site.btaVarna Mayor to Return to His Office Monday

Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev said he would be in his office on Monday for the first time since July 8. "I will walk to work and will be there at 8:30am as always," he said on Facebook late on Sunday.

He briefly performed his duties as mayor while in custody in Sofia.

"I expect my first working day to be long, so I will be happy to welcome the people of Varna on the steps of City Hall around 19:00. I look forward to being among you again," Kotsev wrote.

Protests against the government's budget proposal for 2026 are planned across Bulgaria on Monday evening, including in Varna, Kotsev also said.

Kotsev was released on November 28, having been held in custody in Sofia and Varna since his arrest on July 8 in a corruption and office abuse case. He has denied any wrongdoing. His defence lawyer, Ina Lulcheva, said that the main purpose of Kotsev's detention has been to remove him from office.

Kotsev's Continue the Change party insist that his arrest is part of a government campaign targeting the opposition. Large-scale protests in his support have been staged in Varna, Sofia and other major cities. The Renew Europe group in the European Parliament where Continue the Change is affiliated, sees Kotsev's extended detention as "an onslaught on democratic institutions and rule of law in Bulgaria".