The first three months of the government have not brought significant results, and the lack of clear political priorities and a strong opposition poses a risk of "political debauchery". This was said in the program "Bulgaria, Europe and the World in Focus" on Radio FOCUS by political scientist Hristo Panchugov.
According to him, the most visible action of the cabinet is the adoption of the budget, which, however, does not set a clear political direction.
"The government has done almost nothing substantial. We saw the adoption of a budget that was to some extent devoid of any serious political priorities. We saw a budget that brought together all the shortcomings of the government at that time, without setting a clear political line for the new government,“ said Panchugov.
According to him, the public actions of the ruling party have also not led to real results: “We saw many bright and visible political actions, none of which, however, ended with any meaningful and decisive actions“. In his words, it will still be clear "whether we will first see real investigations on the topics that were affected by the ruling party".
Panchugov defined the cabinet's foreign policy as "a frankly confused, devoid of priorities" foreign policy, which, according to him, contradicts previous positions of President Rumen Radev.
Regarding the risks facing the government, the political scientist warned that the lack of an effective opposition could have serious consequences.
"The only risk is related to the absolute majority, i.e. the lack of opposition and control over the decisions of the government, which leads to political debauchery", he said. According to Panchugov, the second risk is related to Bulgaria's place in the changing geopolitical environment.
Commenting on the actions against large retail chains and the idea of a "fair price", the political scientist said that he does not see any real effect.
"For me personally, nothing has changed either in the relations between large chains and their suppliers, or in the way in which the idea of a fair price was set", he said.
According to Panchugov, public fears about the deployment of American aircraft in Bulgaria are a consequence of long-standing political suggestions.
"The fears were used for specific political purposes. Now they are turning against their creators," he commented.
According to him, the main concern among people is uncertainty about the future. "We need a big story about how Bulgaria is changing. We need political leadership that calms these fears“, the political scientist emphasized.
Panchugov believes that the government should clearly formulate its foreign policy priorities, adopt a new national security strategy and, through the next budget, show whether it is truly a reformist government.
Regarding the presidential elections, he warned that at the moment “it seems that there is no competition“, which, according to him, is “the most serious threat to all elections“, as it demotivates voters.
According to the political scientist, the main problem of the opposition is that it has lost its own topics. “The opposition has lost the topics around which it can actually function“, he said.
In conclusion, Panchugov stated that the ruling party “is left without an opposition“, but this does not mean that they are without an alternative. "At this point, there is no clearly formulated political goal that would unite other segments of society," he added.