/ world today news/ In a few days, the 50th Congress of the BSP is coming, and we will see if it will be dramatic. The left is struggling for the forum with a leader in resignation, for the second time, as part of the government, but in a problematic coalition and after a permanent loss of votes, and with excluded emblematic members. Dilyana Panayotova talks to political scientist Boris Popivanov about the road to January 22 and after that date.
What state is the left in at the start of 2022?
In unenviable condition. The BSP was interesting to researchers around the world because it represented a bright exception to the rule of the former communist parties in Central and Eastern Europe, which in the new century lost their ideological and political orientations and reduced their public influence to a minimum. Now these researchers would probably be pleased that the rule is about to reign in Bulgaria as well. In half a year, the BSP suffered three catastrophic electoral defeats. Whatever objective and subjective reasons for them we look for – and find – some unpleasant factors peek out from everywhere: ideological disorientation, organizational disintegration, procedural improvisations, personnel anti-selection, political inconsistency, individual impulsiveness. A huge part of the members and sympathizers of the left stopped seeing their values, interests and hopes embodied not in the BSP, but in this line of leadership. After the vote of November 14, Ninova resigned, thereby accepting her responsibility for the results of the implemented policy. If he runs again for chairman, it would be tantamount to de facto refusing to resign and take responsibility. For that to happen, there must be a very strong and convincing motive that in the past two months the BSP has gone in an upward direction. An attempt at such a motive was made from the very beginning – participation in the government coalition. However, it is clear to everyone that the left came to power not because of any achievements of their own, but because the parliamentary arithmetic made it impossible to have another government other than GERB and DPS. There was a core of parties – “Continuing the change”, ITN and “Democratic Bulgaria”, which expressed a certain degree of readiness to negotiate for a government even in the campaign. The BSP was included last, and for lack of a better opportunity. This, of course, cannot be counted as an asset, but it is still a chance for the left.
How will participation in the “Petkov” cabinet affect the BSP?
The BSP must turn left and social policies into an integral part and profile of the current government. This is necessary not only for the party, but also for the majority of Bulgarian citizens, who are primarily faced with problems of a social nature. Isolated actions of individual ministries cannot have the same result. On the contrary, risks of a different nature appear. The first – to compensate for the lack of efficiency with effectiveness and PR. The second – to arrive at a collaboration with existing large business interests in these departments. If the risks are not avoided, the BSP can easily become a justification for the social deficits of governance and suffer further rating damage. In order to overcome these risks, BSP must first open up decisively to society, to those affected by the crises – health, economic, energy, to their organizations and opinion leaders. Only society can be an ally of the left in such a governing configuration. Conversely, the greatest adversary is self-enclosure in endless vendettas to settle political scores. Second, the BSP should strengthen the activity of its parliamentary group, which after Ninova’s transition to the executive power, shows no ambitions to pressure the cabinet for a different and closer to the people agenda. It makes clear that the leader of a party like the BSP must be either the prime minister – and set the agenda through the government – or the chairman of the group and set the agenda through the parliament. Anything else, as the Russians would say, is “mediocre pleasure”.
What should happen at the upcoming BSP Congress?
The resignation of Ninova should be confirmed and the direct election of the chairman should be started. It would be nice to do without sentimental episodes like letters from labor groups demanding Ninova to stay. So far, the only candidate for the position who has officially announced himself is Krum Zarkov, who relies on unifying messages, on young people, on a modern reading of left-wing ideas. It will be interesting to see which other party figures enter the race and what their bids will be. It is interesting, it is known, whether Ninova will still take the risk of participating with the millstone of his inheritance.
Is the internal opposition in the BSP weakened after the expulsion of Kiril Dobrev?
The exclusion of Dobrev and the incident with the newspaper “Duma” are the only two internal party news that the leadership of the BSP presented after the resignation of Ninova in November. This cannot be a way to unite and consolidate the party, to restore trust. The leadership itself is weakened, not so much the alleged internal oppositions. Cornelia Ninova falls into a trap from which it is difficult to see a useful way out. Either she is responsible for the failure and it is right to take a step back, or she is not responsible and it is all the fault of the enemies and traitors, which, however, means that she is becoming increasingly powerless to deal with them and therefore has to step back again a step back.
What is your overall forecast for the future of the “Petkov” office? What will be the stumbling blocks in front of management?
The administration has a great chance simply because it comes after the “Borisov” decade in Bulgarian politics. All reasonable criticisms of the “Petkov” cabinet will initially be devalued through obvious comparisons with the practices of the “Borisov” cabinets. Unfortunately, there are very high levels of political apathy in Bulgarian society, evident in the unprecedentedly low voter turnout since the last votes. This could also work in favor of keeping the cabinet. A destabilizing factor from within can be the ambitions of individual party leaders in the coalition to impose their opinions through scandals and uncoordinated initiatives. So to speak, to wring their hands. Otherwise, the participants in the cabinet seem to be looking at at least next year’s local elections with a perspective, and would disrupt the coalition only if they consider that they have more impressive electoral chances than shown so far. But that’s the technology issue. It is more important for all of us as Bulgarian citizens that this government undertakes the tasks we expect from it. The most difficult problem is the social one, and it must be solved first, with joint efforts, and in contrast to the understanding that business needs help most of all. People need help, strategic state policy no less. Last but not least, the time is coming when Prime Minister Kiril Petkov must prove himself as a leader of a management team. Not to a business team, but to a political team, because those are two different things.
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