section_path: Other boycotts and boycott plans/Bulgaria
section_name: Bulgaria
paragraph_text: Bulgaria
  
  A boycott organized by the "System is Killing Us" movement, the Federation of Consumers in Bulgaria, the United Pensioners' Unions, the former ombudswoman Maya Manolova, and ex-MP Velizar Enchev occurred on 13 February. In a social media post, they stated that prices in retail chains and smaller grocery stores have skyrocketed, threatening 800,000 Bulgarian pensioners living below the poverty line, as well as the working poor. They also stated that for items in foreign chains such as butter, milk, cheese, meat, and sausages, the prices were higher domestically in Bulgaria than in their home countries such as Germany or Austria, despite said home countries having a higher standard of living. The post also called for the Bulgarian government to place a price cap on the markups of 70 essential food items. The bill was drafted by Maya Manolova and her civic platform Stand Up.BG. They also called for support for medium and small-scale producers and transparency regarding pricing mechanisms. Nelly Dimitrova of the System is Killing Us stated that Bulgarians could not even afford basic essentials such as milk, eggs, or meat.
  
  Before this boycott was organized, the deputy chairman of the VMRO – Bulgarian National Movement party, Carlos Contrera, had also called for a boycott on Facebook, again highlighting how prices for the same product had differences upwards of 20% between its price in Bulgaria and in Germany.
  
  The boycotts since 27 February included banks because of the "unsufferably high bank fees." The organizers of the boycott insisted on the Bulgarian parliament to pass the bill for a cap on bank fees and commissions, proposed by former ombudswoman Maya Manolova. Except for boycotting, hundreds of citizens gathered in front of the Bulgarian central bank to protest against bank fees and to demand the bill to be passed.
  
  As of 13 February, the boycott has begun in the country.
  
  The 13 February boycott resulted in a revenue decline of 28.8% for the largest supermarket chains compared to the previous day.