The question is not "why Burgas", but "why not Sofia". And whether Sofia can learn - without insults and emotions, but with an urge to erase any possible shortcomings, writes Ivaylo Noizi Tsvetkov on the occasion of hosting Eurovision.
Another Homer-like online battles for Eurovision. This time like "Sofia vs. Burgas, Burgas vs. Sofia", as if Burgas is in some parallel reality, along with the intercity "chauvinistic" a clash with a taste of "capital versus countryside", on the one hand, and, on the other, the absolutely non-existent "quote" from Hemingway about the sea and the countryside. There is something sad in all this, because we manage to reduce Dara's remarkable success to an ordinary domestic quarrel.
Okay, in a sense it is not ordinary. Eurovision for many years had the image of a slightly politicized artistic amateurism. The English, whose humor I adore, joked about the eternally low level of their participants and used wonderful ironic epithets for the contest like "camp", "tacky" and "naff" (basically, the same thing - that it is pretentious, tasteless, violent, amateurish, too pretentious, even vulgar). But in the last 10-15 years, Eurovision, whatever cultural or tasteful objections we may have, has become a huge, almost global brand. This year, an Asian Eurovision is also to be held in Thailand, where 10 countries will participate.
Huge business opportunities
This is already the most watched non-sports TV thing on the planet. Yes, it is politicized (boycotts because of Israel are not the first - back in 1969, Austria refused to participate in Spain because of Franco's fascist regime). Yes, it plays on the well-oiled thin string of nationalism (and doesn't the World Cup do that?). And yes, it is still largely taken for granted, tasteless, not particularly talented, etc.
But in our case, this doesn't matter at all, because Eurovision is not only successfully rebranding itself, but also brings with it huge business opportunities. And now Bulgaria should make the most of it, including in terms of its own brand as a country, which, to put it mildly, is not world-class.
That is why, as a Sofia resident, I believe it is extremely important to try to understand how Burgas was chosen (apart from the obvious - the bed capacity). Here I completely agree with Mayor Terziev, I just can't understand whether we are approaching this possible meta-knowledge from the same positions. There is no need for shirt-tearing and protests, for conspiracies about how the "mafia" and the hotel lobby have almost once again, behind the scenes, tipped the scales towards our seaside city. That is. For me, as a rationalist, the key question is not "why Burgas", but "why not Sofia".
The feedback from the EBU, who make the final decision in Geneva based on the cities' presentations, would be key, but I fear that they don't owe it to us in any way.
From there on, we are in Sofia with the possible lessons of why we missed out on benefits worth millions. The most intemperate, and for political reasons, blame Mayor Terziev personally. It may be part of the problem, but it is far from complete, because it is easy to shout on social media that "Sofia is a pig", but when almost half of Bulgaria has moved or comes to work here, it is almost impossible to get along in the jungle of interests and problems, while respecting the legal framework.
Yes, with Sofia's billion-dollar budget, these missed benefits seem like a drop in the ocean (with apologies to the sea and Burgas). But beyond that, the question is whether Sofia could really learn from this case - without insults and emotions, but with an urge to correct any possible shortcomings according to the possibilities and city policies. Otherwise, I have long been in favor of decentralization, which depends on the central government, but at the moment it seems to me that Eurovision in Burgas will remain the only one on this issue.
Like a chance that fell from the sky
I suggest that we stop hating the southern seaside agglomeration (because Burgas has long been such, with the adjacent resorts both to the north and south) and rejoice for it, because after all, it is about the Bulgarian economy.
Because Eurovision, unless it becomes an epic failure, will finally put Burgas on our internal map as an "economic counterbalance" to the capital, and "Brand Bulgaria" will reach places where the only recognition is "Stoichkov".
This is truly like a chance that fell from the sky, I hope they don't miss it.
And we in Sofia should go back to the drawing board, learn our lessons and stop sabotaging attempts at good solutions. And let's not forget that here too, if they had elected us, uncontrollable greed would have reigned and an Airbnb room would have cost tens of thousands.
So - sober self-assessment here and go Burgas (it even rhymes).
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.