The Hidden Constitution of Bulgaria - corruption! This is perhaps the most accurate description of the Bulgarian social model in recent decades. Everyone speaks against corruption, everyone condemns it, everyone wants it to be fought, and in the end, cases like “Baba Alino“, “Hemusgate“, “The Eight Dwarfs“ and a whole bunch of other similar cases emerge. But also, almost everyone is ready to make an exception when it comes to their own interest, their own person, a personal favor or access to power and resources. Article one of the hidden Constitution of corruption simply states: Corruption is everything I do not participate in! (ed. – it is also shared as a joke, but it is rather the pure truth)
Therefore, the real problem of Bulgaria is not that there is corruption. The problem is that corruption has become a parallel system of governance. In a hidden Constitution that stands above the official Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria.
On paper, the state is governed by laws, institutions and rules. In practice, however, decisions are often made by a completely different mechanism – through dependencies, intermediaries, party appointments, economic circles and informal agreements.
This hidden constitution has not been published in the State Gazette. It is not studied in law schools. But everyone knows it.
Its first principle is that ties are stronger than the law.
This is perhaps the most honest formulation of the public hypocrisy that keeps the system alive. The Bulgarian hates corruption when he is excluded from it. He condemns it when the other person wins. He is outraged when a foreign person is appointed, a foreign company wins the contract, a foreign intermediary gains access to power.
But when it comes to his person, his child, his business, his service, morality suddenly becomes flexible. Then corruption is renamed "help", "service", "contact", "connection", "settlement", "fixing things".
This is how society creates a unique moral paradox. Almost everyone is against corruption in principle and ready to justify it in a specific case. Everyone sees another's violation as a public problem and their own as a necessity.
That is why corruption does not survive despite public outrage. It survives thanks to it. Because the outrage is rarely directed against the mechanism itself. It is directed against the fact that someone else has taken advantage of it.
The second - that the rules apply to those who have no influence.
In theory, the state is built on the principle of equality before the law. In reality, the law often looks more like a recommendation for the weak and an obstacle that the strong know how to circumvent.
For the average citizen, the institutions are strict, formal and inflexible. A missing document, an overdue deadline, an unpaid fee or an administrative error can become an insurmountable wall. The system is merciless to a person without connections.
But when people with political influence, economic power or the “right” contacts stand against the same rules, the law suddenly becomes amazingly flexible. Procedures are accelerated. Inspections are delayed. Sanctions are dropped. Investigations get lost in the labyrinth of institutions. The obvious ceases to be obvious.
This is how the real division in society arises. Not between left and right. Not between rich and poor. But between people for whom the rules are mandatory and people for whom they are optional.
In such a system, the law ceases to be an arbiter. It becomes an instrument for disciplining the powerless and a decoration for the privileged.
The most dangerous thing is that citizens begin to get used to this. They stop expecting justice and begin to seek patronage. Instead of relying on the law, they rely on acquaintances. Instead of looking for institutions, they look for intermediaries. Thus, the state is gradually replaced by a network of dependencies.
The third – that power is a means of distributing benefits, not of protecting the public interest.
In a democratic state, power is a temporary mandate given by citizens to manage common resources. In the hidden Constitution, power is an investment. It must be repaid.
Elections are not a competition of ideas, but a battle for access to a resource. State institutions are not perceived as a mechanism for solving public problems, but as territories to be mastered. Ministries, agencies, regulators, state-owned enterprises and municipalities become positions on a huge map of influence.
After every political change, society listens to promises of a new beginning. But often only the names of the people who gain access to the privileges change. The model itself remains intact.
That is why so many public resources disappear without any visible result. That is why highways cost more than necessary, and hospitals, schools and infrastructure often remain unfinished or ineffective. Not because the state does not have the funds, but because a significant part of the system's energy is directed at distributing benefits instead of creating public value.
When power becomes a source of rent, politics ceases to be a public service. It becomes a business model.
That is why Bulgaria continues to resemble a classic example of a conquered state. A conquered state does not simply mean corrupt politicians. It means a system in which corruption addictions permeate all branches of government - legislative, executive and judicial. From the top of state government to the last municipal administration.
The parliament adopts laws that often serve specific interests. Governments change, but the mechanisms of influence remain. Regulators often become protectors of the sectors they are supposed to control. The judicial system has been suspected of political and economic dependence for years.
At the local level, the picture is no different. There, corruption has a more human face - public procurement, appointments, building permits, municipal properties, local monopolies.
In small settlements, dependence is often so strong that citizens are afraid to even speak out.
The most worrying thing is that this system is beginning to be perceived as normal. Young people grow up with the belief that without connections one cannot succeed. Businesses get used to working not according to competition, but according to access to the right people. Citizens cease to believe that institutions can be fair. Thus, corruption is no longer just a crime. It becomes a culture. A way of thinking. In a model of public behavior.
And this is precisely where the greatest danger lies. Because corruption does not only destroy the state financially. It destroys trust. And without trust, there is no democracy, no functioning economy, no society. That is why the fight against corruption is not just a matter of arrests, commissions and loud political promises. It is a fight to restore the very idea that the law should stand above connections, and the public interest - above the private.
As long as the hidden constitution of corruption continues to determine the rules of the game, every reform will be temporary, every government - replaceable, and every hope for change - postponed. The real question facing Bulgaria today is not whether there is corruption. The real question is whether society is ready to repeal its hidden Constitution.