They couldn’t be more different.
Belarus skirts the European Union’s north-eastern border. For twenty-six years, this country of 9.4 million inhabitants has been ruled by President Alexander Lukashenko. His autocratic style has exuded invincibility. He has skillfully played off Russia against the EU with the aim of guarding Belarus’s ambiguous sovereignty.
In the south-east of Europe, bordering the Black Sea, is Bulgaria. This country of 6.9 million is a member of NATO and the EU. It enjoys all the privileges of belonging to both organizations, receiving security guarantees and generous financial support.
Yet, for all these geopolitical and economic differences, the citizens of both countries have been protesting against their leaders.
In Belarus, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets each Sunday since the presidential election on August 9, 2020. They feel cheated by an election they insist was rigged. They want Lukashenko to resign. They want fair and free elections. They want democracy and freedom.
Despite the violence by the Belarusian security forces who have detained probably thousands of men and women by this stage, the people of Belarus have not given up. Individuals from every walk of life are bravely demonstrating peacefully for their rights.
In Bulgaria, protestors have taken to the streets for over seventy days. They have had enough of the corruption and the style of leadership exercised by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, the leader of several center-right governments since 2009. They want him to resign and hold new parliamentary elections instead of waiting until the planned election in March 2021.
One would have assumed that, in the case of Belarus, the EU would have reacted to the violence, beatings, and expulsions of leading opposition figures by quickly slapping sanctions on Lukashenko, other leading regime figures, and the security forces.
As for Bulgaria, a strong and united stance by all the EU institutions against corruption and the alleged money laundering might have sent a signal to the Borisov government.
Instead, in the case of both countries, the protestors have become hostage to special interest groups inside the EU. The upshot is that the bloc’s commitment to democratic values and freedom in Belarus and the upholding of the rule of law in Bulgaria have been thrown to the wind.
Cyprus, a country that joined the EU in 2004 but has since then repeatedly held the bloc hostage over a number of issues, was true to form on September 21. It again blocked attempts by EU foreign ministers to impose sanctions on Lukashenko and others involved in suppressing the demonstrations in Belarus.
“Today’s failure to agree on sanctions in support of Belarusians, suffering & fighting for democracy, undermine credibility of democratic values they are fighting for,” tweeted Linas Linkevicius, the indefatigable foreign minister of Lithuania and staunch defender of Belarus’s citizens. “Some colleagues should not link things that must not be linked,” he added.
Cyprus argues that the EU should impose sanctions on Turkey after Ankara has attempted to extend its drilling rights in the Eastern Mediterranean, which would affect Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, besides changing existing legal maritime boundaries.
“Our reaction to any kind of violation of our core basic values and principles cannot be à la carte. It needs to be consistent,” said Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides.
Borisov is being left off the hook too.
Members of the European Parliament sent a list of questions to Borisov about corruption, allegations of money laundering, and misuse of EU funds. So far, except for dismissing his justice minister, Borisov is hanging on. The European Commission, which over the years has been monitoring Bulgaria’s attempts to reform the judiciary and end corruption, mildly rebuked the government’s attempts to end the protests by force.
Borisov’s political future could change if the European People’s Party (EPP), the European umbrella for center-right parties and movements, spoke out against corruption. But it’s not in its character to do so.
The EPP continues to turn a blind eye to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose Fidesz party is in the EPP and who has run roughshod over independent civil society organizations and ended the independence of several academic institutions and news media by either closing them down or bringing them under Fidesz’s control. And the EPP is taking a soft line on Bulgaria too.
“The EPP will have to make a choice and take a position over the scandals,” said Daniel Smilov, program director at the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia.
But the group sees no reason to criticize Borisov. “For the moment we don’t have any sign that he is involved in corruption,” said Pedro López de Pablo, the EPP’s head of communications. “It’s a big campaign against Borisov. This is a country divided between the left and the right. There are some problems in the judicial system in all these countries,” he added.
Other Bulgarian analysts take a different view. “People are fed up with the persistent corruption,” said Radosveta Vassileva, lawyer and social advocate. “The transformation of the country [since 1989] never went deep.”
It is that transformation—based on democratic values—that the citizens of Belarus are attempting to begin and the citizens of Bulgaria are trying to complete. It couldn’t be clearer to the EU what’s at stake.
Comments(6)
Has the EU ever acted against the lack of democracy outside its borders? Any action against Saoudi Arabia (for instance), even after Kashoggi's murder? Any action against Turkey for the military interventions in its kurdish areas? So even when an authoritarian government oppresses the population of Belarus, a strong response would be a surprise. Inside european borders, as in Bulgaria, the case for an action should be even stronger, but this has not happened(whether in Poland, or in Hungary, where abuses are obvious, though less violent) . Is this restraint embedded in the EU institutions?
EPP say there is no corruption in Bulgaria? Let them see ANY infrastructure project done by the Bulgarian government. Prices are the same or higher than in the rest of EU at salaries times lower. New roads, bouleverds just collapse after a month to a year. It is something like a public secret that government representatives receive 50-60% of the price to sign the contract. After that the large company hires small ones and sometimes roads are built for 15-20% of the money. The results can be found easily in social media. Even the US Foreign Department said corruption in Bulgaria is endemic. But it just seems noone in EPP cares as for them several more MEPs to vote in the EP are more important and democracy and law are just a mask to make people believe in something.
The EPP spokesman cited in this article is a liar and an ally to Europe's fascist and gangster regimes. That's the kind of company the EPP prefers to keep. The EPP is a disgrace. It has zero to do with democracy and everything to do with naked, self-serving and deeply corrupt power. Borisov is not corrupt? Bulgaria is deeply divided between Right (i.e. the good guys, Borisov's mob) and Left (the bad guys protesting in the streets, presumably)? These are blatant lies. Borisov is deeply corrupt. Bulgaria is not deeply divided between Left and Right. The cleavage is between the risen citizens (supported by 65 per cent of the population) and the gangsters at the top. Bulgaria is a gangster regime bein brought to account by its citizens. The EPP works against the citizens and for the gangsters. This is not nuclear physics, folks. It's a no-brainer.
Judy Dempsey, a highly respected analyst and writer, is missing major factors, shaping the present situation in Bulgaria: an ongoing coup against a democratically elected government, whose legitimacy has been twice confirmed in 2019 - at the European and the municipal elections; a highly faceless protest, hiding behind the EU flag with naive accusations of corruption, generated by a president who has lost legitimacy for various reasons. After 30 years an open, transparent and courageous fight by the Bulgarian prosecution put on ends all-mighty and pro-Russian oligarchs and failed pro-Russian politicians.
Is it now? Bulgarian elections have a disproportionately high percentage of invalid ballots, in the latest mayoral elections almost as much as 500 000 or 15.1% of all. Additionally, we have known issues of buying votes. For example, a district in Sofia had nearly 95% of the votes for MRF on the first round and almost the same percentage for GERB in the second, while many expats have been denied the right to cast a ballot because of law changes. In the U.K. during the EU elections in 2019, the whole of Northern England had only 2-3 stations for more than several tens of thousands of people. If you compare the number of polling stations abroad in 2019 to the ones in 2017, you'd find that dozens of places have been excluded, even though Bulgaria has an ex-pat population closing in on 1 million people. And all of that is just the tip of an iceberg that can cover an entire novel... What about the poor quality of new infrastructure projects? What about the corruption scandals? How about the recordings and photos as well as the most recent FinCEN revelations of money laundering?
Turkey is violating basic territorial rights of an EU member State by drilling within the Cyprus continental shelf which constitutes EU territory. EU shall protect as z priority its own Rights and then look after the democratic rights of other nations !!! 7
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