Trouble starts when the centrist parties begin to sound alike. When moderate left and moderate right converge into a governing centre, voters lose real choice within the system. When democracy loses its internal opposition, it begins producing external opposition. This is the consensus trap.
It’s time to recognise that NGOs and civic space are not simply “shrinking” across Europe. As our report shows, it is being actively restricted by anti-rights actors seeking to promote their agendas, silence debate, and exclude communities whose rights they seek to undermine.
Moscow may welcome Rumen Radev’s victory in Bulgaria, but he is no new Orbán. The comparison captures the risk on Ukraine, but misses the constraints likely to shape his conduct inside the EU.
THIS WEEK: EU summit in Cyprus, shaky Middle East ceasefires and Bulgaria post-election falloutAn EU summit in Cyprus, possible trade sanctions with Israel, shaky ceasefires in Lebanon and Iran, and the aftermath of the election in Bulgaria are among the lead stories driving this week.
Former Bulgarian president (2017 to January 2026) Rumen Radev appears to be on his way back — but this time, to the prime minister’s office. The former air force commander with pro-Russian views, who in January stepped down from the presidency in order to run in Sunday’s snap parliamentary elections, is promising a fight against the all‑pervasive “mafia state”, which he said was undermining the European Union’s least developed member state.
In Bulgaria, the well-established right-wing party GERB could be beaten in the legislative elections this Sunday. Just like in Hungary last week, it’s not an outsider challenging the established government, but a familiar figure: the former president of the country, Rumen Radev.
Bulgaria votes in three weeks. Its information environment is already being shaped by forces that nobody is controlling or investigating, and nobody seems particularly rushed to understand.