POPULIST NARRATIVES ABOUT THE EU IN THE 2024 EUROPEAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN BULGARIA

The European elections on June 9th, 2024, coincided with another early parliamentary election in Bulgaria. As in the previous election campaigns, domestic political problems and sharp party opposition overshadowed the EUrelated issues. Although proper political debates on these issues were absent, strong populist anti-EU narratives were used by various parties and politicians, including established ones. The research shows anti-EU narratives in all three categories of populist messages: anti-elitism, people-centrism, and exclusion. Four parties ("Revival", "Greatness", BSP and ITN) form a "discursive coalition" claiming to understand and express the concerns and desires of "the people". They present the EU as a foreign elitist power, claim that the sovereignty should be restored to the Bulgarian people, and exclude the liberal values and liberal elites (parties, media) from "the people". Aparticular anti-EU narrative is formed about the war in Ukraine. These narratives are characterised by a high propensity to use proven disinformation.