VMRO – Bulgarian National Movement
VMRO – Bulgarian National Movement is a far-right, nationalist, and populist political party in Bulgaria. The party espouses anti-Romani, anti-Muslim and anti-immigration stances.
History
The VMRO acronym is derived from the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, a historic Bulgarian-led revolutionary political organization in the Macedonia and Thrace regions of the Ottoman Empire, which the party claims as its predecessor, like its counterpart in North Macedonia - VMRO-DPMNE. The appendage "BND" stands for "Bulgarian National Movement".At the time of its founding in 1990, it was a nationalist cultural organization named VMRO-Union of Macedonian Associations. Despite not being a political party, VMRO‐SMD gained two parliamentary seats in 1994 and 1997 by participating in the coalition of the Union of Democratic Forces, the main center‐right party in Bulgaria at the time. At the fourth congress in 1997, VMRO-SMD dropped SMD from its name. It published pamphlets denying the legitimacy of a separate Macedonian nation, while also advocating for the Bulgarian character of Macedonia. In 1997, the organization elected Krasimir Karakachanov as its president, who in 1999 transformed the organization into a political party. The decision to transform the cultural organization into a political party led to a significant portion of members leaving in disagreement. The members who left established a new cultural organization called VMRO–Union of Macedonian Organizations. In the 1999 local elections, the party gained 5.9 percent votes, appointing five mayors. In 2000 another VMRO splinter organization was established, claiming to be the descendant of the historic IMRO. Karakachanov accused both organizations of trying to steal the party's properties.
In 2001, the Sofia youth organization of the party criticized Karakachanov during the party congress, arguing that the party had lost its direction and accused Karakachanov of using the party for personal gain. It gradually transformed into a right-wing populist party in the 2000s under Karakachanov's leadership. VMRO-BND's rhetoric was less explicitly nationalist in the early years of Bulgaria's transition to democracy but became more nationalistic in the 2000s. In 2001, the party participated in the parliamentary elections in a coalition with George's Day Movement, and gained 3.6 percent of the vote. In 2004, it added "Bulgarian National Movement" to its name. On the eve of the June 2005 parliamentary elections, the party joined the coalition Bulgarian People's Union. In the 2005 elections, the party gained 5.2 percent of the vote and had six out of the coalition's 13 MPs.
VMRO-BND initiated a campaign of "No to Votes from Turkey for Bulgarian Members of the European Parliament" to prevent Bulgarian emigrants in Turkey from participating in the European Parliament elections in 2007. VMRO-BND suggested the law on the election of MEPs to be revised to disallow Bulgarian citizens who have lived in Bulgaria or countries of the European Union for less than six months before the date of an election from voting, while also making voting mandatory. In the 2009 EP elections, VMRO-BND participated in the coalition "Forward", along with the Agrarian People's Union, the George's Day Movement, and the Ensembled People's Party.
In the past, VMRO‐BND was also involved in the organization of the Lukov March, a neo‐Nazi torch rally held each February in honor of Hristo Lukov, a Bulgarian general and Nazi collaborationist. Leaders of the party expressed their support for the Lukov March and denied its relation to neo-Nazi propaganda. However, the party has distanced itself from that event. In 2013, VMRO‐BND placed two independent nationalists from Sandanski on its electoral lists to release them after their arrest for bombing the local party office of Euroroma, a Romani political party, as electoral candidates had immunity from judicial prosecution then. In the 2013 elections, the party received 1.9 percent of the vote. For the 2014 elections, VMRO-BND founded the coalition Patriotic Front. It won 7.3 percent vote and eight seats out of PF's 19. In the 2014 EP elections, the party, in coalition with the centrist conservative party, Bulgaria Without Censorship, won two seats in EP, including one for Angel Dzhambazki. In 2014, it also created a party‐affiliated television channel, Bulgaria 24. In 2016 and 2017, it participated in an electoral coalition called "United Patriots", becoming a member of the government. In 2017, Karakachanov was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister for national security and Minister of Defense.
