By ANATOLY VERBIN
Reuters
A plot to assassinate the pope; an "emperor" toeing the Kremlin's line for 35 years; a dissident murdered in a foreign capital with a poisoned umbrella -- for years such impressions were the world's image of Bulgaria.
The image has changed. But after 12 years of shaky reforms marred by charges of corruption at the top, is Bulgaria's image good enough for a European Union and NATO hopeful?
The re-invention of the image began in 1989 with the downfall of Todor Zhivkov, the veteran post-war dictator described by a former Soviet leader as "the Chinese Emperor of the Balkans."
But the most recent impressions have been left by a year of bizarre, though democratic, elections in 2001, which have done little to clarify the picture.
In June, a parliamentary poll made the country's former King Simeon II prime minister. Then a November presidential election brought a former communist to power, Socialist Party leader Georgi Parvanov.
Despite limited presidential powers, many question how two men with such different backgrounds and political obligations could cohabit peacefully.
"Its main problem now is image," said a senior Western diplomat in Sofia. "Ordinary people and investors alike answer `no' when asked whether they want to come to Bulgaria."
Bulgaria's new internationalism is a far cry from the intrigue of Zhivkov's regime, which was suspected of backing a 1981 attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II.
Its appeals for foreign investment contrast sharply with the sinister events of 1978, when a communist agent used a poisoned umbrella to assassinate defector Georgi Markov on London's Waterloo Bridge.
The country even managed to keep its distance from a decade of conflicts accompanying the collapse of Yugoslavia, but investors still are not rushing in.
Since 1992, it has managed to attract a meager $4 billion in investment, one of the lowest levels in the region.
"It is absolutely not easy to make business in Bulgaria and the main reasons are the lack of transparency and lack of institutional structures," said Ken Lefkowitz, country director ofVienna, Austria-based investment bank EPIC, which has invested in the tobacco industry and cosmetics in Bulgaria.
Lefkowitz, who married a Bulgarian last year, added: "My wife is the best investment I have made in this country."
Bulgaria surprised the EU last month by saying it planned to wrap up accession talks by 2003 and join the bloc in the first wave of enlargement, which Brussels plans for 2004.
The Balkan state earlier had cited 2006 as its EU target entry date and some experts feel even that may be too ambitious, given Bulgaria's poverty.
The sudden change of target date triggered a dismissive response from EU enlargement commissioner Guenter Verheugen.
"You would need magical powers for that. It is a Harry Potter approach," said Verheugen, referring to the character in the best-selling books of J.K. Rowling.
"My advice would be not to create expectations which are too high and cannot be met, because that could lead to disappointment," he said.
Disappointment is much more than a possibility.
Popular anger over widespread poverty ensured victory for the former king's 2-month-old movement in the June poll.
By November, disappointment with the government brought defeat for President Petar Stoyanov, backed both by Simeon and the center-right UDF Party.
"People have completely lost faith in words coming from politicians," said Neri Terzieva, a top Stoyanov aide.
"They do not trust anyone anymore."
Not without reason.
Two of the most popular words among ordinary Bulgarians -- whose average monthly salary is slightly more than $100 -- is delavera, a Turkish word meaning fraud, and mente, which means counterfeit products.
Delavera relates to shadowy businesses while mente is their frequent product.
Still, there is no doubt that the nation of some 8 million people is on the right -- but painful -- track.
Bulgaria's reform efforts have won strong backing from the West and an IMF mission praised the recent reform track by striking a funding deal with the government on Dec. 13.
A manager of an international company, trading commodities in Bulgaria, summed it up in simple words. "You have to be crazy to stay in a crazy country, but after all, the future belongs to Central and Eastern Europe."
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