site.btaOmbudsman, President Enjoy Highest Level of Trust by Bulgarian Citizens

Sofia, June 20 (BTA) - The Ombudsman and President enjoy the highest level of trust by Bulgarian citizens, show the results of a nationally representative poll, conducted by the Afis agency between June 8 and 12 among 1,010 adult citizens. Trust in the two institutions is measured at 60.3 per cent and 58.4 per cent, respectively.

The EU ranks far behind with 45 per cent, but still more people trust it than not, Afis notes. The local authorities and law enforcement enjoy trust levels of 41 and 37 per cent, respectively. Thirty-two per cent trust the Government, while Parliament has won the trust of 23 per cent of Bulgarian citizens. Trust in the Judiciary is traditionally low at 20 per cent.

According to Afis, there are no major differences between the general picture this spring and last year's, with the only exception being the nuances. The data show that the situation started deteriorating in the fall of 2017, with the image of the police having suffered the most, while the levels of trust in the EU and the President ranged the widest.

Trust in the EU has dropped during the Bulgarian EU Presidency. According to Afis, a possible explanation for this is the fact that a growing number of Bulgarian citizens have started to see the EU, and above all the administration in Brussels, as a pragmatic bureaucratic machine, which has a number of agendas that are distant or different than the agenda of the average Bulgarians.

More Bulgarians have started losing trust in the EU, mostly people from rural areas, the elderly and people with lower levels of education, who have the lowest living standards, but are also the most active voters. For these people, the advantages of Bulgaria's EU membership are unclear and even dubious, the sociologists note. Fourty-five per cent of respondents said they do not see the Bulgarian EU Presidency as a success and do not have an opinion about whether or not it was a failure. After all, it is unlikely that this downward tendency will reach the bare minimum, but it is indicative, the agency says.

Meanwhile, for a third consecutive month there are more people wishing for the Government's resignation than those supporting it. The powers of the incumbents and the opposition are gradually equalizing. The Ombudsman and the President, who are seen as part of the opposition, are the most approved public figures. According to the sociologists, it is obvious that the political process is once again on the verge of changing its direction. What is important is who will take the initiative for that given the huge gap between citizens and institutions.