(Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters rallied in front of Bulgaria's parliament on Wednesday, demanding the resignation of the Socialist-led government that they accuse of having murky links to influential business circles.
So now, what is there to do? For months the voices of the Bulgarian people have been ignored. the casualties of the protests, forgotten. And the people in power still act like they own the country.
And yet, nobody cares. Nobody speaks on behalf of the people from the EU. Nobody pays attention.
Thanks for bringing up these news Rainman. I sometimes think that if you did not I might have captured them later that its prime (if at all).
Why do you think this is the case?
I don't know why nobody cares within Europe. Nobody in any country shows solidarity w/ the bulgarian people or the bulgarian govt. They take no stance. no EU institution. Nothing. and I don't know why.
I guess it's because Bulgaria is not in trouble. the last government, the center-right, made substantial improvements and political reforms. They did a lot of improvements to the economy, paid a lot of the debt Bulgaria had, reduced the bureaucracy (for instance, many Romanians choose to register their cars in Bulgaria due to lower fees and easy method of doing so) and did a lot of good things. But here's the kicker. They managed to do this by accomplishing certain EU-proposed goals, some including privatization of state industries. this eventually resulted in an increase in unemployment and because some of the things that were privatized were utility services like water, gas and electricity, this resulted in higher prices for those things. And it is why protesters went to the streets this last winter in Bulgaria, over gas and electricity prices. And they managed to oust the former center-right government and now they got this socialist one who promised them the moon and is delivering crap. And people are tired of that. They don't want to return to how it was after communism, when communists were still in power under a democratic mask, putting their friends in power and making them rich with taxpayer money.
So yeah. I have no definitive answer for you. I'm just looking... and looking. Trying to find answers so I won't die stupid.
I wonder what could the EU do about it though.
Provide a context in which talks between the protester spokespersons and the government be made. Currently it's the people shouting in the street and the officials saying "nanananana, we can't hear you, nananananan". That is, if it wants to continue to propose that the EU is a tool for perpetuating democracy and anti-corruption and prosperity. or it can choose to say that it will continue to be that, but on a more preferential treatment.
When Romania had massive anti-govt and anti-president protests last year in the summer, EU and USA officials came in and took a stand... a stand with the President who was and is hated and the government, against the will and express desires of the people who wanted resignation from the President, resignation of the government and elections for the Parliament. Eventually their support meant that the president remained in power but the government fell, and a new socialist-liberal government is formed. In my opinion, it's a really bad coalition but many don't seem to care. The protesting force has been neutralized. But they took a stance. They got involved, the EU came in and tried, in it's own stupid and anti-democratic way, to defuse the situation.
But not in Bulgaria. And they could try and do something like that. go in and try and defuse the situation. They can either side with the govt or the people. But they should take a stance.
I see. Are Bulgarian-Romanian relations particularly special?
...
there are no bulgarian-romanian relations. there is almost nothing important that we share historically or otherwise.
He is your southern neighbor. Anyway, why do you care of Bulgaria enough to bring these news about then?
Or was this all a point to cause the EU to take more pro-active roles in its member governments?
They very well may be my southern neighbor but the only meaningful history we shared over the past 200 years are the times we went to war against one another. we aren't even in the same cultural ethnolinguistic area. we're latin and they're slavic.
But the reason I am posting this is nothing to do with history.
I think it's a mistake not to care about what protests are done where. This is to raise awareness that even though there are "big" external issues that cover up a lot of time, it's important not to neglect what's going in the areas that haven't reached critical status. It's also because I empathize with the bulgarian people. I know how it is to live in a country with a dysfunctional, corrupt government. Romania went through some massive protests for very much the same reasons a little over 1 year ago. So I know exactly what is going on and I can't turn a blind eye to it. I empathize with them so I bring up news about what's going on.
Thanks.
I do not know Rainman. Asking the EU to step in may be a sword with two edges. It may be okay for EU to do so if the government is corrupt. But what if the government is correct and the EU is corrupt? Who is to say when they have the right to intervene and when not?
Why do not we model again from the USA. When would the federal government intervene in such a case. Out of the blue I am just going to pick Chicago. So Chicago has a corrupt government and people there are setting themselves to blaze in protest against such a government.
What would the USA as a whole do about people living in Chicago and their discomfort with the corrupt Chicago governor?
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