site.btaUPDATED Sofia Chief Architect Bogdana Panayotova Resigns, Citing Lack of Political Support and Institutional Pressure

Sofia’s Chief Architect Bogdana Panayotova has submitted her resignation, she told BTA on Monday. 

“I have filed a request to be relieved of the position of Sofia’s Chief Architect,” Panayotova said in a post on her personal Facebook profile.
 
On December 23, Sofia Municipality said it expected Panayotova to resign so it can continue efforts to build a functioning, transparent and accountable system for urban planning and development in the capital. In response, Panayotova rejected what she described as untrue claims and factual inaccuracies in the municipality’s press release, saying they represented an attempt to shift political responsibility onto an expert position such as that of Sofia’s chief architect.

In her Facebook post, Panayotova said the reasons for her resignation included a lack of political support for the vision and mission with which she entered the administration, and what she described as an unlawfully created and adopted municipal structure that objectively prevents the chief architect from exercising their statutory powers. She stressed that she does not accept political decisions and mistakes being transferred onto an expert role. 

Panayotova also cited the systematic ignoring of expert arguments and the absence of a clear, consistent, professionally grounded vision for the city’s development in line with the Spatial Development Act, the Sofia Municipality Spatial Planning and Development Act, and other regulatory frameworks. She criticized the reduction and undermining of the chief architect’s role through managerial and structural actions that turn the position into a formal post, without real authority or responsibility. “I refuse to legitimize governance under which the post of chief architect is reduced to a rubber stamp and professionalism is treated as an obstacle,” she said. 

She added that she has observed administrative chaos within Sofia Municipality, an avoidance of difficult urban planning decisions, and a lack of courage and determination to uphold rules equally for all. According to Panayotova, by stepping down she is enabling a new competition for the position and legitimate performance of a key city office, albeit by “another, more convenient chief architect.” 

Panayotova said she refuses to legitimize institutional pressure and the replacement of professionalism with procedures, signals, explanations, and opinions, which she described as attempts to silence expert positions, professionalism, rules, and the rule of law.