Conflicts at home, fragile chances for peace abroad. Former Interior Minister and diplomat Rumyana Bachvarova outlined two leading risks for Bulgaria to bTV: the transformation of every management problem into a political battle and the accelerated “extreme“ legislation without public debate. In her words, this leads to a narrowing of transparency and a dangerous concentration of power.
According to Bachvarova, the current problem with waste in “Lyulin“ and “Krasno Selo“ shows management weakness, but does not automatically mean a crime. “Everything is labeled as criminal – this is wrong. Solutions are needed, not just political dividends“, she commented.
Bachvarova described as harmful the practice of the parliamentary majority pushing through rapid legal changes without impact assessment and public discussion. As an example, she cited the changes for the security services, including the idea that the parliament would elect the leadership of the National Security Agency:
“The person who will elect the head of the National Security Agency, or will appoint the head of the National Security Agency, and those who will elect him, they are the political majority. This means politicization of the election and concentration of power in the ruling majority. A person who observes from the sidelines may come to this problem, and it is that the other problem for our democracy is that the field of transparency is narrowing. We cannot say exactly what is happening with one or another action, but logically, it leads us to the conclusion that there is a person who is interested or a political figure who is interested in a certain decision in relation to the main assets of our state“, believes Bachvarova.
According to her, the motive may seem like a personal sanction against the president, but the real problem is systemic: “We are narrowing the field of transparency and turning institutions into a tool for momentary goals.“
Regarding the idea of closing the anti-corruption commission, Bachvarova said: “We are opening, closing structures - voluntarism. The important question is what happens to the functions and guarantees to the EU that we will fight corruption.“