Bulgaria’s coalition government - previously confident it would complete its mandate - quit on Thursday, following one of the biggest waves of protest in the country's history.

The unrest was unlocked by the government’s budget for 2026 which proposed higher taxes on the private sector to fund pay rises for the public sector, a shortcut, critics said, to greater government control over the public administration, military and police.

Despite promises of revisions, the protest wave – led by the pro-EU opposition duo We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria – was not calmed, expressing deep dissatisfaction with Bulgaria’s power structures and a desire for all-around change on the political scene.