God bless the King and the people

The victory of the National Movement Simeon II was obviously a popular one. Like a friend of mine put it, "Who can I trust if I cannot trust my own king?" I was rather moved by this remark from a brilliant, but nonetheless unemployed doctor, especially since I considered Simeon II as my king too.

I will always be a foreigner, but I love this country so much, I intend to leave my bones here. So far so good, neither Nikki nor I doubt Simeon's integrity or honesty, and I think our view is shared by the majority of the Bulgarian people.

But can the "King" trust his "servants?" That is the crucial question. I fear the answer is no, at least for some of them. From reliable sources I have information that there are politicians from the new movement with potential to put Bulgaria on the right track towards prosperity and normality, but with the same destructive attitudes as their predecessors - "Screw Bulgaria, what's in it for me?" If proven wrong, I will jump for joy, but I fear that when the promised 800 days have passed, we will find ourselves in the same old garbage, only in royal wrapping. But I do not think Simeon can be to blame, only the same negative greedy forces, who will always do their best to screw every honest well-meaning soul in the country.

"Petar Stoyanov gives the impression of being a decent man, working like a beaver to help the country out of its quagmire." I wrote this in The Sofia Echo in March. Since then, my perception of the man has slightly changed. Why? This spring he violently attacked Kostov and the rest of the blue party for corruption and involvement in a lot of monkey business.

This summer, somewhere abroad, when asked if he could name one corrupt Bulgarian politician he answered in the negative. This is beyond absurdity. In a country where every five-year-old knows that corruption is as common as smoking, the president is unable to name one?! To me the man seems more concerned with saving his political ass, than helping his people. So good luck with your climbing, Gospodin Stoyanov.

Just one question: "How does it feel to be president of a country where you can literally get away with murder, provided you are rich enough and know the right people to bribe?"

Where I live, three men beat a young gipsy to death with clubs. They were sent to court, and (to my surprise) given long sentences. But this was four years ago, and the perpetrators haven't seen the inside of a prison cell yet. Instead it's (black) business as usual. The killers are driving around town in their Mercedes/jeeps while the gipsy boy is rotting in his grave!

I think Bulgaria's only hope for a better future lies with EU membership, though I am not too sure about that either, given some of our politicians' seemingly limitless ability to ruin everything that could benefit the population.

But let's think positively for a change. Let's imagine Bulgaria will experience the same positive development as Portugal, Ireland and Greece once it finally attains fully-fledged membership. Then let's imagine a father somewhere in Bulgaria trying to comfort his son during their daily meal of yoghurt and bread (the only affordable food on the father's pension). The son has been unemployed for two years after five years at university.

"Don't worry, son! When you are 50 you will have a job that will enable you to eat meat every day. You will be able to afford enough electricity to keep nice and warm all through the winter, yes you will even be able to buy an air-conditioner to make the summer heat more endurable. You will have a car, and you will even be able to afford the petrol to drive it. Out driving you will be relatively safe, because even the police will respect the traffic rules, and the roads will no longer be filled with deadly holes. All the time you will know where you are, because even the gypsies will have jobs, so they no longer will have to steal the road signs to sell to their metal-millionaires. If you have children, they will have a lot more alternatives than the two you have at the moment - emigrate or join the mafia."