A live streamed meeting between the Bulgarian Prime Minister and one of the lead candidates for the top job at the EU Commission raises doubts about the commitment to defend the rule of law in Europe.

In this second part of the two-part special podcast, Talk Eastern Europe dissects the results of the European Parliamentary elections in the region of Central and Eastern Europe.

The rise of the far-right in Bulgaria has led to an increase in xenophobia. The European People's Party is facing a troublesome trend among some of its members.

In recent years, Bulgarians have gained better clarity about what happened during communism because of the efforts of researchers who dared dig up the dirt and make their findings available to a broader audience. And it is only now that the crimes of communism have been included in the mandatory school curriculum. This transparency is essential for understanding the political processes in Bulgaria post-1989.

I was born in Bulgaria in 1985, but I first learned about the particularities of communism in an academic setting in 2003 when I started university in the United States and enrolled in various classes on political science and history. Until then, my understanding of communism was entirely based on conversations with my family and the obscure samizdat books which my grandfather kept in his library.

Despite more than five hundred years of Turkish rule, the majority of present-day Bulgarians demonise and reject “non-Bulgarian” – that is, Turkish, Muslim, or Roma – influences in their history and culture. While the Bulgarian government’s harshest policies of ethnic cleansing concluded with the fall of communism, this exclusivist narrative of Bulgarian national history nevertheless continues to discriminate against such communities.

Bulgarian communist dictator Todor Zhivkov led campaigns of forced assimilation and ethnic cleansing against non-Bulgarian minorities, particularly Turks and Muslims. Three decades after the 1989 ethnic cleansing and the subsequent transition to democracy, Bulgaria still has yet to reconcile with its past.

Christmas may be known as the season of love and kindness, but Bulgaria will remember Christmas 2018 as the season of division. A seemingly benign gift from Russia shed light on historical wounds and party politics as well as the surprising impact social media could have on bilateral diplomacy.

LGBTI issues are becoming a fig leaf hiding corruption within the political class of EU member states Bulgaria and Romania.

Bulgaria's strategic location makes it a great hub for passing along natural gas to the rest of Europe. In case of trouble and limited supply it would also be the first to pay a heavy price.

While the EU's attention is directed at Hungary and Poland, an even younger member state challenges its basic principles.

The Zhivkov personality cult reaches its annual crescendo during the lavish celebrations of the late dictator's successive anniversaries of birth on the 7th of September in his hometown of Pravets, near Sofia. EU and Bulgarian flags will again provide the background for a leader synonymous with Bulgarian communism, including its darker chapters.

Bulgaria's flirt with Russia concerning energy might be signaling a shift in the overall relationship between the two countries.