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“Why do you support the mafia in Bulgaria?”
Are you blind or are you also corrupt?
“Shame on you hypocrites!”
These questions and exclamations are an insignificant part of the reactions of protesting Bulgarians directed at representatives of the European People’s Party, but they are a brilliant summary of the spirits provoked by the leading party with its behavior towards the Sofia government.
The anger is based on the posters during the protests, as well as the social media profiles of Manfred Weber, Donald Tusk, the EPP and the Maltese Roberta Mezzola.
It seems that the Bulgarians are parting ways with one of their latest illusions: that they can unconditionally trust Brussels when the Bulgarian institutions have turned their backs on them and are inactive. When money from European funds is “absorbed” by schemes and does not fulfill its main objective of increasing prosperity, filling the gap between East and West in the EU, boosting the economy, elevating the poorest regions. On the contrary, probably thanks to European funds, Bulgaria has a record in terms of social inequality. Here the rich are very rich and the poor are very poor.
However, to consider the European institutions as a whole, lacking in political and party dynamics, would be a mistake.
The truth is that the great disappointment came from the leading group of the European Parliament, the European People’s Party; the foundation on which GERB, governance and self-confidence are built.
The PPE group spread an umbrella over GERB and Borisov after being silent for almost 90 days.
The European People’s Party, the European Commission or the Parliament do not eliminate or raise national governments. But the lack of clear support has fueled hopes that Borisov will be given a signal worthy of a dignified withdrawal.
Expectations have been misled by today’s date, but let’s return the tape to the start of the Bulgarian revolt.
In July, when the yellow cobblestones filled people, the chairman of the EPP faction, Manfred Weber, took advantage of Bulgaria’s admission into the so-called “waiting room” of the eurozone and expressed his strong support for the “Bulgarian government” of Boyko Borissov in his efforts to protect the economy from negative consequences. of the Kovid-19 crisis, the fight against corruption and progress in the process of joining the eurozone “.
Note, “in the fight against corruption” …
It is obvious that at this initial stage the situation was highly underestimated. Obviously, there was an expectation that the protests would be another “storm in a glass of water” sparked by a generally patient people. A scandal that in turn will pass, as there have been a series of other failures since the start of the current cabinet’s term.
At the same time, again in July, HDZ leader Annegret Kramp-Karenbauer was in Sofia (July 16), but there was no news in the government’s statement that she supported Borissov.
On the other hand, the press center of the Council of Ministers overreached a week ago, when it announced Donald Tusk’s support for Borissov after a conversation with our Prime Minister. Tusk had to inform the audience more correctly, writing on Twitter: “I had an open conversation today with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. The country has come a long way during his tenure, but challenges remain. More are needed. reforms in relation to the rule of law, the independent judiciary and the fight against corruption, the fundamental values of the EPP. Democracy in Bulgaria will have its last word in the elections. “
Weber also commented on the social network after a conversation with Borissov, noting that Bulgaria’s assessment in the European Commission’s follow-up report was fair, but improvements were needed. And at the end of the short post, he made an identical reference to the election as Tusk’s: “I respect the protesters, but the March elections will be decisive.”
It is obvious that what GERB achieved in August and September is to convince its partners in the PPE to support them until the ordinary elections. That is, to avoid the nightmare scenario with a president’s office.
At the same time, the monitoring of our country for the rule of law and corruption continues, even doubles. One time especially for us about SMEs, and the second time about the new evaluation mechanism for all EU countries.
In this situation, we could have described what happened as a semi-support, if it were not for two giant blunders, which in colloquial language we would call “shoot”.
The first is that the Bulgarian representative in the PPE group, Radan Kanev, did not have the floor to speak in the room during the debate on the Bulgarian resolution. In a statement, Kanev was cut off and submitted his charge in writing. The EPP did not allow critical votes.
The second blunder is the modifications that the Maltese representative Roberta Mezzola decided to make in the resolution critical of the Sofia authorities.
