Bulgarians against vandalism of "Vazrazhdane"

The protest against Euro

The Sofia District Prosecutor's Office (SPO) has charged five people - four of them adults, one minor - for hooligan acts that are particularly audacious and cynical. Some of them were accompanied by resistance against a government body with functions of maintaining public order in front of the headquarters of the European Parliament and the European Commission on Saturday, 22 February 2025. This was announced at a briefing by Sofia Deputy District Prosecutor Atanas Dotsinski in connection with the escalation of the "Vazrazhdane" protest against the euro. The penalty provided for in the law is up to five years for adults and up to two years after the reduction for minors, he said.

On Saturday, protesters first gathered in front of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) in Sofia, and later went to the European Commission building, where tension arose. Participants in the action threw bombs and smeared the building with red paint. As a result of the escalation, there were detainees, and the Ministry of Interior also reported that 10 police officers were injured. Some of the protesters carried placards with the inscriptions "Yes to the Bulgarian lev", "No" to the euro", "We don't want the euro" and "We choose the lev".

At the protest, effigies with the faces of Valdis Dombrovskis, Christine Lagarde, and Pascal Donohoe (see photo), on whom our country's entry into the eurozone depends, were symbolically burned, the party Vazrazhdane said in a statement. The European flag was also burned. This action is a symbol of the protesters' unwavering desire to preserve the leva at any cost," the party said.

"We have witnessed a systematic abuse of official position by a group of MPs and their sympathizers against independent state and European institutions, which poses a serious threat to the stability and authority of the state," the ruling party GERB believes. GERB condemns the political aggression and rhetoric that replaces the political debate and misleads public opinion regarding Bulgaria's membership in the eurozone.

I strongly condemn the vandalism against the building of the European Commission in Sofia by "Vazrazhdane" and their supporters, wrote on Facebook the co-chairman of "We Continue the Change" Kiril Petkov. "The Russian wind is taking wing of the most extreme segments of our population, led by people who "sell" them the false thesis that the euro is a threat. After all, the currency board means that for every lev there must be a euro collateral... but who cares about these things," writes Kiril Petkov. The "Yes, Bulgaria" movement irrevocably and unconditionally condemns the political embodiment of violence, the movement's position states.

"Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria" also condemned the acts of violence and vandalism. The two formations are part of "Continuing the Change - Democratic Bulgaria" (PP-DB).

The leader of "DPS-New Beginning" Delyan Peevsky points out in his position that this is another provocation by "Vazrazhdane" and this requires the urgent and categorical intervention of all authorities. "After the Constitutional Court, municipalities and administration, the National Statistical Institute and the Bulgarian National Bank, today they committed a pogrom against the EC building in Sofia, attacked and injured police officers," the position states. This outrage and gross encroachment on the rule of law, democracy, statehood, threatens the lives and health of citizens, says Delyan Peevski.

The delegation of the Bulgarian Socialists in the European Parliament categorically rejects the acts of vandalism and violence by representatives and supporters of the "Vazrazhdane" party in front of the House of Europe in Sofia

We condemn with deep indignation the vandalism committed by representatives and sympathizers of the "Vazrazhdane" party in Sofia, wrote on their official Facebook page from "Democracy, Rights and Freedoms".

"Vazrazhdane" has threatened new protests across the country demanding the preservation of the Bulgarian lev, said the leader of "Vazrazhdane" Kostadin Kostadinov, and called on Bulgarians to engage in civil disobedience. He specified that he was proud of everyone who joined the protest in Sofia, which - according to Kostadinov, was not a party protest, but of the entire people. Regarding the clashes at the protest in Sofia, Kostadinov pointed out that the police used pepper spray, not the people who gathered. The SDVR continued with the manipulations, and there were perversions against the detainees, the leader of "Vazrazhdane" pointed out.

The former Bulgarian Defense Minister Todor Tagarev commented on the national BTV that the party of nationalists “Vazrazhdane” fulfilled the Kremlin's order and gave the Russian propaganda channels the opportunity to broadcast footage from a European capital that shows actions against Europe.

Kostadinov insists on holding a referendum on preserving the Bulgarian LEV.

​Bulgarian are interested in Europe, not support vandalism

The parliamentary elections in Germany are proving to be more important for Bulgarians, as evidenced by a Google trend check of interest in the trending events over the weekend.

The comparison was made between three political topics that gained major interest in Bulgarian society – the Vazrazhdane protest, the elections in Germany and the work of USAID.

Although the protest against the introduction of the euro in Bulgaria on Saturday caused angry reactions among Bulgarians, the entire political class, as well as among the leaders of the European institutions, interest in the topic of the elections in Germany is 9 points higher than that of the protest. However, the statistics also show a lasting interest in the actions of “Vazrazhdane” (in blue), while interest in the elections in Germany is only on election day (in red). The other international political topic is related to the desire of the administration of US President Donald Trump to limit the work of the USAID agency (in yellow).

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