Matter Files: Bulgaria

Hello!

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I’ve decided to share this matterfile publicly because I think it’s important for the debating community to learn about host countries of tournaments, especially when spending a lot of time in them. This document certainly is not the best authority on Bulgaria and much of it is not particularly debating-relevant—I’m just hoping it supplements peoples’ learning about the country. I also noticed it is difficult to find up-to-date information on Bulgaria, so hopefully this saves people time. A few important disclaimers:

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1. There is not a history section in this matterfile. Instead, check out this presentation made by Velina Andonova—and big shoutout to her for creating it and letting me share it!;

2. There may be errors in this document. While I overwhelmingly relied on official reports (e.g., from the EU and the IMF) in writing this document, it is possible some information is inaccurate, mistyped, outdated, etc.;

3. Apologies for the lack of citations. While much of the information in here is directly from reliable sources, I do not have the time to go back and cite them before the tournament. This is an informal document for debating purposes, not an official work of mine;

4. Since rounds are soon, please do not overwhelm yourself. Feel free to find and print any sections you feel are most pertinent, or to edit your own copy as you like. Many people do well on host country motions every year without having matterfiled much at all; and 

5. In my view, the purpose of public matterfiles is to help people learn. As such, I strongly encourage people to use this document to better learn about the country rather than just as something to read out of during rounds. While you should feel free to reference printed facts listed here during rounds, it may be unstrategic to spend prep time looking through this document for extensive amounts of information, as there are diminishing returns to finding that information. Relatedly, since I think public matterfiles should almost exclusively be used to promote learning, I’ve excluded cases and arguments on Bulgaria-specific motions. Instead, I encourage people to use the information in this document to write their own cases on motions.​​

6. To help with this, I encourage those looking to prep motions about Bulgaria to look at the motions here. Additionally, based on                 motions that have been set so far and on international coverage of Bulgaria over the past year, I would especially encourage people to read about:

• Black Sea security and deterrence (with special attention to the role of Turkey and the Montreux Convention);

• Political instability, especially the broad trend of repeated snap elections and the recent, ongoing anti-corruption protests;

• Schengen entry (January 2025) and euro adoption (January 2026). There have been motions about euro adoption already, but can consider other angles (e.g., whether it is in the interests of a specific party to advocate leaving the eurozone); 

• Energy politics. A motion about the Lukoil refinery has already been set, but other motions about energy diversification (e.g. on nuclear power) are still fair game; and

• Broader corruption, especially as it affects the judiciary (see controversies surrounding the Prosecutor General) and media               independence.

  7.  To be sure, it is possible none of these topics come up, and instead that there is no direct Bulgaria motion, or the motion is about                   something niche or historical. These are just my best guesses!​​

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Good luck at WUDC!

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Matt Mauriello

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Access the full file here: Bulgaria Matter File