page_title: History of Bulgaria since 1990
section_title: The return of Simeon II (2001–2005)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Bulgaria since 1990 / The return of Simeon II (2001–2005)
caption_attribution_description: Simeon Borisov of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, last Tsar of Bulgaria and Prime Minister of Bulgaria (in office 24 July 2001 – 17 August 2005) on May 30, 2005 in Berlin, Germany.
context_page_description: The History of Bulgaria since 1990 is the period of Bulgarian history that begins after the fall of Communism and the transition to Capitalism.
context_section_description: In 2001, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Bulgarian: Симеон Сакскобурготски, Simeon Sakskoburgotski), son of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria, who had fled from socialist Bulgaria as a nine-year-old boy in 1946, became Prime Minister of Bulgaria. Several years prior to that, in 1996, he had visited Bulgaria with his family of two princes and a princess and it was then when he announced he would soon come back to his homeland to form a new political party. Several years later, Sakskoburggotski formed the National Movement Simeon II (NDSV) and swept away both major parties in the elections of June 2001 with a landslide victory. As Prime Minister, he followed a strong and strictly pro-western course, as a result of which Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007. Economic and political conditions visibly improved, although economic growth was not as high as expected and unemployment and emigration remained high. Problematic areas remained corruption, health care, organized crime (though scaled down), and higher education, which all need to be massively reformed.
caption: Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was the last king of Bulgaria, serving from 1943 to 1946. Half a century later, he served as prime minister from 2001 to 2005.
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