Ready to join the Union?
There are no sharp contrasts in the standard of living in Bulgaria. According to estimates of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, about 25-33% of citizens belong to the middle class. However, the average salary so far is only €60. And such an important indicator of the level of informatization of society as access to a computer at work and at home is also quite low: only 7% of the population have it.
At the end of 2003, Bulgaria received a positive assessment from the EU for its fight against corruption. It was noted that the work of local and central administration had noticeably improved, the reliability of the judicial system, and civil society had been created. By the beginning of 2005, during negotiations with the EU, 26 of the 30 chapters of the so-called road map had already been completed; negotiations are underway on agriculture, regional policy, coordination of structural mechanisms, finance and budget. At the same time, not everything is well in the fight against crime, corruption among administrative employees has not been fully overcome, the business registration regime is difficult, access to financing is difficult (large allocated funds are returned to EU bodies without being claimed).
The European Union allocated €1.7 billion to Bulgaria for the preparatory period. The country receives significant material assistance through various EU programs, and under the “Greek Plan for Economic Reconstruction of the Balkans” it participates in numerous regional programs and agreements between the European Union and the Balkan countries. However, Bulgarians complain that EU aid is not as large as they would like. “The Balkans are in Europe, but Europe is still not in the Balkans,” they lament. According to the Bulgarians themselves, their country has always been part of Europe and deserves to be among the inhabitants of the European house, not in the backyard.
Bulgarians are very loyal to foreigners, especially Germans. One cannot help but recall that Bulgaria, which gained its statehood after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 with the decisive support of Russia, never oriented itself toward the Russian Empire but always entered into blocs with Germany. However, one should not overlook the fact that even during the years of active destruction of monuments of the recent communist past, none of the memorials of the Russo-Turkish War was damaged.
Today Bulgaria is led by President Georgi Parvanov, a former communist, and Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the former king in exile Simeon II (grandson of Grand Duchess Milica Nikolaevna, a Montenegrin princess). At the same time, both, striving to join the EU, understand the importance of friendly relations with Russia and, after a five-year period of almost complete rupture, are conducting an active dialogue with it.
Today, thanks to the creation of free trade zones, the main partners of Bulgaria have become EU countries - Italy, Germany, Greece, as well as Turkey. In 2004, trade turnover increased by another 20.5%. The Bulgarian market is simply flooded with products from Western companies. Numerous Western European investors, especially German ones, show the greatest interest in the tourism business, sea and mountain resorts of Bulgaria. Counting on this, Bulgaria is urgently investing significant funds in the tourism sector - from ski and ecological to traditional “beach” tourism. Recently, the government allocated €1.5 billion to improve the tourism business infrastructure. Balneotherapy tourism is going to be developed by the British company “Accument Investments”. The British hotel chain “Holiday Inn” is building a new hotel in Sofia with an initial estimate of €12 million.
Of course, as a result of these transformations, the country will immediately lose a large number of “undemanding” tourists from Ukraine, Russia and other CIS countries, and those who earn money from “wild” tourists will go bankrupt. Nevertheless, those who have managed to take a place in the developing tourism market will soon recoup their investments many times over. Real estate prices are still very low - for €20 thousand you can buy an apartment, and for €30 thousand a good holiday home by the sea. Renting a premises for a cafe is possible for €450-600, buying a shop - from €3-5 thousand, a store - for €100 thousand.
They don’t promise an easy life
However, the sprint to Europe immediately required incredible effort from Bulgaria, as well as sacrifices. The European Union back in 1999 demanded the closure of two of the six reactors of the Kozloduy NPP, one of the largest in Eastern Europe, built by the USSR, which provides 40% of the country’s total electricity production. To date, two reactors that have not exhausted their service life have already been shut down. By 2006, two more must be closed, although a UN expert commission recognized that their safety is ensured at a high level. From January 2007, a special regime for trade in energy goods, in force in the EU, will apply to Bulgaria, which could adversely affect Russian fuel and raw material exports.
Some Bulgarian politicians predict a painless entry into the EU, confirming this by the fact that Bulgaria will receive large aid from the EU budget and funds during the first three years after accession. Thus, without taking into account non-governmental funds and investments, it will be allocated €1.553 billion for agricultural development, including €431.8 million as direct payments to producers; €733.3 million for rural development purposes, €388.1 million for market investments, and €2.3 billion for regional and infrastructure development. Bulgarians will get 17 of the 786 seats in the European Parliament. According to the Bulgarian weekly “Capital”, all this will contribute to creating favorable conditions for profitable business, entrepreneurs and foreign investors, revitalizing the economy and its convergence with the European one.
There are indeed enough advantages: an export support system (loans and export guarantees), participation in various programs of assistance to underdeveloped countries, which will open up the resources of various funds, enhancing the reliability of the financial and economic system. Bulgaria's legislation will be harmonized with European law, which will prepare the Bulgarian producer for participation in the EU single market, and Bulgarian industry for integration.
However, most analysts believe that rapid convergence is a double-edged sword. The European economy is in a stage of slow growth, which will also affect the pace of economic growth in Bulgaria. Difficulties will lie in wait in such components of convergence as the resource efficiency of the national economy, participation in the pan-European division of labor, real incomes of the population, and its social status. The GDP growth rate achieved by the country, at 5-6% per year, is insufficient for the main thing - competitiveness in the common EU market, as well as for ensuring comparable incomes for the population. Joining the European Union could turn into significant losses for Bulgaria in the main sector of the economy - agriculture.
Finnish President Tarja Halonen, in an interview with Bulgarian journalists, noted that "the European Union is not a sanatorium where one can rest after facing difficulties. The EU brings with it not only opportunities, privileges and rights, but also responsibilities." At the same time, Europe takes upon itself the moral obligation to help Bulgaria and Romania cope with the destructive results of half a century of division into blocs and to make Southeastern Europe as reliable, democratic and safe as the western part of the continent.
Having joined the EU in January 2007, Bulgaria will be fully economically integrated into it, but politically it has long been in the European orbit. This opens a new chapter in the history of the region, and for the first time attracts attention to it since the "Great Game" of the 19th century.