Maybe the Problem is in Brussels

Days after voters in Hungary turfed out Euro-skeptic Russian friendly Viktor Orban, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/19/bulgaria-election-rumen-radev-boyko-borissov. 

I'm wondering (as I have many times in the past), if the problem is not an anti-democratic out of touch EU leadership, which foments instability and extremism.

Brussels' insistence of EU growth at all cost, austerity, and lap dog behavior with regard to the US seem to be a petri dish for instability. 

Bulgarian ex-president Rumen Radev – an EU critic who has called for renewing ties with Russia – on Sunday hailed a “victory of hope” after his formation topped the eighth parliamentary elections in five years.

Projections from polling agencies put his Progressive Bulgaria (PB) grouping at 44%, which would give him an absolute majority of at least 129 seats in the 240-seat parliament.


The European Union’s poorest member has seen successive governments since 2021, when anti-graft rallies brought down the conservative administration of pro-European leader Boyko Borissov.

Radev, 62, who resigned earlier this year after nine years as president, ran on a pledge to fight corruption.

PB came in well ahead of Borissov’s GERB party and the liberal PP-DB coalition, both of which stood at about 12%, according to the projections. Official final results are expected no earlier than Monday.

………

Radev, who has called for renewing ties with Russia and opposes military aid to Ukraine, was president for nine years before stepping down to lead the new centre-left Progressive Bulgaria group of parties.

The contradictions inherent in the EU structure are not likely to end well.