The scandal surrounding the participation of Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova in the meeting in Kiev has become one of the leading political topics during the week. On the air of the program “In Focus”, journalist from “Mediapool” Stoyana Georgieva, political analyst Kristiyan Shkvarek and sociologist Kolyo Kolev commented on the contradictory signals that Bulgaria is sending regarding the war in Ukraine and its European policy.
Sociologist Kolyo Kolev stated that in his opinion, criticisms of the duplicity of GERB leader Boyko Borisov are unfounded, since foreign policy is not determined solely by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. “This is a refrain of “Vazrazhdane”, which he obviously took over. No, there is no duplicity, since who makes foreign policy? The idea that the Minister of Foreign Affairs does this, contrary to what Radev said, is, to put it mildly, frivolous”, said Kolev.
According to him, however, the actions of the Foreign Minister represented a serious political mistake. “The statements of the Foreign Minister with the Kiev Declaration are a blunder. It is in sharp contradiction with the stated position of Bulgaria as a whole”, he said. And he added: “Many times I have been present in such places where the hosts are trying to cash in on the presence of the others, forcing them to legitimize one thing or another. The same thing is happening in Kiev”.
Journalist Stoyana Georgieva defined what happened as part of a consistent pattern of behavior. “This seems like a clever policy of tricks - one thing to do outside, another to communicate inside. Radev and Petrova were together in Paris. Then the foreign minister left for Kiev. I would not belittle the meeting itself. I don't think that all the other countries at the table, including our neighbors from Eastern Europe and Turkey, don't know what they are doing or what they approve of”, said Georgieva.
According to her, the biggest contradiction came from the divergence between the positions expressed within just two days. “One day Rumen Radev stated in Paris that Bulgaria was leaving the Coalition of the Willing, and the next day the foreign minister supported a declaration that talked about strengthening the role of the Coalition of the Willing. The big blunder started after they had already returned to Bulgaria”, she pointed out. Georgieva also criticized the way in which the government explained what had happened. “Instead of saying which policy we support, they started speculating that the declaration was not signed. It was not signed by anyone. Such international documents do not require a signature. This is extremely humiliating. Not only Bulgarian society is watching how they behave, our international partners are watching as well”, the journalist said.
Kristian Škvarek put the topic in a broader political context. He explained that such contradictions are the result of the deep division in Bulgarian society. “Our position is always the product of something that is like a constant in Bulgaria - the existence of two absolutely radical agitators who live for geopolitics. It is these two agitators that determine the fact that every government, if it wants to stay in power, starts playing such a double game”, he commented. According to him, the cabinet is trying to simultaneously meet the expectations of different groups of voters. “The Bulgarian government is in a double game because it has to satisfy its broad electorate, which is rather Eurosceptic, on the one hand, and the Euroliberal community on the other. This creates a feeling of inconsistency and contradictory messages in foreign policy”, added Škvarek.