The Welfare State in the Context of the Global Financial Crisis: Bulgaria—Between Financial Stability and Political Uncertainty

Abstract

This chapter describes the implications of the global crisis in Bulgaria seen in the frozen economic situation and great political turbulences. The achieved financial stability and the low tax levels did not lead to the expected increase in foreign investments and to more stability of the labour market for the most vulnerable groups—for the youngest and the oldest parts of the labour force, especially for individuals with low education, among them with Roma ethnic background. For whole regions of the country—like the North Western region—the infrastructure investments could not immediately create better job opportunities. In times of crisis, disagreement between the political parties on sensitive reforms prevents them being carried out. Three lessons to be learned from the political instability caused by the global financial and economic crisis in Bulgaria are described. The first lesson is connected with the crisis government (2009–2013), which did not pay sufficient attention to achieving a proper balance between investments in infrastructure and social protection of vulnerable groups. The second lesson has to do with the government (2013–2014), which in a short period of time became unpopular because of the non-transparent way of making decisions, although it did raise the social payments for the minimum wage and childcare allowances. The third lesson concerns civil society itself and the ability of citizens to effectively control the government when making unpopular and non-transparent decisions.

This article is part of the project “Social disparities and regional differences in school-to-work transitions in Bulgaria”, a joint project between University of Basel and Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge, BAS, funded by the Swiss National Science Fund (2012–2015) under the Swiss-Bulgarian Research Program.