Dimitar Bechev is a research fellow at the Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
“EU, come see how they spend your money,” read a placard at a rally in Sofia, where protestors on Monday were calling on Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and the country’s chief prosecutor, Ivan Geshev, to resign.
In all likelihood, the European Commission or other EU member countries harbor no illusions as to how most EU funds are “absorbed” in a country that trails behind its EU peers in rankings on clean government.
And, truth be told, not many Bulgarians were shocked by leaked recordings in June, in which someone whose voice bears a strong resemblance to Borissov’s threatens to “burn” a Bulgarian MEP over a scandal involving missing EU funds. Both in Brussels and in Sofia, such revelations are routinely shrugged off.
The question of how the EU should respond to the new wave of protests rocking the country — fueled by a complex corruption scandal that has shone a light on blurred lines between powerful oligarchs and the state’s security apparatus — is not an easy one to answer.
Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen | Nikolay Doychinov/AFP via Getty Images
In the 1990s and 2000s, EU membership was thought to be a remedy to state capture and corruption. Its appeal derived in equal measure from the promise of rising living standards and the belief that Brussels’ institutions provided a badly needed check on predatory elites.
These days, a more cynical view prevails. To be sure, EU membership remains hugely popular. But bureaucratic gimmicks, such as the so-called Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, meant to sustain rule-of-law reforms in Bulgaria after its accession to the Union in 2007, have proved a failure.
Successive governments have not done much to overhaul the country’s judiciary or the all-powerful office of the prosecutor general, promote transparency and accountability, or take on vested interests. Tying Bulgaria’s potential acceptance to the visa-free Schengen zone to compliance with rule-of-law requirements has made virtually no difference either. Bulgaria is ranked as the EU’s most graft-ridden country, according to Transparency International, and is among the bloc’s poorest. It has sunk to 111th place in Reporters Without Borders’ 2020 World Press Freedom Index.
The lesson learned by a vocal minority of Bulgarians is that change can happen only from the bottom up. And — seven years after they took to the streets to rally against the appointment of media tycoon Delyan Peevski as head of the country’s security agency — there is plenty to be angry about in Bulgaria if you happen to believe in the rule of law and the basic principles of fairness.
Borissov, who rose to prominence in the 2000s as a firebrand populist pledging to jail corrupt insiders, is the protector of a pernicious status quo and a partner in an oligarchic cartel redistributing rents from EU transfers and other public resources. He has watched from the sidelines as the prosecutor general, Ivan Geshev, increasingly resorted to repressive methods to arbitrate business rivalries or neutralize political opponents. Although Geshev has promised to take tough action on corrupt business elites, he has been selective in his targets, failing to investigate Peevski’s role in the 2014 bankruptcy of CorpBank, the country’s fourth-largest lender, while prosecuting with zeal the media tycoon’s critics.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev talks to supporters | Nikolay Doychinov/AFP via Getty Images
Some, including Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, have called for the EU to take a stance. A European Commission spokesman voiced support for “the right to peaceful protests,” and the U.S. Embassy in Sofia made a statement in which it backed the pro-democracy protests. But further European interference could make matters worse.
Already, political groupings within the European Parliament are rushing to support their own. Manfred Weber, the leader of the powerful center-right European People’s Party to which Borissov’s GERB party belongs, issued a statement backing the Bulgarian leader. The Socialists and Democrats may be tempted to weigh in on the side of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which is aligned with the current protests.
Wading into Bulgaria’s internal politics will only taint pan-European parties with their local affiliates’ unsavory policies. Perhaps more dangerously, by stepping into the fray the EPP and the S&D could also give credence to the narrative that protests are driven by cynical jockeying for power rather than genuine concerns about democratic rule.
Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
The vaunted talk of EU values and rule of law often means little in a place like Bulgaria — largely because it has not led to tangible change.
But the crowds on the streets of Sofia, Varna and other towns, led by Bulgaria’s most staunchly pro-EU demographic, are animated by something more powerful: a deeply ingrained sense of injustice and a growing intolerance for blatant corruption. Yet again, the battle for Europe’s soul is being fought on Europe’s margins.