“First Development”. This slogan for decades has summarized the tactic of the European Union to the Eastern Bloc states, preferring the proper functioning of markets as the first step of convergence with other European countries. However, there have also been persistent exceptions, with Bulgaria being one of the most emblematic and what is happening in the last month confirming this particularity.
The key date here is July 8th and the arrest of the Mayor of Varna and his political opposition coalition “We continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria” (PP-DB), Blagomir Kochev, with the charge of embezzlement. He categorically denies the accusations, referring to a politically motivated case, while thousands of citizens have taken to the streets in Varna, Sofia and other urban centers, accusing the government of manipulating justice.
Convergence or Euroscepticism?
This is not the first case that an elected opposition politician faces criminal prosecution, as well as Deputy Mayor Sofia, Nikola Barbutov, who also belongs to the same opposition bloc, was arrested with similar accusations. It is also not the first time that the country has been shocked by protests against corruption – and in 2020 mass demonstrations had been held when again the Conservative ruling Gerb party, with the prime minister then Bulgaria’s long -standing leader Boyko Borisov, was in power. It is worth noting that Kochev’s arrest coincided with a report by the Commission published on the same day that the mayor of Varna was arrested and spoke of “eroding the independence of justice” and “political interventions”.
One would say that this is a weird news if we consider that just at the beginning of June, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the Council of Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) gave the “green light” for Bulgaria’s integration into the eurozone from January 1, 20. Public debt and fixed interest rates, while the exchange rate of the Bulgarian Leva was set at 1,95583 per euro.
In other times and under other circumstances, the above would constitute a completely positive development for the overwhelming majority of Bulgarian society. But no longer. According to a study conducted on behalf of the Eurobarometer and recorded the general trends of April, half of the citizens of the neighboring country are negative about adopting the common European currency, considering that its adoption will have more negative impacts for themselves.
It is a good attitude if one considers that millions of Bulgarians who lived bankruptcies of banks, financial crises and the painful transition of the 1990s, their currency, Lev, more than a note is a symbol of stability and economic independence. It was this coincidence of uncertainty and national pride that led thousands of protesters on the streets in June, demanding a referendum on the country’s accession to the eurozone and with the main organizer being the far -right and pro -Russian Renaissance party.
The request – rejected by the Parliament because it was resistant to the National Constitution and the terms of the EU Connection Agreement – was also supported by Bulgarian President Roumen Radev, expressing his worries about adapting to the new currency and calling for Bulgaria’s accession to Bulgaria.
Crisis between Berlin and Sofia
As if the domestic turmoil did not arrive, the bilaterals emerged. Thus, those who participated in recent demonstrations argue that the reason the government stays in the brusse of Brussels is none other than the
The fact that the leader of the Commission Ursula von der Laien is a member of the German Christian Democrats (CDU), a party belonging to the same European parliamentary alliance with the ruling Gerb.
The government’s response came through the sharpening of relations, on the occasion of the decision of the ambassador of Germany to participate in a demonstration in Varna, thus expressing – at least silently – solidarity with the opposition mayor and his supporters. This action was described as “unprecedented” by Sofia and the Foreign Ministry sent a formal protest to Berlin, denouncing “immediate intervention in the country’s internal judicial cases.”
A country, two ‘souls’
In this explosive mix of correlations and returning to the Eurobarometer findings, the negative mood of the majority of citizens to extend the costly military support to Ukraine, a tendency combined with the timeless presence of strong pro -Russian feelings.
Is there a way out of this state of Janus, in a country where two “souls” seem to coexist in the opposite direction? “The point is that other Bulgarians see themselves as Europeans, while others as a special Balkan people. And there is also the Russia factor, whether you are a friend or anti -Russian, “said Plamen Ralchev, a professor of international relations at the University of Sofia’s National and World Economics, speaking to Euronews.
Given the political liquidity – six times national elections have been held in four years – the rise of the popularity of Eurosceptic parties, the collapse of any concept of international architecture amidst the diplomatic “hurricane” Trump, and the most likely not so much a state of Europe, Bulgaria the only confident prediction.
