is GERB, where does GERB go to form a majority needed to form a government? What issues Bulgaria faces and which should be prioritized for the incoming government? What should be done to move forward on the integration of Western Balkans in the Euro-Atlantic structures? How will Bulgaria’s foreign policy evolve in what is a key region for Europe’s geopolitical stability? Thibault Muzergues and his guest debate all these questions - and many more. Daniel Mitov served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria from 2014 to 2017. He has been involved since the early 2000s in Bulgaria’s democratization process. He worked as executive director of the Democracy Foundation in Bulgaria for four years and was also active in Bulgarian and European politics for many years. Daniel is now a candidate for the legislative elections. Find Daniel on Twitter at @DanielMitov Find Thibault on Twitter at @tmuzergues Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org Visit IRI's Beacon Project at iribeaconproject.org