Life intolerable for majority of Bulgarians

Almost three quarters of Bulgarians consider their country "intolerable", according to a new survey released Saturday by the Open Society Institute, following weeks of protest against the government and a worsening economy. The survey of 1,155 people by the public policy charity found that 72 percent thought Bulgaria's political situation was "intolerable", with 22 percent judging it was just "bearable". Only two percent of those surveyed described the current state of the nation as normal. The 72 percent of respondents denouncing Bulgaria's political quagmire is at a six-year high, and up 15 percentage points from July 2012. The survey also found that almost 40 percent of the population wanted the immediate resignation of the government of Plamen Oresharski, whose minority cabinet took office in late May. Two-thirds of Bulgarians said the economic situation had worsened in the last year, the Open Society report said, though 70 percent said they were happy to be members of the European Union. In contrast, 67 percent said they did not want Bulgaria to adopt the euro. On Tuesday, 2,000 protestors trapped around 100 ministers, MPs and others in parliament for eight hours before being dispersed by baton-wielding riot police after 40 days of anti-government protests. Many in former communist Bulgaria, the poorest country in the European Union, see politicians as corrupt, inefficient and indifferent to the plight of ordinary people. Just 13.4 percent of the Bulgarian population earns the 566 leva (290 euro) a month minimum required to sustain an adequate standard of living, according to a study released Saturday by the country's KNSB trade union.