It is said in the Holy Scriptures: “By their works you shall know them” (Matthew 7:20). In fact, this is the motto of every balance sheet in politics. Because pre-election slogans fade with the end of the elections themselves. It’s time for real action. And their results cannot be hidden from people. Although sometimes I think that Bulgarians are often deceived by all kinds of mushrooming parties and party projects. And then they bitterly regret it.
I am not the only one who says that the past government of the quadruple coalition was disastrous for the country to no less extent than the so-called “Widen winter”. Today we see the roads that have not been maintained for months and years, the stopped construction of highways, the broken energy system, the stagnant economy. There is no doubt that the difficult international situation, mainly caused by the war in Ukraine, also played a role in these failures. But the utter incompetence of many of those in power is also beyond doubt. In this regard, the problems in the field of international politics and culture are particularly noticeable.
We all saw the complete mess over whether or not arms were being exported to Ukraine, whether or not 70 Russian diplomats should be chased at once, etc. But the management weakness was most evident on the complicated issue of relations with North Macedonia, whose a denouement happened precisely in recent months.
Right from the beginning, the government took an extremely lenient approach to this topic, which is painful for the entire Bulgarian society. Everything would be solved with one or two visits and the launch of a plane from Sofia to Skopje. Then the great pressure from our partners in the EU began and Mr. Kiril Petkov was completely unprepared for it. Moreover, it became clear that a strange double foreign policy was conducted on our side, as the functions of the foreign minister were actually illegally seized by the prime minister and his “gray cardinal”, councilor Vesela Cherneva.
All this became painfully clear at the hearing of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Teodora Genchovska, in the National Assembly on June 15, 2022. In it, she said literally: “On April 5 of this year, the foreign policy advisor to the Prime Minister (Mrs. Vesela Cherneva – note our) submitted its draft update of the framework position. The content suggested a revision of the Bulgarian national position. It did not include a position on the Macedonian language. Partial ideas of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the implementation of the bilateral agreement were combined there, without a clear mechanism in the negotiation framework.
Thus, the inconsistent policy of the government of Mr. Kiril Petkov faced the country with a diplomatic failure, regardless of the declared good intentions. As Prof. Plamen Pavlov emphasizes, amateurism and improvisations are inadmissible when it comes to our foreign policy, especially on the subject of “Macedonia”, which has its deep projections in Bulgarian society itself.
Thank God, the saga with the RSM ended quite successfully, mainly because of the well-done work by Minister Genchovska’s team and the serious public pressure exerted by non-governmental organizations such as the National Circle “For Macedonia”. It is not by chance that its spokesmen, Professors Nikolay Ovcharov, Ana Kocheva, Plamen Pavlov and Prof. Spas Tashev, carried out a raid on the June session of the EU in Strasbourg, where they explained the Bulgarian positions in detail. Unfortunately, this happened quite late, and this outreach activity could have started much earlier.
The government’s main refrain regarding the RSM was: enough with this history and language, let’s deal with the serious problems of economic cooperation between the two countries. Well, it was seen that it was the historical and linguistic problems that proved to be the most difficult, and without their solution, it is impossible to move forward in the rest as well. They are now part of the negotiation framework and future governments should strictly monitor their implementation by the North Macedonians.
Once again, historical issues proved to be a stumbling block in the work of the Ministry of Culture. The too young and self-confident minister Atanasov, infamous for his selfies in the ministerial office, literally ruined the archaeological season, which has not yet started at many sites. And one of his greatest “merits” is the practical liquidation of the idea of cultural and historical tourism in Bulgaria.
It is about the special funding started in recent years through the state budget of several archaeological sites. I will remind the Bulgarians that we are talking about the Roman provincial capital Raciaria near Vidin; the late antique and medieval city of Missionis near Targovishte; the prehistoric cult center “Solnitsi” near Provadia; the ancient city of Heraclea Sintika next to Petrich and the rock city of Perperikon in the Eastern Rhodopes.
So the Minister of Culture in question had to simply write “yes” under the letter of the Ministry of Finance, which informed him that funds for these objects were planned. Instead, he responded with “no! “, with which he crossed out the very idea of cultural and historical tourism in our country. Because in order to build one in neighboring Turkey and Greece, these countries pour millions and billions into the discovery and exposure of huge ancient and medieval cities such as Athens, Ephesus, Corinth, Mystras, etc.
Atanasov’s confused answers to various parliamentary questions showed that he is completely unaware of the problems and specifics of the financing of archaeological research in our country. His officials had written some generic talk about “transparency” in the distribution of funds. The minister showed again that he did not understand the difference between regular archaeological excavations, the funding of which goes through the Ministry of Culture, and the targeted support of certain Bulgarian municipalities with the task of developing cultural and historical tourism.
The explanations given to Nasco by deputies from both the governing coalition and the opposition did not help either. And the Minister of Tourism, Mr. Hristo Prodanov, one of the leading politicians in this unfortunate cabinet, even wrote a lengthy letter in support of this targeted funding for the development of cultural and historical tourism. Alas, a voice in the wilderness!
And so, the archaeological sites in Northern and Southern Bulgaria, which were supposed to be pivots in the development of the economy of their regions, this year will be weeded or uncovered with the few funds allocated by the respective municipalities according to their capabilities. Because of the grudge of someone Nasko from Haskovo.
The good news is that “the boy’s gone,” as they said in the hit movie starring the late Philip Trifonov. When I mentioned actors, I guessed about the chairman of the Union of Bulgarian Artists, Hristo Mutafchiev, whom Nasko sent these days to his immediate superior at the National Theater, Vasil Vassilev, to ask him to raise his salary. Naturally, the famous artist did not remain indebted to him and a little earlier he had sent the failed actor Atanasov to a “place of evil…”
So, goodbye Nasco! And don’t get too attached to the culture, it’s not for your mouth a spoon! Try again with the village community center activity, it might work!
Photo: The famous selfie of Minister Nasko in the office where personalities such as Stefan Danailov sat.
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