Bulgarian Police Sponsors: Rules, Exceptions or Where the Dog Lies Buried
With the start of the week, Bulgarian Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, finally gave in to the EC pressure, and signed the order effectively banning donations to the police from private businesses and individuals.
EC strongly condemned the corrupt donation practice (with even people under investigation allowed to be police sponsors) in its annual report on Bulgaria, prompting Prime Minister Borisov to pledge that the occurrence would be eradicated.
After twists, trepidations and denials, Tsvetanov had no other recourse, but to sign the famous ban.
It is vague, though, how and why the date of September 1 was chosen, instead of making it effective immediately? Maybe a small extension and/or push for those wishing to make the list of protected sponsors?
On the other hand side, according to an investigative journalistic report, in the first half of 2011, the Interior received from donations the staggering for Bulgaria amount of BGN 15 M, all while Bulgarian police in general have low pay, deplorable working conditions, 20-century or older computers, shortage of uniforms, on and on and on...
Understated and underreported, distant from the headlines, remained the fact that the ban allows "few" exceptions such as donations from local municipalities and State-owned structures and companies.
And that's where the dog lies buried... When rules start having exceptions, they often are no longer rules. Cash-strapped, depleted, subsidized Bulgarian municipalities and State companies will donate to the police?
The Bulgarian Dnevnik daily reports that all mayors they were able to talk to declared full readiness to donate, but had no idea where the money would come from... "Some, more gullible, however, said private companies and individuals would donate to the municipality and the latter – to the police..."
As they say in Bulgaria – law and rules are an open gate in an open field...
Now, to the EC and its Spokesperson, Mark Gray, reiterating condemnations of the practice and pointing out "each donation ...is unacceptable, be it money or any kind of material valuables," we certainly seem a bunch of small time cheats going through open gates on an open field somewhere in the outskirts of Europe.
We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!
How many Times were Diplomatic Relations between Russia and Bulgaria Severed
If we look at history, there are not many cases in which relations between Bulgaria and Russia at the state level were as bad as they are at the moment.
Boycott of Moscow's Victory Day Parade Helps New Iron Curtain Fall
The term “Iron Curtain” was not coined by Winston Churchill, but it was he who turned it into one of the symbols of the latter part of the twentieth century by using it in his famous Fulton speech of 1946.
Good Nationalists, Bad Nationalists and Pro-European Governments
Hardly anything could be said in defense of the new government's ideological profile, which is quite blurry; at the same time much can be disputed about its future "pro-European" stance.
Hypo Alpe Adria – The Final Rip-Off
Look who is lurking again behind the corner – the tandem of Advent International and Deutsche Bank, respectively the buyer of the Bulgarian Telecom Company in 2004 and the advisor of the Bulgarian government in the sweetest deal of the past decade, seem t
A Caretaker Government Is Not Needed at All
We have seen many times this circus which is being played out during the entire week and it only shows one thing - there is no need of a caretaker government in Bulgaria.
A Broad-Minded Bulgarian Government
You have certainly noticed how many times President Rosen Plevneliev used the phrase “a broad-minded person” referring to almost every member of his caretaker government.