It was May 2021, in the first days of Stefan Yanev's caretaker government, when the stars of Kiril Petkov and Asen Vassilev rose. There was already talk of Kiril Petkov's first blunders - he went to the Bulgarian National Bank the day before he was sworn in as minister, while still a Canadian citizen, to submit a request for approval of a new Supervisory Board of the Bulgarian Development Bank. Asen Vassilev fired the head of the National Revenue Agency due to poor collection of overdue receivables. When we looked at the list, there were also the debts of “Khimko“ and “Kremikovtsi“. They had also included the obligations of all "raiser" companies in the value-added tax schemes, although these are invented obligations with the aim of eventually being able to claim a tax credit refund.
This was commented on for "Voices" by Stefan Antonov.
At that time, I had not yet formed a definite opinion about the competence and good faith of these two Harvard "blades". And on the air, I explained that their actions resembled a person who sat down to program, but did not know the syntax of the language he was working with, and therefore received incorrect results despite his good intentions. In both programming and in the barracks, an incorrect order is not carried out. But in programming, you don't even have anyone to be mad at except yourself for not preparing.
I was well-meaning and respected by their glossy biographies. This was before it became clear how many Harvard graduates they were.
Before it became clear that one was lying about his citizenship and the other was being sued on several continents.
I argued with a colleague from my second master's degree that he had just finished, and I had kind of given up on the intellectual effort. I wondered if it was possible, since he had the brains and the self-discipline to finish, and I was dragging myself on my stomach, that he could be right about Harvard politicians and I could be wrong. What followed was a contract with some degenerate Albanians to produce electric cars, an agreement with some Americans for some nuclear reactors. No one heard me. Some transport minister who, like any upstart who has had a single lucky strike in life, sets out to teach the world, and when he sees himself in power, to level the country in terms of itself, to preserve the railway system both as infrastructure and as machines that move on it.
As a financial journalist, I will not say a word about the tragedy that unfolded last week in our Northwestern Balkans. It is not professional to speak on topics for which I neither have complete information nor the qualifications to interpret them.
But when I learned that the former Minister of Ecology Borislav Sandov, in his role as minister, signed an agreement with people he personally knows, just days after they registered their non-governmental organization, I realized again how, in the best case scenario, the political space of the PPDB has been filled with people who are ready to easily make decisions, to act thoughtlessly and irresponsibly, putting the national interest at stake. Yes, the agreement is not a contract. It is another matter that it can be waved in front of forest and village mayors and with it the tyrants can claim legitimacy and status.
It is unclear how you can sign a contract with an organization for two weeks. It is obvious that the checks with whom the ministry has to do business have been formalized and the personality of the minister, who wanted to give way to these people, prevailed. He did not even think to tell them: “Guys, change this name to ‘national agency’. I represent the state and I must protect the statehood. You can't play guard and mislead the public that you are something state-owned.“
And child protection?
The other thing that both outraged me, but did not surprise me in any way, was the behavior of the State Agency for Child Protection.
How is it possible for an investigation to be terminated due to the withdrawal of a report? How is it possible for a report of child abuse to be dropped due to the withdrawal by the senders?
The problem here has several dimensions. The first is the legal possibility that allows an official employed by the service that was created to protect children to refuse to enter the child's house, to investigate where he lives, what his daily life is like, to talk to his relatives and the school, and who knows who else. Second is the indifference of the specific unit, which has only done its job enough to be able to say today that they have done everything required by law.
This is the ugliest and saddest example, illustrating what I warn about almost every year when it comes to considering the budget.
In recent years, there has been an obvious tendency for political forces to "spit on" the classes that depend on the budget and take care of them. PPDB is with the pensioners. GERB is with the teachers. DPS "New Beginning" is with the police. Even then, I warned that the class of social workers in all its manifestations regularly falls victim to this class populism. Since they are a sufficiently small group and do not represent interest in terms of their electoral contribution, their salaries are the last concern of any government. Finally, the indignation at the state's neglect and the feeling of powerlessness, due to the fact that in addition to being underpaid and not provided with the resources to work effectively, makes social workers what in the West they call "quietly left" - people who work only long enough so that there is no reason to fire them. Not an ounce of emotion, not a thought of professional conscience and responsibility to the societies they are called to care for.
Hardly all social workers are indifferent, but the frequency of tragedies suggests that powerlessness and indifference are an integral part of the daily work of social workers, even if the indifference is a consequence of disappointment and resignation.
Not that I am particularly optimistic that the state will learn from its mistakes, but if by chance there is such a chance, here are two mistakes from which to learn.
First, investigative procedures, even if they seem like unnecessary bureaucracy, exist for a reason. Second, all classes of employees in the state are important. And any politician who tries to sow discord by claiming that some deserve more than others is pushing the state towards tragedy. Just like that politician who thinks he is smarter than his administration and acts without waiting for his people to do their job and give their opinion on the policies and actions he is planning.
Source: glasove.com