1 I don’t get it. Why are we making such a fuss over an opposition MP calling the deputy prime minister slimy from the parliamentary rostrum? Yet, that’s the headline news from the question time session. And to make the drama even more interesting, the session was adjourned. Wow, wow, amazing…
Just ten days ago, this Assembly passed a law that reduces the sentences and shortens the statute of limitations for corrupt acts committed by officials. This Government introduced the amendments to the Criminal Code to the Parliament in the most insidious and secretive manner, which practically legalises impunity for corruption of former, current and future officials. These MPs passed the amendments to the law in just three days, right before the long holiday weekend – the government voted “for”, the opposition voted “against”, but didn’t even try to obstruct the passing of the law, nor postpone it.
And now – all of a sudden, it turns out the word “slimy” is considered disgraceful when an MP utters it on the parliamentary rostrum. To be frank, not a single word, not even a swear word uttered by the MPs is offensive anymore. Because their words simply hold no value. If they want, they can strip naked at the rostrum and wave their underwear while talking about the EU, the people and the fight against corruption. Even that would pale in comparison to the law with which they’ve legalised their own impunity, even if they’re caught stealing. They couldn’t have done anything more insulting to those of us who vote for them.
Or, could they?
2 I often wonder if we as well are like the politicians we grant authority through elections? I know a fair number of people who are members of one party or another, and in personal conversations, they don’t come across that bad. But, once they’re elected to some office, perhaps they’re lobotomised, their brains are lasered, the centres for ethics and moral values are damaged, so they become greedy, inhuman, impatient, arrogant… Political culture – zero. MP integrity – zero. What political culture are we talking about when MPs don’t vote with their own head, but as the party dictates? Dialogue – zero. Willingness to find common ground – zero. Care for the public interest – below zero.
When one goes to the political market, what can he see? Former, current and criminals in the making. Who should we elect in a system where the MP candidate, instead of fearing the voters, fears the party leader? It’s not like they haven’t been able to change the electoral system all this time, so they’d go with a single electoral unit and open lists. So we’d be able to vote for individuals, and not for parties and their leaders who lack statesmanship skills. If they wanted to, they would’ve changed the electoral system by now, the same way they joined forces for the Criminal Code, the wages of MPs, their salaries… It seems to me that after they increased their salaries by 78 percent, they’ve completely gone off the rails.
We’re tired. We’ve lost our energy. We’re sick of it. The situation is not exactly super-duper hopeful. But should we give in to the incompetent and corrupt party soldiers and their clients? We can’t expect a shift from the current market. We need to find a way out.
Let’s recall that just two years ago, during the local elections in October 2021, there were 57 independent lists of candidates for councillor positions in 40 municipalities. They won 65,000 votes. These figures are for the councillor lists. Some of them were registered just a few months before the elections. We’re not even factoring in the votes for the seemingly independent mayoral candidates who received support from the parties. The only parties who had more votes than the independent lists were VMRO-DPMNE, SDSM and DUI. With 65,000 votes, those independent lists established themselves as the fourth political force.
Sometimes they’re successful, sometimes they’re unsuccessful, but their voice should not be underestimated. Their struggle is difficult. But it’s not more difficult than the reality we live in.
3 In reality, amid the situation with the “slimy minister” and the “caressed but unkissed MP”, the theft of cytostatics from the Oncology Clinic, the release of officials from criminal charges of corruption and the announcement of a mass amnesty to free up room in prisons, we also got news that two prison commanders at “Idrizovo” paid 4,000 euros to a prisoner who deceived them claiming he’d employ them in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The prisoner didn’t bribe the commanders like in every normal state. They bribed him. They believed him without checking that he was in prison for the third time for the same offense – he tricked everyone by saying he’d employ them in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Only his rate had remained the same, just as the National Bank has pegged the denar to the euro. Fair, honest and with financial discipline.
After the initial shock, astonishment, jokes and serious analyzes of how deeply corruption has entered every pore of our lives, we were met with well-intentioned suggestions from citizens that this man shouldn’t rot in prison, but rather be used for a diplomatic offensive instead. We’re expected to join the EU by 2030 after all, aren’t we?
4 In an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bujar Osmani, stated that “the dynamics of Bulgarian politics is so uncertain that one does not know what tomorrow will bring” and that “I am quite sure Bulgaria will continue to formulate new demands”.
In the same interview, Osmani also said that we’ve reached a compromise with an action plan concerning minorities. What sort of a compromise has been reached, considering Bulgaria doesn’t acknowledge the existence of minorities?
Until less than two months ago, here, Osmani explained Bulgaria wouldn’t present new demands after we make changes to our Constitution, illustrating everything on a board. What happened in the meantime for the minister to change his opinion and to announce abroad that “he is quite sure Bulgaria will formulate new demands”?
Has he run out of space on the board? Get him another board.
5 The entertainment for the people continues with a predictable course of events. Like in bedtime movies, when you can predict the ending right from the opening scene or trailer, so it’s not worth going back to it the next day. The schedule still features the film about Gruevski’s USB and the rift within VMRO-DPMNE, along with the recent “unification of SDSM with the notable presence of Zaev as a European frontman”.
Even if those two films were filmed as reality shows, they’d be cancelled after the first season. Even their loyal audience doesn’t watch them anymore.
Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski
