Tag: Bulgaria

Manfred Weber and Bulgaria: Is There a Dual Standard on the Rule of Law?

.Reading time 14 minutes.

Manfred Weber is a changed man. In May 2018, he warned that people should not “point fingers” at Orban who was not a “bad European.” After months of turning his eyes away from the Hungarian rule of law crisis, on the day of the vote on the activation of Article 7(1) of the Treaty on the European Union against Hungary (12 September 2018), he did a 180 degree turn. ‘Today I will vote in favour of triggering #Article7. I have always been in favour of building bridges and I want to continue to do so but yesterday I didn’t see any readiness from the Hungarian PM to make a move towards his EU partners and address our concerns. #Hungary,” he posted on Twitter. Four days later, Financial Times reported he was already concerned not only about Hungary, but also about Poland, Romania, and possibly other countries.

If you follow my blog, however, you probably know that Bulgaria’s democracy and rule of law are in a critical condition (if you do not, consider reading, for instance,  All You Need to Know About Bulgaria’s Rule of Law in 10 Charts). So, while I appreciate the evolution of Weber’s views, I am troubled that he did not mention Bulgaria as a country he is worried about. Manfred Weber is running for President of the European Commission, so his opinion, fickle as it may be, can have huge consequences for the rule of law debate, which will surely continue to haunt EU institutions.

Is there something I am missing from the big picture? I carried out a Twitter survey to find out how Weber’s awkward silence on Bulgaria could be explained.

Shall we see what the survey found?

Read More

Why Do EU Politicians Avoid Discussing Bulgaria’s Rampant Corruption and Lack of Rule of Law? Dissecting the Silence!

.Reading time 12 minutes.

As a scholar with a research interest in the rule of law and as a Bulgarian citizen, I have been asking this question for a long time. For the sake of giving credit where credit is due, it is worth mentioning that the European Greens tried to raise concern about Bulgaria’s rampant corruption at the start of Bulgaria’s Presidency of the Council of the EU in January 2018 by publishing a critical report and by directly confronting Bulgaria’s Prime Minister on the matter at the European Parliament. However, they have progressively quieted down.

To be fair, the Greens are not in a position to do much either. Yet, what about the EPP, the Progressives or ALDE which is known for its motto “Values First”? These are the three largest groups at the European Parliament and all of them have members from Bulgaria.

At the end of August 2018, I carried out an improvised Twitter survey to see if my followers shared my worries (Figure 1). 36 people voted and 2 users who missed the deadline to cast their vote sent me separate comments, as we will see below.

So let’s see what the survey found?

Read More

Vlog Post: The Presumption of Guilt in Bulgaria

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Contrary to the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and Directive 2016/343 on the presumption of innocence, Bulgaria’s Prosecutor’s Office consistently applies a presumption of guilt!

Spectacular televised arrests, violence against suspects, destruction of proof, and simulation of trials are common in the country.

Read More

Vlog Post: #eu2018bg The Mass Bulgarian Exodus

.Reading time 1 minute.

Do you know that Bulgaria is the fastest shrinking nation in the world according to the United Nations? Are you aware that Bulgaria has the third highest mortality rate in the world according to the CIA Factbook? Have you heard that there are more Bulgarians working abroad than in Bulgaria? Have you realized that Bulgarians give up their Bulgarian citizenship?

Read More

Criminal Corporate Raiding in Bulgaria

.Reading time 8 minutes.

Criminal corporate raiding and legal nihilism are concepts coined to reflect Russian reality. Yet, the illegal takeover of private businesses and selective prosecution are common in some EU member states like Bulgaria, too. Of course, Bulgaria, which is currently presiding the Council of the EU, isn’t the average newcomer. In contrast to other former-communist countries in Eastern Europe which made their way to the EU, Bulgaria didn’t face a revolution. The Bulgarian communist regime fell under the pressure of its own weight – one wing of the omnipotent Communist Party trumped another. And this made all the difference.

Read More

Vlog Post: #eu2018bg Some Realism about Bulgaria’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union

.Reading time 1 minute.

In December 2017, shortly before the Bulgarian government officially announced its priorities for its Presidency of the Council of the EU, I published a blog post entitled ‘The Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU: The Emperor Has No Clothes.’ I explained why it is troublesome that a state which repeatedly violates EU law and struggles with corruption would set the agenda of the Council and why it has no capacity to lead in any of the areas it chose to focus on during the Presidency.

Read More

The Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU: The Emperor Has No Clothes

.Reading time 13 minutes.

As you may or may not know, every six months one of the Member States of the European Union assumes the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union (also known as Council of Ministers). In practice, this means that the current government of the presiding Member State determines the agenda of the aforementioned Council, sets a work program aimed at enhancing the policies of the European Union, and chairs the planned meetings.

Read More

The Rise of Modern European Dictatorships and EU’s Dual Standards on Human Rights

.Reading time 28 minutes.

While most Western commentators focus on Brexit, something much more troublesome is taking place on the East end of the European Union (EU)—the rise of modern European “dictatorships.” Many former-communist countries, which are now members of the EU, are restoring the repressive practices typical of times gone by. In 2015, for instance, the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker famously greeted Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban with “Hello, dictator.” Whereas Juncker was probably trying to demonstrate his famous awkward sense of humor, the joke is on millions of EU citizens whose fundamental rights are consistently abused by East European “dictators” like Orban. Paradoxically, nonetheless, these modern dictators have more tools in their arsenal for targeting political and economic opponents compared to their communist predecessors—European law and international treaties. In other words, you have failed democracies which misuse national and supranational legal instruments alike for political vendettas and often—purges.

While Hungary is one of the examples which is often discussed in the media, by far, it is not the only EU state, which suffers from a democratic deficit. Although contexts differ, democratic values are also challenged in Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, etc. What is striking and worrisome, however, is EU institutions’ dual standards on the rule of law and human rights, in particular. Read More