In the first month of his prime ministership, Rumen Radev declared that "Europe needs a solid dose of Euroscepticism". What can we expect from his government? From Georgi Lozanov.
Even before the elections, there were indications that Bulgaria's European integration course, for which all the governments of the transition had worked more or less, would undergo a change under the government of Rumen Radev. It was a surprise that this happened in "straight text" on the fourteenth day, when Radev said: "Europe needs a solid dose of Euroscepticism". At this early stage, the change in attitude towards the EU cannot be extreme - in the style of Kostadin Kostadinov, who says "The EU is harmful! It's like we're under Turkish slavery!". The idea is probably that it should look more like concern for himself, "in order to survive in the modern, extremely complex world".
Of course, the pan-European institutions of power have defects because, by their constitution, they are not subject to civil control. There can be no European civil society, it functions within national borders and there it can put forward its demands, protest, and overthrow governments. Without its corrective, the government becomes more easily bureaucratized, which reduces the pace and effectiveness of its decisions.
Criticisms of the EU. Silence on Putin and Trump.
But criticism of the EU can only be considered sincere if it is directed with at least the same severity at two other power centers that currently pose a far greater risk to the future of Europe - the Kremlin and the White House. At Putin, who, in order to interrupt Ukraine's European path, has been sowing death for four years now. And at Trump, who with cynical political infantilism abandoned Euro-Atlantic solidarity in order to turn Putin from a war criminal into a partner. Not to mention Putin's ongoing nuclear threats and Trump's untenable geopolitical loopholes, which he does not pay for out of his own pocket. But Rumen Radev does not say a word about them.
By directing criticism only at the EU - while silently passing over Putin and Trump, Euroscepticism sounds entirely in their interest. And specifically to Putin - Trump is acceptable, as long as he supports him. Radev made a statement a year ago that was perceived by many as a statement in favor of the aggressor Russia: "Europe cannot impose peace from a position of strength". Nothing, Europe's strength lies in not allowing Russia to take over Ukraine by force.
Euroscepticism is everywhere in Europe. The peculiarity of Bulgarian is that at times it reminds of Putinism, but still shy. And therefore, if it takes Putin's side, it has to be somehow disguised. It is repeated that Bulgaria has the right to its own opinion in the EU. But how is it that our own opinion is not at variance with Russian interests, not to mention contradictory: we declare ourselves in favor of lifting sanctions, we deny the Green Deal, we are outraged by "genders", whatever that means.
Our Eurosceptic arguments sound as if they repeat the props of the propaganda war that Russia is waging with the West in order to regain the old Soviet sphere of influence in Europe under the slogan of "new world order". Russia and the West in this case, of course, are not geographical concepts, but political markers – of dictatorship (autocracy) and liberal democracy, respectively. And here there is no Russophobia or Russophilia, nor room for cultural or historical debates, but only a difference in the way in which power is exercised – with coercion and violence or with respect for human rights. It is precisely the propaganda war of dictatorship (autocracy) against liberal democracy that is today being repackaged and pushed through the rhetoric of Euroscepticism.
Because in its ambitions for a new world order, Russia lacks the self-confidence to attack EU and NATO countries with weapons and relies on propaganda. It is trying to brainwash the citizens in these countries to the point that they will abandon democracy themselves and elect an autocratic government loyal to Putin's autocratic regime. It achieved this to some extent with Orban before the Hungarians came to their senses and overthrew him.
Where will Radev go?
Which path will Rumen Radev's government take? It depends on whether it will turn Euroscepticism into a state ideology. In history (under fascism and communism), as Hannah Arendt says, state ideology always serves as "alibi for terror", dividing opinions into "correct" and "enemy", banning alternative voices in the media and persecuting the people who express them. Liberal democracy - on the contrary, is an empty ideological framework in which all kinds of ideologies are possible, including those that deny it. This makes it vulnerable to the propaganda attacks of the autocracy, but otherwise it would resemble it itself.
Over the years in Bulgaria, Russian propagandists (with different motivations) have so distorted the notions of liberal democracy by inciting fears and promoting conspiracy theories that "democracy" disappeared from the political vocabulary, and "liberal" became almost a dirty word. They were also helped by the fact that the faces of corruption, according to their momentary interest, declared themselves as devoted Euro-Atlantics. The inherited cultural and historical ties with Russia, hyperbolized and falsified by socialist education, whose inertia continues to this day, also helped.
But propaganda, no matter how much it defeats the public consciousness, until it becomes a state ideology - like Marxism-Leninism in the Soviet period or messianic nationalism in today's Russia, does not have the comfort of final truth.
Those who voted for Radev probably remember that they elected him to dismantle the oligarchic model of government, not to replace Bulgaria's European integration with Euroscepticism. It is good not to forget this.
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This text expresses the opinion of the author and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial office and the State Gazette as a whole.