Two gangland-style murders in Sofia this week have prompted harsh criticism from Brussels about the failure of Bulgaria’s authorities to suppress organised crime in one of the European Union’s newest and poorest states.

Borislav Georgiev, chief executive of an energy company, was shot in the head in an apartment building on Sunday evening. Less than 24 hours later Georgi Stoev, an author who wrote about Bulgarian organised crime, was shot in the head outside a hotel.