A Year of Loss: Bulgaria's Roads Claim 356 Lives Amid Soaring Accident Rates
Since the beginning of 2024, Bulgaria has reported over 5,600 serious traffic accidents, resulting in 356 fatalities and more than 7,000 injuries
Bulgaria’s capital Sofia has recently witnessed occupation of university buildings that have breathed new life into the anti-government movement.
But students, citizens and journalists are sharply divided over how right and efficient this type of protest is.
In all those endless monologues and discussions that fill most newspaper inches and broadcasts, there is only one true thing – Bulgaria is in deep crisis.
I do agree with protestors, who say there is only the appearance of democracy in Bulgaria.
I do agree with protestors' supporters who say the chaos and failure of the political elite to put the house in order have shaken Bulgarians out of their inertia.
But even if the best case scenario comes true, a Grand National Assembly is convened, new Constitution and new Electoral Code is drawn up, Bulgaria will not be able to put its house in order, mainly due to lack of traditions in civil society initiatives, unfavorable historical background and Balkan mentality of the majority of voters.
These voters may easily bring back to power Boyko Borisov, who was forced to resign in February by mass protests.
Or bank on the old crooks from the current government; throw common sense to the wind and vote for the ethnic Turks/the nationalists or give former European Commissioner Meglena Kuneva and some of the smaller parties another chance to give the country an EU facelift.
The others will simply refuse to go to the polls, leaving the outcome of the elections in the hands of pensioners, Roma people, manipulated voters and the formidable electoral machine of the ethnic Turks.
Bulgaria's transition is irreversible, but it does not take an expert to see that there is just one thing, which has stood the test of time and proved to be Bulgaria’s panacea - the Currency Board Arrangement.
If Bulgaria was not operating in a currency board regime with a stable exchange rate, Bulgarians' budgets and Bulgarian banks would have found themselves in hot waters, to put it mildly.
Why not apply a similar model for a certain period of time as far as politics and justice is concerned?
A Political Board Arrangement, managed directly by Brussels, may prove to be Bulgaria's chance for salvation.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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