By Rumyana Vakarelska
‘Budilnik’ s newspaper new English Language Page contains original journalistic content in print and online on key developments in Bulgaria and Britain and on UK’s ex-pat life, aiming to build a higher and well-informed mutual awareness of the two countries and the viable prospects ahead of both. It will include exclusive article, interviews and pictures about business, investment, work life, politics, culture and identity, which are of specific interest to the Bulgarian community in the UK and across the world, also known as ‘Drugata Bulgaria’, the Other Bulgaria.
Interested sponsors for the English language page, please contact Rumyana Vakarelska, Team New Europe, an editorial and public affairs consultancy in London by email: rumy.vakarelska@gmail.com
Similarly to the UK when the British Prime Minister (PM) David Cameron reshuffled his cabinet, a big political change in Bulgaria has just begun as a new care-taker government came into power, following the resignation of the Bulgarian PM Plamen Oresharski. His short-lived one-year term at the helm of the state faced a strong public opposition due to failures in political and economic governance, which are likely to remain the biggest challenge before the next government after the general elections on October 4.
Meanwhile, overt the next two crucial months the new PM, Georgi Bliznashki, a former BSP MEP, a prominent professor in Constitutional Law at Bulgaria’s leading Sofia University St. ‘Climent Ohridski’, a political reformer, who was excluded from BSP last June, and an active opponent of Oresharski coalition government of the same very BSP, was successfully appointed by the Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev as the next PM, also receiving a high-rate cross-party approval. He also approved Kristalina Georgieva as Bulgaria’s next EU Commissioner at the first meeting of the new government, whereby her role as Vice President of the EC was discussed, but no final bidding for this role was confirmed.
In his first statement as a PM, Bliznashki said:
‘The care-taker government will aim at achieving of more stability, dialogue and transparency in the government by abiding most of all to the Bulgarian Constitution and the rule of law, so people trust once again state institutions’, he said. The key goals of the government is to secure successful and democratic elections, introduce stability on the key public organisations and represent Bulgaria’s best interests before EU and NATO in order to secure Bulgaria’s EU investment between 2014 and 2020, as well as play its part on key international developments.
Bliznashki has already got one of the best long-term jobs as a professor in Constitutional Law, winning the hearts and minds of his students’ the bright minds. However, he is also facing a big few challenges in defining better Bulgaria’s position in events such as EU’s embargos against Russia and the impact on Bulgaria of the reverse embargoes that Russia imposes on Bulgaria as an EU country.
Moreover, Bulgaria is introducing a new energy board similarly to the currency board whereby EU experts will participate in its long-term strategy, especially having in mind the future of South Stream, currently reviewed by the EC. It all sounds good if you sit in London or Sofia, but going east to the Black Sea Coast, which is still flooded by Russian business presence, Russian holiday home owners, summer camps for Russian, not Bulgarian children and welcome signs in Russian, one could only think that a special attention has to be paid to Bulgaria’s foreign policy towards Russia that corresponds more clearly to the ongoing changes in EU-Russia’s relations.
Convincing public appearances by members of the right-of-the centre Reformist Block are also taking place, including leading members of the Bulgarian Institute of right-of-the centre politics. However, the problem is that the reformist parties that will do their best to win more seats in the forthcoming elections are still quite divided and are also a creation of Sofia-born politics, where the most politically engaged population (of 2 about million people) in the country lives, according to the above Institute’s analysis. This means more than ever that the importance of the votes of the Bulgarians living abroad world-wide, reaching the figure of 2,3 million as reported by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences earlier this year, cannot be overlooked any more as they may play a potential game changer role in the next elections to compensate Bulgaria’s voters increasing political apathy, especially outside the big cities.
The new foreign minister, is Daniel Mitov, of Meglena Kuneva’s circles, Bulgaria’s first MEP herself and of the Reformist Block in Bulgaria today, has already mentioned that his key priority will be to enable Bulgarians abroad vote at the forthcoming general elections, but without yet saying how or addressing the issues that represent the interests of the Bulgarians abroad.
Bliznashki will need a full-term to build trust in the state institutions, while he may not even bid for a full-term PM. BSP is divided itself, so voters across the political spectrum will be left with the chance to vote for personalities rather than parties and their policies at best.
Macro-economic challenges before the new government
In addition, the new potentially full-term government from October on will have to deal with a higher public spending deficit and a big gap in medical insurance payments of roughly BGN 225 million (Sdravna Kassa) that support doctors and medical services. A last minute amendment to the existing national budget for this amount may get a vote in the Bulgarian National Assembly on Monday, 4 August, while by the end of the year the budget deficit is likely to reach BGN 2 billion, which makes for 2,7 of the GDP. An year ago, the budget deficit was a BGN 7,6 million, while in June 2014 it was close to 1 billion, according to the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance
An incorporation agreement for a 60:30 pc deal that yet has to be confirmed by the next Bulgarian government after October 4 has been signed between the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) on behalf of Kozloduiy nuclear power station for a new AP1000 nuclear reactor, with the American nuclear power group Wasting House for the price of USD 5,6 billion. In addition, big questions have to be answered for the agreement ‘South Stream Bulgaria’, which Oresharski’s government has signed with the Russian government. In the last days of its rule, The Bulgarian Agriculture Ministry sold cheaply 360 hectars of forestry land near Varna to allow space for the construction of the new gas pipeline (50 pc owned by Gazprom) day even though the EC is currently reviewing the circumstances under which the Russian gas supply agreement has been signed on the first place.
Serbia, Hungary and Austria are also parties in the South Stream project with Gazprom, which reduces these countries’ energy independence from a single source of supply, especially critical in the current tense relationship between EU and Russia. Meanwhile, Lukoil is selling all its petrol stations in Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovak Republic, but not in Bulgaria.
The list of challenges of this sort can be continued, as the Bulgarian Competition Commission has just fined Bulgargas, the Bulgarian state monopoly, a fee of BGN 23 million, the highest ever the Commission has ruled out to any company, for unilateral changes in its clients’ contracts.
Bulgaria will need more than ever to look for new investors outside EU’s regional and sectoral funding, while applying to become a member of EU’s single banking supervisory mechanism as a first step towards eventually joining EU’s banking union.
Governance hurdles – back to basics
While Bulgarians can afford to relax this summer instead of joining continuous political strikes as last summer, with many expats joining when visiting for their summer holidays, the lack of governance and business standardisation in many areas of trade and life in Bulgaria loom the further you go from Sofia. Insufficient and questionable transport links, mis-sold contracts to tourists, the lack of respect to tourists, dodgy local tourist agencies and cheap attitudes of hotel owners in a bad need of deck chairs and towels, soaps, working showers or good coffee machines in the burning heat, are not obligatory the best replacement of last year’s political upheaval. Online tourist services that have loomed in Bulgaria are being used as an extra excuse for a lack of accountability on the spot and the same goes for the local tourist agencies. If you ask for a refund because the services are poor, you may need to pay a penalty fee and so it goes, so in Bulgaria as before one can be strongly advised to never pay for any services in advance.
Bliznashki’s government pledges that it will fight to give back Bulgaria’s citizens good institutional governance and an active political participation, but has a very short time to do that, although it may succeed in many of its goals.
Meanwhile, sliding doors for the politicians and more summer holidays headaches for everyone else, so proliferating in packing your (summer) bags fast remains high on the Bulgarian ex-pats agenda.
Picture caption: Anti-Russian protests in London, following the events in Eastern Ukraine
Photo by Rumyana Vakarelska
Copyright Rumyana Vakarelska
