Why Bulgaria Is Part of Europe but Not the West
Bulgaria’s historical legacy, Orthodox culture, and Soviet past shape a conservative, nationalist political landscape, distinguishing it from Western Europe’s progressive left despite its geographic European identity.
Why Bulgaria Is Europe, But Not the West
The reasons are deeply historical, cultural, and institutional. The country spent five centuries under Ottoman rule, cut off from the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution. The Orthodox Christian tradition reinforced a more collective, less individualistic mentality.
This was followed by the communist period, during which Bulgaria was one of the most loyal satellites of the Soviet Union. The transition to democracy after 1989 was slow and painful: oligarchy, high corruption, and weak institutional checks maintained a “hybrid” political culture.
Within this context, Bulgaria’s electoral “Center-Left” differs radically from social-democratic parties in Western Europe. Whereas the French, German, or Scandinavian Center-Left focuses on progressive social values, multiculturalism, environmentalism, and a strong welfare state emphasizing minority rights, the Bulgarian version occupies a more conservative ground.
It advocates economic paternalism and the protection of “national sovereignty,” opposes same-sex marriage, and has expressed reservations about sanctions against Russia. Even the election-winning party, Progressive Bulgaria, is much closer to post-communist models of Eastern Europe than to Western social democracy.
Socially conservative, with a pro-Russian profile in foreign policy, its economy is based on leftist paternalism (high pensions, state protection) and anti-oligarchy, rather than green transition or progressive taxation. This difference is no coincidence.
In Bulgaria, the political spectrum was shaped by opposition to (or support for) the communist past. The “Left” became associated with the pre-1989 order, the “Right” with the anti-communist, pro-Western transition.
Thus, even today, the priorities of Bulgaria’s “Center-Left” remain more nationalistic, less “woke,” and more focused on economic survival than on the post-material values of Western Europe.
Bulgaria is part of Europe, but not yet part of the West. Therefore, when Western analysts study it, they should take off their “Western glasses.”
