uite predictably, the election of Bulgaria’s ambassador to France, Irina Bokova, as Director-General designate of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) caused mixed feelings in Bulgaria.

The reason was simple: Bokova comes from a family who occupied a special place in communist-era Bulgaria. Her father Georgi Bokov was editor-in-chief of the Bulgarian Communist Party mouthpiece, a similar organ to Russia’s Pravda, a true believer in communist Bulgaria.

Bokova and her brother Filip Bokov enjoyed the best schooling in Bulgaria and received their higher education in the former Soviet Union in the finest traditions of the Bulgarian Communist Party.

After the 1989 changes, the two Bokovs remained faithful to the organisation that had given them so many privileges in the past and accepted a number of party positions. At the end they were rewarded with diplomatic postings: Irina to Paris and her brother Filip, once head of former prime minister Sergei Stanishev’s political cabinet, to Slovenia.

So it was that her election as Unesco’s head heralded a moral debate because she represents the re-born communist elite who have conspicuously managed to regain their positions in today’s democratic Bulgaria.

Some made comparisons between Bokova’s father and Joseph Goebbels. What would have been the reaction if Goebbels’ daughter had won the post? Others claimed that she was in the right place at the right time and that, after Egypt’s culture minister Farouk Hosny’s words about burning Israeli books, anyone would have beaten him.  

President Georgi Purvanov’s support for Bokova’s nomination made others claim that this was Purvanov’s way of reaping political gains himself. Other commentators even said that Bokova’s appointment had ruined Bulgaria’s chances of having a Bulgarian at the head of any other international body.  

The problem with all these comments, however valid from a moral point of view, is that they came too late. Bokova had been nominated for the post for more than a year. The previous government officially supported her candidacy, even endorsing a 100 000 leva allowance for her campaign. This was when all these moral issues should have been raised.

Judging by the public reaction, her nomination would have been reconsidered, especially since Bulgaria had elections a few months ago. However, during all this time no one in Bulgaria did any such thing, mainly because no one thought she had any real chance of winning. Bulgarians also regard Unesco as having no particular value, hence it did not matter who headed it.

On top of that, Bokova had been Bulgaria’s ambassador to France since 2005; during this whole period no one in Bulgaria had anything against her. It was only when she won the post that critics started sniping. And now the pro and anti-communist debate has been re-ignited with Bokova cast as chief villain for being the daughter of a former party functionary.