Galery

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Now, there are no alternative options of political "saviours" and a serious political vacuum is going to appear in Bulgaria. It is twice as frightening because the demands of protesters are full of national and social pathos. When the issues of national community and the issues of social justice and solidarity cross, it results in extreme events historically. This historical vacuum must find a way to let off steam somewhere, because even if the people have calmed down for the time being, their number in the streets will be much higher when they face the next difficulty. People have seen their power in the last protests. They have realized that their number is great and that they can bring about a change.

BSP seems to be the constant in the left wing in the Bulgarian political life. On the other hand, GERB has appeared and already succeeded in taking the power and now, it has ceded it. MRF is floating in the political space and sticking to whatever it can. Why doesn’t Bulgaria have a united right wing? What has happened to the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF)?

The traditional Bulgarian right wing did its historical job. It achieved its task, which was for Bulgaria to move from the former regime to the liberal democracy, to join NATO and the European Union. Good or bad, the system of liberal democracy in our country works. Nothing of the agenda of what we call right wing in Bulgaria has remained unfulfilled. So, the right wing did its job.

On the one hand, you are talking about a political vacuum and, on the other hand, Bulgaria does not have a united right wing. Couldn’t one be an answer to the other?

Yes it could but I think that what is being sought in Bulgaria today, the drive and the demands of the people in the street are rather left winged. We are in a situation in which all the new political projects called themselves rather right wing. I think for the first time now that the monopoly of BSP on the political left wing has been shaken. Whether we define the protests as left or right wing, they themselves carry the energy of social discontent, the energy of people who have suffered losses due to the social stratification. By any logic, the protests should have brought the wind to the sails of BSP, but it has not happened. They do not recognize the socialists as their political representatives and this time people are saying, "All parties are bad."

Let's go back to your original question about the right wing. It has its economic benchmarks as well. In Bulgaria, the class that would vote for the right wing is not so large as regards the established economic benchmarks. Beyond that, BSP is constant, unlike the right wing, because the former is the successor of the communist party. However, the right wing in its liberal trends has always been a more individualistic political trend, i.e. social cohesion and organizational unity are not the most important things. A number of circumstances have accumulated due to which the Bulgarian party system does not look like left and right wings. From the outset, politics in Bulgaria has had a solid left wing and alternating non-left opponents. For the first time, energy has been accumulated and conditions have been created for a new left wing that is not the left wing which is the successor of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) but stems from the results of the Bulgarian transition.

Bulgaria needs to pass tough measures, as you said earlier. I am asking you about the right wing because major changes are underway in Europe at present along with the turmoil in Bulgaria. There is a split as regards the degree of solidarity between the states of the union and the needs of fiscal humility in order to master the economic crisis. Rightwing forces are pushing for more reforms and less support whereas the left wing is pressing for more solidarity and not so strict fiscal austerity measures. Where is the balance?

At one time, there really was a dilemma in the European Union, which was like left and right, namely whether to tighten the belts or use the crisis to stimulate growth. It seems that a Solomon’s formula has been found to satisfy them both. I think the turning point was the elections in France. Europe is currently responding to the crisis by applying measures in both directions - savings are being made where necessary and incentives for growth are being offered where possible.

In Bulgaria, at present, none of the existing parties has an adequate answer to the question of what to do. I am even afraid that there will be a populist left shift that will quickly satisfy some specific demands of the protesters. There are promises of a forceful increase in salaries and pensions by introducing the respective legislation, despite the fact that there is nowhere to get the money for that. The spirits of the times in our country are not accidental and it is no coincidence that the Prime Minister himself (Borisov) was heard saying, "Our next programme should be more realistic."

Protests in Bulgaria continue for the time being. The government has already fallen. Why are the people protesting right now? Can you identify the boundaries and parameters of the demands of the protesters?

I would like to emphasize first of all that it is perfectly normal for the protests to be burdened with so many demands at one point that they will distort or change shape. Moreover, it is quite natural for the protest leaders themselves not to feel comfortable in their new public role because some of them were by chance on the shore and when the great political tsunami came, they found themselves on the crest of the wave.