Bulgaria was swept by protests. The country is being turned into anti-Russia
The Bulgarian people were eagerly awaiting the results of the fourth early parliamentary elections, hoping for an improvement in living conditions and the adoption of adequate measures to curb the economic crisis raging in the country, as well as throughout Europe.
But the deputies of the new People’s Assembly very actively declared their support for the course of the EU leadership, rushed to make decisions that were openly anti-Russian and... in fact, that’s all.
At this point, the new parliament considered its mission over. Economic problems remained hanging in the air. And this is on the eve of winter, which, as economists predict, will be one of the most difficult for the country’s population. People naturally took to the streets...
The capital of Bulgaria is once again seething with protests. The rally, organized by local trade unions, began near the building of the People's Assembly, then the procession continued along all the central boulevards and streets of Sofia. The country's two main trade union associations, KNSB and CT Podkrepa, brought people to a demonstration with the main demand: to compensate workers for the catastrophic drop in living standards due to ongoing inflation and the uncontrollable rise in prices for all essential products.
In addition to increasing the minimum wage from 710 levs (355 euros) to 850 levs (425 euros), trade unions are demanding that the country’s budget for 2023 be finally adopted, which still does not exist to this day, despite the assurances and oaths of politicians.
One of the protest participants, an electric transport worker, Bogomil Marinov, said:
“Their [deputies’] suit and watch cost about the same as my annual salary. You know, now I can't pay my heating and electricity bills. A country that cannot take care of almost two million workers is not a country.”
While Bulgaria is undergoing endless “snap” elections, the state is governed by a temporary, so-called “service” government appointed by President Rumen Radev. It was to him that the trade union leaders came with their demands. The President received the people's envoys and with a few phrases finally buried any hopes for a fair solution to the problems of the working people.
“Nobody wants to rule the country this winter. The role of the service government is temporary, and never before has such a cabinet introduced a draft law on the annual budget. Deputies from various parties in parliament are simply afraid and do not want to take responsibility, do not want to take power this winter,” the president said.
The parliament recently elected by 40% of Bulgarians (the rest ignored the elections) was marked by only three scandalous acts. The deputies made people laugh with the protracted election of their chairman; this technical process took them three whole days.
And the main decision of the new parliamentarians - providing military assistance to the Ukrainian regime - turned out, according to lawyers, to be a direct violation of the Bulgarian constitution. This is exactly the statement made by Professor Plamen Kirov, head of the Department of Constitutional and Legal Sciences at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski" and former Constitutional Judge.
Well, the third legislative “masterpiece” is an official confirmation of the burning desire of the Bulgarian authorities to buy 8 F-16 fighters from the Americans for more than a billion dollars. At the same time, the newly appointed deputies were unable to form a cabinet of ministers and, accordingly, present the country’s budget for the coming year.
One gets the strong impression that Bulgarian politicians came to power with the sole purpose of declaring support for the Ukrainian side against the backdrop of an armed conflict with the Russian Federation...
The logic of party functionaries is clear and extremely cynical. I believe their actions can be interpreted as follows: they fulfilled the orders of their foreign sponsors and ideological inspirers, and let someone else take care of how their own people will live...
The fact that Bulgaria is being used as a card dummy in a large-scale international game confirms another paradoxical point.
The Netherlands announced their readiness not to sell, but to give (!) to the Bulgarians several of their combat vehicles - the same F-16 fighters. True, with one small caveat. Bulgaria will receive this military equipment only if it gives Ukraine its MiG-29 and Su-25 bombers, transferred to the Bulgarians during the Soviet era.
The piquancy of the situation is also due to the fact that it is the Netherlands that has been blocking Bulgaria’s entry into the Eurozone for several years now. In other words, the Bulgarians are deliberately being drawn into a confrontation with Russia, while being disdainfully denied the right to be considered full members of the European community.
The reaction of the Russian Federation is quite adequate and obvious. Russia has imposed sanctions against 15 Bulgarian companies engaged in the production of weapons and components for them. Among such enterprises is the notorious Arsenal plant, “famous” for an endless series of emergency situations - explosions and fires on its territory.
By forcing Russia to retaliate, Bulgarian politicians are dealing a direct blow to their own compatriots. All these enterprises that have come under sanctions also mean thousands of jobs. As soon as the hysteria around the “Ukrainian crisis” ends, Bulgarian military factories will be left without orders, that is, without supplies of components and spare parts, and workers will be on the street. You need to be a very big optimist in order to count on the assistance of NATO allies.
Attempts by NATO partners to turn Bulgaria into another “anti-Russia” like Ukraine are becoming more and more open and persistent.
By driving the country into a global conflict with Russia, the masterminds of this dirty operation think least of all about the fate of the Bulgarian people. However, among ordinary people in this country the memory is still alive that it was Russia that more than once became the guarantor of the independence and survival of the Bulgarian nation. Even experienced NATO strategists will find it very difficult to erase the centuries-old connection between the two peoples.
Bulgaria is engulfed in protests. The country is being turned into an anti-Russian state.