Bulgaria president praises rallies against corruption

PanARMENIAN.Net - Bulgaria's president on Friday, June 21, praised week-long protest rallies against corruption and a lack of transparency in the Balkan country and said politicians must heed the demonstrators' demands for reform, according to Reuters.

Thousands of mainly younger, well-educated Bulgarians have been rallying in Sofia and other cities since last Friday to demand the resignation of the three-week-old Socialist-led cabinet over its bungled bid to impose a media mogul as head of national security without any debate.

Bowing to the protesters, parliament has canceled the appointment and Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski has apologized, but he refuses to quit, saying this would destabilize the European Union's poorest member state and harm the economy.

"Bulgaria can be proud of this good-natured, democratic protest which delivers a message to the politicians," said President Rosen Plevneliev, whose office is largely ceremonial but carries moral authority.

"I very much hope they will be heard and that this time the politicians really take responsible, clear and, I would say, brave decisions," he told reporters.

The demonstrations have been enlivened with singing and dancing and seem driven more by impatience over sleaze and "mafia rule" than by the poverty that still blights the country. Further protest rallies are planned for Friday and the weekend.