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For two months, Bulgarians filled the streets every night to protest against the oligarchic mafia that has taken over the state and deeply infiltrated institutions such as the judiciary, the media and the security services.
The protesters are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Boiko Borisov and Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev, writes Politico.
Many Bulgarians resent that their prospects and those of their children are held back in the poorest state in the EU, where a mafia elite acts above the law and has tight control over the economy.
This summer’s crisis has provided striking examples of the growing insolence of the oligarchs.
According to recent polls, 80% of Bulgarians consider corruption to be widespread, while more than 70% generally support protests.
The protests turned violent and the police clashed with the protesters in a “great national uprising” last week.
Here are the explanations offered by Politico on how Bulgaria has entered a crisis of the rule of law.
Who is the Bulgarian Mafia?
Today’s oligarchs and mafia have their roots in the communist-era spy service, which filled the power vacuum amid bloody clashes in the 1990s.
They took over national industries and smuggled weapons and drugs.
Former state security fighter and agent Iliya Pavlov, who ran a conglomerate called Multigrup, was killed by a sniper in 2003, but will reappear in our history when we meet with his generation of secret police and other associates, who are still operating on a large scale. .
What was Borissov doing in the 1990s?
Borisov also has a tough man’s pedigree: a karate champion and bodyguard to former communist dictator Todor Zhivkov.
A prominent mobster accused him of being linked to a protectionist mob faction called SIC, but Borisov flatly denies this and calls himself an anti-corruption fighter.
However, the protesters and Bulgarian President Rumen Radev see him as the main protector of the mafia.
Are there organized crime murders in Bulgaria these days?
Not many. Bloodshed has decreased dramatically since the early 2000s. When the country joined the EU in 2007, Brussels had to impose judicial oversight, but some gangster groups continued to advance.
The EU push for judicial reform ultimately failed, and Bulgaria never condemned top politicians or mob bosses.
The current corruption crisis is partly due to the fact that, now without fears of repression from the EU, the oligarchs are reverting to the tactics of the 1990s to dominate the economy.
One of the protesters’ main complaints is that the EU continues to inject money, which largely feeds the mafia, without demanding respect for the rule of law.
So are EU funds part of the problem?
Yes. An agriculture minister and a deputy economy minister resigned last year in a scandal over the use of EU funds to build private villas.
Farmers say there are no farms that receive millions of euros in EU funds.
Infrastructure tenders, such as motorways, are divided into small portions so that as many partners as possible can receive European money.
Public works are often difficult, so new contracts and funds are constantly needed.
However, Brussels and Berlin did not criticize Borisov.
After all, he is a key ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the center-right European People’s Party.
What triggered the 2020 protests?
Hristo Ivanov, former Minister of Justice and head of the Da Bulgaria anti-corruption party, lit the tinderbox on July 7.
With a live broadcast on a Black Sea beach, Ivanov exposed how one of the country’s main power factors, Ahmed Dogan, honorary chairman of Bulgaria’s Turkish ethnic party (and also a Soviet-era agent named code Sava) occupy illegally public land for the palace that is their headquarters and marina and illegally use state security agents as guards.
Why did people go out on the street?
The tycoons taking over the beaches and mountains with hideous illegal constructions have long been a source of discontent, but this time the case has entered an explosive crisis of the rule of law.
President Radev, an ally of the Socialist Party, intervened to insist that Dogan and his party’s strong ally, media mogul Delyan Peevski, were not entitled to state protection.
In what was seen as revenge, Chief Prosecutor Gheşev’s judicial system attacked the presidency and arrested two of Radev’s aides.
Ivanov accused Dogan and Peevsky of hijacking the judicial system. Protesters, seeing Gheşev cross a red line, filled the streets on July 9.
How did Borisov react?
Borisov has been in trouble since the beginning of the crisis, protecting Dogan and Peevsky, whom the protesters see as allies.
Eventually, the protests accumulated such an impact that Dogan and Peevski were forced to resign from their state security agents.
After other revelations across the political spectrum, Borisov also stepped in to prevent Dogan from using a Black Sea power plant for personal gain.
By then, anger over the blatant politicization of the judiciary had started to flare.
What is the problem in court?
Many of the increasingly troubling revelations in recent months center on how the judiciary, backed by gunmen but watched by police, has been used to bring down businessmen, sometimes in fights between oligarchs.
In two cases, businessmen denounced that the Judiciary threatened to suspend the medical treatment of some relatives if they did not transfer a series of goods.
Why do the banners of some protesters refer to the eight dwarfs?
The Eight Dwarfs is the name of a restaurant in Sofia where an encounter took place that came to symbolize national unrest.
Bulgaria’s anti-corruption fund, a social transparency group, told the story of how prosecutors helped seize an elevator company by threatening the owner at this restaurant.
Why do gangsters want an elevator factory? We are talking about those EU funds again. EU that will share money for the restoration of old blocks in Bulgaria.
The business owner pointed to Peevski as the force behind his takedown, but Peevski, through his own media outlets, called those allegations fanciful.
Another highly controversial case involves two battery-producing brothers, who claim to have been unfairly attacked by the judiciary, while prosecutors accuse them of improper waste management.
What are the Borisov government and prosecutors saying about this?
This is where the smoke and mirror games begin. Judicial officials present themselves as the good guys who protect humble and elderly Bulgarians from criminals and say that there is a sinister army of oligarchs who lie about crusader prosecutors.
Gheșev said he would “objectively” look at this elevator company case, regardless of whether it involves “eight dwarfs, ten tiny blacks or some other comic character.”
However, there is widespread skepticism that this case is carefully investigated.
Prosecutors and the government blame much of the protests on a casino baron named Vasil “Skull” Bozhkov, who also claims that the state extorted millions of euros from him.
They say he and other businessmen are funding the protests.
On the other hand, the center-right and far-right camp around Borisov claim that the protests are part of a plot to bring Radev and the pro-Moscow socialist party to power.
In fact, Borisov and his GERB party also maintain cordial ties with the Kremlin.
But don’t these arguments convince the protesters?
No. There are too many signs of the emergence of captured and politicized institutions.
In the last shift, the owner of a toy store chain called Hippoland even told the Bulgarian press that the authorities are investigating him for tax irregularities as soon as he expressed his support for the protests.
The government said the timing of the searches was “accidental”, but some protesters are now bringing toys to solidarity rallies.
But I’m sure I’m fine if I don’t have a toy store or an elevator company.
Not really. Frustration is growing in relation to a nationally owned political culture in which links to GERB are needed to secure a job, such as a cleaning agent in a city hall or a mid-level promotion in a GERB-related business. state.
Even small businesses need to pay attention to local officials, even in one notorious case, on hot dogs.
Corruption by the elites is linked to incurable poverty for the majority of Bulgarians and to unprecedented emigration rates around the world.
Didn’t you say that we would meet Iliya Pavlov again?
It is helpful to remember who attended your funeral in 2003.
A WikiLeaks telegram shows that then-US Ambassador James Pardew notes that Dogan was there and “made no attempt to hide his close relationship with the assassinated Chairman of the Multigroup.
Bozhkov “Skull” was also there. The then prime minister (and former king) sent a eulogy.
And to complete the happy picture, Pavlov appears on a walk with a young Peevski.
It is no wonder that the Bulgarian protesters want to take back their country.
