Bulgaria’s government survived its fourth no-confidence vote on January 29, as expected, after being backed by the ruling coalition and two other small parties.

The motion was filed earlier in January by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and was backed by the ethnic-Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS). It was launched over the government’s failure to deal with water and waste crises, as well as with the deadly air pollution in some cities.

124 MPs backed the third government of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, while 102 voted for his removal.

During the vote, thousands of Bulgarians gathered to demand the resignation of Borissov, blocking the centre of Sofia for hours.

The motion comes amid a water crisis in the town of Pernik, which has already led to charges against former environment minister Neno Dimov, who was arrested and resigned earlier in January.

Meanwhile, the prosecution has initiated probes into allegations that illegal imports of waste were covered up by Dimov.

In December, local media revealed reports that Italian authorities are investigating illegal exports of garbage to Bulgaria from the Italian mafia, reportedly to be burned in local power plants.

Dimov said following these reports that the environment ministry had not received applications for waste imports from Italy. So far, the prosecution has not charged him in connection to the waste.

The waste being burned in local power plants provoked another investigation, launched in September 2019, into four coal-fired thermal power plants, all allegedly owned by or connected to controversial businessman Hristo Kovachki, following reports of illegal burning of waste that is threatening the environmental in the country. Results of this investigation are yet to be announced.

Earlier in January the government announced that it will ban all imports of garbage until the prosecution completes its investigation.

Bulgaria has also not marked any progress in improving air quality, despite a decision of the European Commission in July 2019 to refer the country to the Court of Justice of the EU over poor air quality as the country is failing to respect limit values of sulphur dioxide (SO2).