The economist, who turned 60, believed that politics should be entered after enough experience in the private sector, and saw the future of Bulgaria with 5% annual growth
Five months after the fatal 400-meter fall in Pirin, Vladimir Karolev has died, it became clear from a message from Acibadem City Clinic UMBAL Tokuda yesterday. This happened after a long struggle to save the life of the 60-year-old economist.
Karolev was in serious condition after the fall. He received polytrauma and a craniocerebral injury. Mountain teams have been searching for the economist in the mountains for more than 12 hours. He was then transported to Pirogov. He spent several months in the intensive care unit of the emergency hospital, after which he was transferred to another clinic chosen by his family.
The death of one of the most famous economists in Bulgaria may seem ridiculous. But in fact Vladimir Karolev
in pursuit
of freedom
he was constantly struggling with restrictions, as Gergana Passy wrote on Facebook.
It became clear that he was not afraid of battles when he appeared on the public scene in 2001. He was already an economic expert at NMSS when he sent “incompetent” journalists to “dig with shovels”. There was a scandal and Karolev apologized to the journalists, and then became a media favorite.
In the biography he published on his personal blog, Karolev writes: I had the opportunity to be the youngest member of the Grand National Assembly in 1990 from the UDF quota, but I thought that politics should be the work of people.
with sufficient
experience in private
sector,
who are not there with the ambition to “create”, but because of the desire to change the lives of their fellow citizens for the better.
Because of his ability to clearly explain complex economic cases and passionately defend his position, Karolev quickly became a welcome guest on newspapers, radio and television. He is the author of about 4,000 articles in the press. He used to run a column in “24 hours”, in which he explained to readers economic cases.
He had a position on a wide range of topics – from the budget, taxes and pensions to South Stream. He has always been a defender of clear ones. “When I write on economic topics, I always say who is to blame for something. And when I criticize the BSP, they call me right, and when I criticize the right, they call me left. And for me
right or left –
it’s kind of
ideologeme
from a hundred years ago. For me, there are right and wrong economic decisions, “he said.
“The world we live in is strange to the left-wing economist. It’s good that I’m not left-wing “, he wrote in his column in” 24 Chasa “in 2014. Then he substantiated the thesis that the far-right in Bulgaria are actually far-left. In fact, he has always been a consistent critic of one thing – populism, of
the attitude of
“Free lunch”
and hypocrisy
And because he was always ready to defend unpopular ones, he often got into conflicts.
Because of his violent temper, he once almost got into a fight in a TV studio with Plamen Dimitrov from CITUB because of the pension reform. The next day Dimitar Manolov from Podkrepa demonstratively went to the TV studio with a helmet.
Here are some of Karolev’s more famous battles and causes:
– for the development of Bansko – with the “greens”
– At the end of 2017, katadzhii removed the numbers of his personal car because they found out that he had not renewed his driver’s license. Karolev turned his personal case into a legislative change to protect other distracted owners from such embarrassment.
– Last year he demonstratively violated the rules of emergency measures because of the pandemic. Sam described on Facebook how he left Sofia and reached Razlog, and the quarantine in the capital was a “fruitless bureaucratic event.” After these “confessions”, he was detained for 24 hours because he refused to appear voluntarily at the Ministry of Interior.
Karolev was born on July 31, 1961 in Varna, but has lived in the capital since he was a child, as his parents are scientists and chemistry teachers at the HTI.
He graduated in 1986 in International Economic Relations at the University of National and World Economy with a second degree in Economic Journalism. Until 1989 he worked at Rudmetal. In 1993 he graduated with a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Alberta, USA.
He has worked successively at the Institute of Economics as a senior consultant, was a manager and senior manager of KPMG and executive director of the ECM investment fund. He founded the Balkan Consulting Company, which works mainly with foreign investors.
For a short time he was a municipal councilor in the capital from NMSS. In 2011 he was a candidate for mayor of Sofia, nominated by NMSS. He left the king’s party in 2013. In 2014, he was an adviser to Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski in Boyko Borissov’s second cabinet.
Vladimir Karolev has a son Alexander and a daughter Victoria. Alexander, who works as an investment banker in London, was voted the island’s best banker in the field of bond syndication in emerging markets.
About his children Karolev said in 2017 in an interview for “24 hours”: Alexander and my daughter Victoria have always wanted to study in good schools.
The ambition
for good
education
have inherited
from all of us
surname
– Both my parents were doctors of science, my brother too.
In 2013, on the eve of the 24th anniversary of November 10, 1989, we sought predictions of what would happen in the next 20 years in Bulgaria from analysts with imagination and vision.
Here is what Karolev shared in front of the newspaper then:
It depends on the direction in which Bulgaria will move. If we draw a parallel with Ireland – in the early 80’s it was the poorest country in the EU. The income there was about 50% of that in England. In just 20 years, with very bold market reforms, Ireland has become one of the richest in the EU. Bulgaria had a period of high growth – 2002-2008. If the country starts making the necessary reforms, there is no problem to return to growth of 4-5% per year.
Over the next two decades, Bulgaria’s economy will grow because the technological process of increasing labor productivity will continue. But at what rate will it grow,
depends on that
what reforms
we will do
For example, if we do not reform the social sphere, I see serious problems for Bulgaria. Because more and more money goes for social payments, for pensions, for “professional” unemployed.
“24 Hours” expresses its condolences to the relatives of Vladimir Karolev.
Gergana Passy: We will miss your truth in the age of falsehood
We often talk to our children at dinner about great people who have gone in a ridiculous way. They love the story of Aeschylus, the father of modern tragedy. He falls victim to his baldness after an eagle decides that his naked head is a stone in which he can smash his prey – a freshly grabbed turtle.
Vlado Karolev’s death is ridiculous. He could walk away from a covid, but that would be too boring for his nature, he could fall victim to his character – hot-tempered and unrestrained, but that would be completely unfair. Because of freedom, mind, primacy, self-irony, sportsmanship, he fell victim to the elements of nature itself and its own intransigence to limitations.
We will miss you, Vlado! We will miss your truth and truthfulness – in an age full of falsehood and untruths !!
– .
