Green Movement (), until 2019 The Greens (), is a green-liberal political party in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

founded in 2008.

History

Green Movement emerged from a number of non-governmental organizations who felt, after years of work in the area of environment protection, human rights, etc. that their work needed serious political backing if it was to have a lasting effect. A major motivation to found a political party was criticism of various shortcomings in the political system in Bulgaria, including widespread corruption, lack of democratic control, and the general malfunction of state institutions at all levels. The party had its inaugural meeting in May 2008 in Sofia (capital of Bulgaria). During the following three months, more than 6000 members were registered. According to its statutes, the party has two chairpersons with equal rights. In 2019, shortly before the European elections, the party was forced to change its name from "The Greens" to "Green Movement" because of a decision by Bulgaria's Supreme Court of Cassation which stated that another party had a right to the name. The leadership of Green Movement commented for the media: "Unfortunately, the pressure on us comes literally on the eve of the upcoming elections to the European Parliament, and at a time when the Greens, as part of the

Democratic Bulgaria Democratic Bulgaria (, ДБ, ''Demokratichna Balgariya, DB'') is a political alliance in Bulgaria. Founded on 12 April 2018 as an electoral alliance between three political parties – DaB, DSB and the Green Movement, it merged into PP-DB in 2 ...

coalition, we have all chances to become a real political factor opposing the corrupt and populist status quo".

Chairpersons

As first chairpersons were elected Denica Petrova, Andrey Kovatchev and Petko Kovachev (2008). A national assembly of the party in May 2010 consisting of about 50 delegates elected a new board of chairpersons with Georg Tuparev, Daniela Bozhinova and Andrey Kovachev.

Program

Green Movement see themselves as part of the network of green parties in Europe. The political program of the Greens reflects a large extent the program of the

European Green Party The European Green Party (EGP), also referred to as European Greens, is a transnational, European political party representing national parties from across Europe who share Green values. The European Greens works closely with the Greens–Eur ...

but also includes topics specific for Bulgaria such as changes in the political system in order to overcome inherent problems of governance and democratic control.

Electoral history

National Assembly

European Parliament

Save Pirin Protests

In 2018, the Greens supported the "Save Pirin" mass protests in Bulgaria against the expansion of the ski area in the

Pirin National Park Pirin National Park (), originally named Vihren National Park, covering the larger part of the Pirin Mountains in southwestern Bulgaria, spanning an area of . It is one of the three national parks in the country, the others being Rila National ...

.Reuters
Reuters, 11.01.2019

References

External links

*
Official website of the Sofia (Sredec) local branch of Zelenite

- Party Program
"Bulgarian Greens Established"
''The Sofia Echo'', 18 May 2008.

in the Bulgarian news portal "aktualno" about the inaugural meeting of "Zelenite" (Bulgarian Greens) on 18 May 2008.
Article
in "news.bg" about an initiative of "Zelenite" to stop construction activities in Sofia (15 March 2008)
Interview
with Petko Kovachev, chairperson of "Zelenite", 4 June 2008, ''ipsnews''.
Results of the parliamentary elections in June 2009
as published on the party's website
How the established parties try to get rid of their competitors for the European elections
The article (2009) analyzes the bureaucratic obstacles the Greens and other small parties in Bulgaria were facing during two election campaigns in 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Greens Bulgaria Green parties in Europe European Green Party Centrist parties in Bulgaria Global Greens member parties Green liberalism