Bulgaria's admission to the eurozone against the backdrop of: arrests, the European Commission's annual report on the rule of law in Bulgaria, changes to the Law on the Anti-Corruption Commission and five years since Hristo Ivanov and Ivaylo Mirchev disembarked on the banks of the Rosenets in front of Ahmed Dogan's summer house, commented on "Mrezhata" on the "Hristo Botev" program; Vesselin Stoynev, author at "Deutsche Welle" and deputy editor-in-chief of BGlobal.
What has changed in these five years
""Bulgaria is very slowly and painfully moving towards Europe, but it is not moving in any way. The essential problem of our country is that it is not a state of law.
Bulgaria will become European, entering the eurozone, but it will remain a deeply lawless state with severe corruption deficits, dependencies, it will remain a conquered state. Obviously, the EU cannot in any way move us from this bottom, because before these reports on the rule of law we had many years of monitoring that was supposed to move us in this direction and in the end it fell away ingloriously, with almost no effect."
Five years after Rosenets
"Over these five years there were countless declarations that we would fight corruption, but what happened? Obviously, the conquered state is very seriously conquered, and the forces of the democratic community, trying to change the institutions and legislation, are not well concentrated and are scattered every time, and are cut down and even destroyed every time by those who conquer the state, and it becomes stronger and more conquered."
How can citizens understand who is conquering us
"First, for the eurozone, Mr. Borisov has been in power for at least 12 years. During these 12 years, we could have entered the eurozone many times, as the Baltic states did. The merit goes to all governments over the last 5 years, including the caretaker ones, whatever they may be. Not to mention that at the very beginning of this year, during the GERB mandate, in January, the same Temenuzhka Petkova, who is now receiving applause for our admission to the eurozone, refused to submit a convergence report, talking about a huge hole in the budget. Bulgaria is currently walking a very difficult, slow and uncertain path.
I am also afraid of the so-called "civilizational choice", because I am not convinced that we are very firmly with a pro-Western, and not a pro-European position. Even if we are in the eurozone, it may turn out that this is not a final guarantee.
Especially when we have such a conquered country and especially with the person at the head of this conquest, who very easily changes his geopolitical views. We are talking about Peevski, who from being the first supporter of Ukraine and the frontman of the arms supply last year and the year before, was the first to abandon Ukraine with the change in the White House, so single-handedly and directly. So we are not sure what he will do. It is obvious that the government is entirely dependent on him and no one hides it anymore. Only Peevski's will will decide whether and for how long he will last this government."
Why Temenuzhka Petkova, instead of the one who lost the Roadmap, is now the minister who brought Bulgaria into the eurozone
"The real fighters for our European integration and for our rule of law - this is the entire democratic community in Bulgaria, with different political representations over the years - these people did not crown themselves with the historical ribbon of victory. The others, who were always either on the hesitant or the opposing side of this battle, were crowned. Same names, same people, same addictions that are getting deeper and deeper. Same cop tricks."
The arrests in Varna
"This is even a much more striking case of abuse of power than the previous Sofia cases with the district mayors. In a sense, even this case with the Varna mayor somehow convincingly retells the previous ones and says that they are like that too. So this is an absolute own goal, but unfortunately it does not bring any negative to the guarantors. Society is quite resigned or is already at sea. And although there were many people in Varna and Sofia at protests, they were too insufficient to show any strength and indignation. Because this is not about whether someone is clean or corrupt. It is about a demonstration of strength. We have a demonstration of brutal arbitrariness with power."
"Peevski is carrying out a coup d'état and there is no one to stop him".
"Except for us, the citizens. Here, they waited for him to enter the eurozone and started these police tricks, and finally, so that it doesn't seem like it's just because he's only against the PP or the PPDB, we've now included "Botas".
Suddenly the authorities remembered that they could do something. This urgency should have been the next day after the contract was signed, or if you like, after Rosen Hristov, known as the Catamaran or the Cabriolet, testified in parliament. Now it has become clear that this is a huge harm to the national interest. This is about billions, not about a woman who has a public procurement contract for 5 million returned. Clear selectivity. There is no justice, there simply is none. They have PR actions with clubs, and the clubs are the repressive organs of the state. These are the CPC, the Prosecutor's Office in the administrative part, the Supreme Administrative Court."
How far can this go
"We don't need to look too far to the East at more authoritarian and satrapy regimes.
It is enough to look at countries that were more developed than us - Hungary and Slovakia. We are at their level. Orban conquered the media, the judiciary, business, football fans, everything. Finally, this erupted in the 200,000-strong protest in Budapest, and we have had a real political alternative there for several months now. This could happen here too, if the political forces of the so-called "democratic community" do not wage this self-destructive war. We have been sitting in almost the same place for 20 years and are even returning to the starting position."