We will not repeat them, but in general, they shared the blame between the prime minister and the president, passing the ball to a “prominent tycoon”, understands Bozhkov, as financing the protests. (Mezzola seemed to be taking notes as he listened to Alexander Yordanov.) In general, they purposely blurred the image that the Western media brilliantly portrayed, sparing no weapons, lockers, the sharp deficits of democracy in Bulgaria, the genesis of the mafia, the appropriateness of the protests.
The scandalous Mezzola amendments were rejected, but the bitter taste remained, and on the social network the MEP was overwhelmed by questions about how much money she took to implement the changes. It can be assumed that in Bulgaria Mezzola is already as famous as in his native Malta. It was even forced to control the appearances of Bulgarians in its publications, apparently removing some of them. (Among them was the BULEXIT hashtag, but it is not worth leaving the European Union for a Mezzola).
In short, the European People’s Party failed in Bulgaria.
Radan Kanev must really think carefully about whether to remain in the EPP group in the European Parliament or continue to offer a compromise reading of what happened.
In an interview with Deutsche Welle Kanev he stated the following:
– “For the first time, the EPP clearly realizes that GERB is a problem for him, not a pride”.
– “The party leadership and individual members see very clearly that if they support the Bulgarian government, they have to pay a very high political price, in Bulgaria and in front of the European public opinion. And consequently, this support no longer comes unconditionally as before, but arrives in very difficult conditions: Bulgaria to immediately start reforms, which it has been putting off for ten years. “
“The EPP is trying to give the Bulgarian government one last chance.”
Last chance. Right ?! The opportunity comes after years of tolerance, despite the scandals over the GERB government, despite Bulgaria’s poor performance in the last ten years, despite the lack of evident progress on key indicators of the state of democracy, such as the fight against corruption, freedom of the press and the rule of law.
The EPP closed its eyes in 2008, when it accepted GERB into its ranks and when the party was the new star in the sky of the right in Bulgaria. Ergo, it would bring them more seats in the European Parliament.
The EPP also closed in 2017, when GERB entered a coalition with nationalist formations. Something in Germany, for example, is taboo for Merkel’s party.
Today, 12 years later, the number of MEPs and the influence that the EPP seeks through its parties at the national level is even more valuable as support declines.
In the last European elections, the leading power at the European level had to take into account the electoral ebb. The EPP and the Socialists in the European Parliament lost the majority and, after a high participation in the Old Continent, the balance sheets of the institution changed drastically. New political freaks like the Greens, with a heavy emphasis on fighting corruption on their platform, can now dictate the conditions.
The traditional parties are no longer what they were and in this case Bulgaria the change is visible.
The EPP did not impose its point of view on GERB and Borissov, and the critical resolution was adopted with 358 votes of socialists, leftists, greens, liberals.
The Bulgarian question appeared on the European stage, despite resistance from the EPP. The EPP problem is called Victor Orban. But the problem of the Bulgarians is called Borissov and they expected appropriate reactions, not bastions in the language of Brussels.
With the support it gave the government, the European People’s Party came into clear conflict with the values it proclaimed (the rule of law, an independent judiciary and the fight against corruption, according to Tusk).
There is potentially good news in the Bulgarian political drama, which has spread to the European level. In the last European elections, activity in Bulgaria was very different from that in Europe. It was critically low here, while in Europe it grew notably among the younger generation, who turned out to be a “green” voter.
Here the majority of Bulgarian citizens see no reason to go to the polls. The good news is that this is likely to change. The Bulgarians already have a better understanding of what is at stake in European politics, they go into details. What has happened is tightening the layers, clarifying the attitude towards parties at the pan-European level. For the next European elections, more Bulgarian voters will find a reason to vote and will be as active as on social media under posts by Tusk, Mezzola, Weber.
And let’s not forget it, also in March, as the Europeans of the EPP call us.
Author: Tanya Dzhoeva
Source: Epicenter
Bulgaria
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