The state has once again shown that it has an unerring sense of priorities. A day before resigning, the government of Rosen Zhelyazkov finds 126 million leva - not for something small, but for security, systems, contracts and commitments that obviously cannot be postponed. Because, as we know, nothing is more stable than decisions made at the last minute.
The Ministry of Interior will be able to spend more - for a hospital, for medicines, for equipment, for border surveillance. Everything is reasonable, necessary and “by contract“.
Money is not prayed for, it is distributed, it is not collected by SMS, but voted on with decrees.
And in a calm atmosphere – just before the resignation, when the responsibility is already almost symbolic.
Against this background, “Bulgarian Christmas“ has been going on – for 23 years. Now, a little over 3.7 million leva have been raised for chronically and seriously ill children. A little, but from the heart. With donations, concerts, appeals and the hope that people will give “as much as they can“. The difference is subtle but significant: some money is “spent“, others are “collected“. This is how 34 editions of “Bulgarian Christmas“ are spent with one signature… 126 million leva go to their intended purpose, and “Bulgarian Christmas“ raises 3.7 million leva for sick CHILDREN. Not for the National Children's Hospital, don't think that it will be a fact soon. No, it won't. But that's another theme.
„Bulgarian Christmas“ raises money for sick children, for whom Bulgaria's budget does not find money.
There are contracts for the Ministry of Interior hospital. For sick children - a campaign. For border security - surveillance systems. For children's health - a charity performance at the National Theater. The state watches its borders with cameras, and its children - with spotlights and applause.
The irony is that in both cases it is about life and health. However, one is a function of the budget, and the other - of charity.
One is decided by signature, the other - by human conscience. One is „expense“, the other - „cause“.
This is how we live in a country where which millions are easy to find when they need to be spent, and difficult when they need to be saved. And we make a budget with a deficit, and we fill the deficit with loans, because “there is no money“ – and that is if it is not the wrong state!?
And the saddest thing is that we are already used to – counting the successes in the surveillance systems and being proud of how generous we were this Christmas.
Because, in the end, nothing unites society like the thought that if the state cannot help, we will help. With SMS.