Transparency

McEldowney says that it is hoped that soon an initiative on transparency in energy transit will be launched.

"We have worked with an organisation called EITI, which is Extracted Industries Transparency Initiative. It is set up and run by the same individual who founded Transparency International, Dr Peter Eigen, who travelled here to Sofia to talk with us about this initiative and actually attended the Energy Forum that was hosted by President Purvanov, and talked about what we might be able to do in energy transit. We would like to see Bulgaria position itself as a leader in the region by stepping forward and saying, ‘we have taken the steps necessary to create greater transparency in this key part of the energy equation, the transit of energy,’ to publish agreements, to publish revenue streams, and to invite civil society into a dialogue about this."

The embassy and AmCham hosted a conference in Sofia on alternative, efficient and clean energy.

"In addition to having no energy resources of its own, so it must import almost all of them, it wastes more of what it does import than any other country in the EU. That’s got to change. Not simply because there are these EU criteria that have to be met, and it will be a very hard slog for Bulgaria to meet these, because they are pretty dramatic numbers, but also look at the environmental impact of wasting, and the financial impact. It’s significant. We are looking hard at that, and the advocacy point that I have made specifically on alternative and renewable energies and energy efficiency relates to the economic crisis underway now. One of my favourite sayings is, ‘a crisis is a terrible thing to waste’ – it’s a principle that president Obama that proceeded on with our stimulus package, to say, we’re not going to just deal with the economic crisis, we’re also going to solve some long-standing problems in the context of this crisis."

Another key area of bilateral co-operation is work against organised crime, specifically at a regional level against trafficking in people, illegal drugs and weapons. McEldowney says that there has been progress but the problems are not yet solved, not until the illegal networks in the country and the region are broken up.

When it is put to her that she is the latest in a line of US ambassadors to speak out on Bulgaria’s shortcomings in dealing with organised crime and corruption, and asked whether she is impatient, McEldowney says: "Yes. The word that I’ll use, more than frustrated is ... I am impatient".

"I believe that anybody who really cares about this country is impatient for more progress on corruption and on organised crime. How can you not be? How can you care about Bulgaria and not advocate for faster and more effective action on this issue? And of course there is no, what we say, silver bullet. You cannot solve these problems overnight. I recognise that."

McEldowney says that the government that will take office after the July 5 national parliamentary elections "has both an opportunity but also a very serious responsibility to move forward on corruption and on organised crime in substantial and concrete ways".

"I hope that the government will come forward both with a strategic plan for what it will do, with specific milestones, and by milestones, I mean goals and timelines within which they plan to meet those goals and will make those public so that both the government and the people and civil society can have a dialogue about it."

She says that a fine place to begin would be EU funds, with oversight and monitoring mechanisms, along with the new government making a priority of resolving outstanding cases of people alleged to have mismanaged or embezzled EU money.

"If the government is successful in doing those two things, it would then provide a lovely template on which to broaden procedures for public procurement more generally and given the significant role that public procurement plays in this economy both in terms of revenue stream and job creation in terms of the development of small and medium enterprises, greater rigour and greater transparency in the oversight and operation of public procurement tenders would have a very positive impact here."

When it is put to her that reforming rules on political party financing – an issue on which she has spoken out – could be included, McEldowney says that the issue is absolutely crucial but will take time and would have to be done in phases.

"Unless and until there is true, and I mean genuine, transparency, genuine rigour in discerning the sources and the flow of money that goes into and out of political parties, there will never be a break between the parties and vested interests, and shady business."

Asked about the current attitudes of US business people in Bulgaria, she says that the American community finds Bulgaria "pretty attractive" with its low tax rates, well-educated workforce and good geographic location.

"So it is no accident that an American company, the energy firm AES, is the largest single foreign investor in Bulgaria, but it also explains why we are in the top 10 overall list of foreign investors. People are here because they want to be here and they see it in their interests to be here. That said, there are difficulties to doing business and the global economic crisis, in my judgment, makes it even more imperative that the Bulgarian authorities take steps to make this country the absolute most attractive place to do business that it possibly can."

For companies already here, Bulgaria’s authorities should take steps to resolve problems such as unnecessary bureaucratic delays and attempts at undue influence. More than that, the next government should consider how to make Bulgaria a "magnet" drawing people keen on innovation, notably in the IT field.