Bulgaria - Third Time's the Charm

Poland, Lithuania and Latvia facing an intensified security and humanitarian crisis at the border with Belarus. Alyaksandr Lukashenka's hybrid tactic of smuggling migrants to the EU's external border is on top of the agenda at international forums like the UN Security Council, NATO and the EU. Poland and Lithuania are mulling the invocation of Article 4 to allow permanent consultation with NATO allies. Warsaw is also considering freezing the Europe-Asia freight of goods flowing through Belarus (Polish port of Malaszowicze controls 90 per cent of all European freight) but remains unlikely to incur costs alone and therefore waiting on EU-wide support. Russia meanwhile is amassing troops on the border with Ukraine, adding even more pressure on the Eastern Flank.  Exits polls grant the victory of Sunday's elections in Bulgaria to newcomer ‘We Continue the Change’ party. We discuss with Ognyan Georgiev, editor of Bulgaria’s leading business publication Capital and Marcin Król fellow at Visegrad Insight, the current projections favouring the centrist party headed by the finance and economic ministers of the caretaker government. Is the Harvard-educated duo up to the task of brokering a coalition government capable of reversing the tide of democratic backsliding in the country? Are we to expect a shift in Sofia's approach vis-a-vis Macedonia or accession to the Eurozone?