November 1989 — The end of the Communist regime is marked by the resignation of Todor Zhivkov, leader of Bulgaria for 35 years.
June 1990 — The first democratic parliamentary elections are held.
July 1991 — A new constitution is adopted.
February 1992 — Foreign Minister Stoyan Ganev fires approximately 200 diplomats who served in the old Communist regime in an attempt to eliminate cronyism and corruption in the foreign service.
September 1992 — Bulgaria ratifies the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
September 1992 — Todor Zhivkov is convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for corruption during his 35-year rule. In February 1996, the Supreme Court overturns Zhivkov's conviction.
November 1992 — Former Communist Prime Minister Georgi Atanasov is convicted of misappropriating state funds and is sentenced to 10 years in prison. He is pardoned and released for health reasons in August 1994.
December 1995 — Bulgaria submits its application for membership in the European Union.
October 1996 — Former Prime Minister Andrei Lukanov is assassinated outside his Sofia home.
May 1998 — Noted anti-corruption journalist Anna Zarkova is attacked at a bus stop and splashed with sulfuric acid by a man about whom she had written.
December 1998 — Bulgaria ratifies the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.
June 2001 — Former King Simeon II's party, the National Movement Simeon II (NMS), wins parliamentary elections. He becomes prime minister in July.
October 2001 — The government adopts a national strategy against corruption. Action plans for implementing the national strategy follow in February 2002 and December 2003.
November 2001 — Bulgaria ratifies the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption.
October 2002 — Parliament sets up a 24-member permanent commission to fight corruption.
July 2003 — The law on the judicial system is amended to require income and property declarations from magistrates and their spouses and children.
September 2003 — The Finance Ministry launches an anti-corruption hotline. Through the 24-hour hotline, people can report corruption by officials in the Finance Ministry, such as tax and customs officers.
December 2003 — Bulgaria signs the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The ratification of the convention comes in 2006.
March 2004 — Bulgaria becomes member of NATO.
August 2004 — A British television program broadcasts hidden camera footage in which Ivan Slavkov, head of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee, appears to be discussing a bribe to help London's bid to win the 2012 Olympic games. A year later, Slavkov is dismissed from the International Olympic Committee.
October 2004 — A new public procurement law in compliance with EU standards for accountability and transparency takes effect.
January 2005 — A new ethical code for Bulgarian journalists is signed at a ceremony in Sofia at which the president, prime minister and speaker of the Parliament are present. The code, which covers both print and electronic media, was negotiated under an EU-sponsored program that helps develop professional standards in the media.
April 2005 — Bulgaria and Romania sign the Treaty of Accession, paving the way for their formal admission into the EU in January 2007. The European Commission continues to closely monitor Bulgaria's progress in completing the final preparations for accession, periodically releasing monitoring reports on the status of anti-corruption systems and political and economic reform. Corruption in Bulgaria continues to be a serious concern of the commission.
August 2005 — Bulgaria's main parties—the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the NMS and the Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF)—form a coalition government.
August 2005 — Sergei Stanishev, leader of the Socialist Party which got the top at the elections held on May, becomes the new prime minister of the coalition government.
October 2005 — Emil Kyulev, one of Bulgaria's richest men and owner of the country's largest insurance and banking alliance, is shot dead in his car in Sofia. It is the eighth high-profile assassination in the country since the coalition government came to power. Kyulev's murder is believed to be the work of organized criminals who fear Bulgaria's entry into the EU will hamper their lucrative drug trafficking, prostitution and cigarette and alcohol smuggling operations.
May 2006 — Krassimir Nedelchev, deputy head of the State Agriculture Fund, is arrested on bribery charges.
June 2006 — The Italian press implicates former Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in a corruption scandal involving Italian businessmen, campaign contributions to the NMS party and the construction of a children's hospital in Sofia. The Interior Ministry begins investigating the allegations.
July 2006 — A Tax Administration official is arrested on charges of money laundering, tax-evasion and accepting a 138,500 leva (US$90,000) bribe from a businessman.
October 2006 — Georgi Parvanov is reelected for a second five year term as the president, mainly ceremonial post.
December 2006 — Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV virus are sentenced to death. Bulgarian officials condemn these sentences. The death sentences are commuted to life in prison by the Libyan Court. The involvement of European Union secures the repatriation of the Nurses to Bulgaria on July 2007.
January 2007 — Bulgaria joins the European Union.
May 2007 — Deputy Economy and Energy Minister Kormelia Ninova is fired from her post due to the pending investigation on allegations that Ninova along with Sofia Investigator Tatyana Sharlandzhieva obstructed the justice. Reports in media accuse Ninova of using her close relations with the inspector to talk her into helping businessman Krasmir Georgiev, who is accused of money laundering, to avoid trial. Economy and Energy Minister Rumen Ovcharov is also implicated in the scandal, being accused of trying to pressure officials to act in favor of Georgiev. Ovcharov is eventually fired by the prime minister. Another top official implicated in the scandal, the chief of National Investigation Service Angel Alexandrov, announces his resignation in June. The resignations continue as the corruption scandal widens. The Justice minister and the deputy Justice minister join the chain of resigned or fired officials.
June 2007 — The European Commission criticizes Bulgaria for not doing enough to curb corruption.
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