In its 2019 campaign, it actively opposed the liberal model of multiculturalism, Islamization, and illegal migration. The slogan of the 2019 electoral campaign, "We Defend Bulgaria", expressed the position of the party that the country was threatened by illegal immigrants, LGBTQ groups, multiculturalism and "gender ideology". The party claimed that enemy external forces were threatening to destroy the country with the usage of multiculturalism and foreign cultural ideas and practices. It also claimed that Bulgarians were being treated by other EU countries as second-class citizens. VMRO-BND claimed that the so-called "Macron package" limited the rights of Bulgarian transport companies to provide services in other EU countries and served the interests of the bigger countries and their transport companies. VMRO-BND campaigned for limiting social security support for unemployed Romani people and proposed public measures to stimulate Romani women to seek abortion and to severely penalize criminal acts committed by Romani people. Part of the campaign also promoted the destruction of several Romani neighbourhoods in different cities to demonstrate the power of the law to people who do not have legal documents for their property. As a result, the party received 7.36 percent votes and was supported by more than 140,000 voters. VMRO-BND also sent two MEPs to EP.
In its 2020 program, it included a section on green politics, declaring support for "green nationalism," defined as "the idea that without nature, there is no Bulgaria". VMRO‐BND has regularly organized the clean‐up and restoration of local areas, such as parks or playgrounds, under the banner of its campaign "Green is love of your country." Ahead of the second 2021 parliamentary election, Volya formed an electoral alliance with the National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria and VMRO-BND called Bulgarian Patriots.
The party announced that it would not be participating in the 2023 parliamentary election, expecting that the election would yield a similar result to the ones before and accused the other parties of driving Bulgaria into an economic and political crisis. Instead, VMRO-BND called on its supporters to boycott the vote.
On 17 February 2024, Karakachanov was re-elected as party chairman by an extraordinary congress, overcoming an attempt by Dzhambazki to take the helm. In the combined parliamentary election on 9 June 2024, VMRO-BND received just under one percent of the vote for National Assembly and just over two percent for European Parliament. In August 2024, a number of party members and activists publicly rebelled against Karakachanov, denouncing him as a pro-Putin leader who is leading the party astray, and formed "The Ivan Mihailov Circle", named after the IMRO leader, to generate and discuss ideas on how to put the party back on track.
Ideology
Identity
It is known as a strongly nationalist and populist party. It has an extreme pro-Orthodox stance. It had oriented itself towards a Greater Bulgaria. It rejects the existence of a Macedonian ethnicity separate from the Bulgarian one. The party claims it would like to include all ethnic Bulgarians in a single state by peaceful means, since the Treaty of Berlin in 1878 left millions of compatriots outside Bulgaria. VMRO-BND thinks the state should protect Bulgarian culture, tradition and the Bulgarian heritage. It has supported introducing religion in Bulgarian schools. The party has demanded a new constitution that increases the powers of the Bulgarian president and the declaration of Orthodox Christianity as the official state religion. VMRO-BND also encourages marriage and increased birth rates for ethnic Bulgarians and the settlement of people of Bulgarian descent from abroad.The party is situated on the far-right in the political spectrum. VMRO-BND claims to follow an ideology of "contemporary Bulgarian nationalism". It describes itself as a conservative and patriotic party based on modern nationalism. In its party documents, it has listed aims such as to "preserve and develop traditional Bulgarian values, rites, and beliefs for the future generations" and to achieve "the spiritual unity of the Bulgarian people in Moesia, Thrace, Macedonia, the Western Outlands, and all other Bulgarian communities abroad." The party promotes the creation of a strong military and police, repressive law enforcement, and granting subsidies to families with many children, on the condition that both parents have secondary education. It is associated with the Macedonian Scientific Institute and the National Conservative Forum, a non-partisan group promoting national and conservative ideas.