NY Times: As Support for EU Flags Elsewhere, Bulgaria Sees Its Benefits

Asset holders affected by the run and subsequent insolvency of Bulgaria's KTB bank managed to receive their deposits, partly due to pressure from the EU on the government in Sofia. File photo

Bulgarians have benefited a lot from their EU membership, with incomes rising and Brussels overseeing politicians, according to a New York Times piece.

Amidst the wave of EU skepticism, Bulgaria is benefiting from free trade, work and travel across the bloc, the impact of EU funding, and EU monitoring on corruption and organized crime.

The text also recalls the 2014 bank run at Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank or KTB), then Bulgaria's fourth-largest lender, which endangered the assets of thousands of account holders, but the EU pushed for the fulfillment of a government guarantee on depositors' savings.

"Both the EU Commission and the European Banking Authority then opened investigations into whether Bulgarian authorities had breached regional law by delaying payouts," with the government starting to pay to avoid formal charges.

"Businesses also benefit from Brussels's acting as a bulwark against Bulgaria's politicians," the text goes on.