One of the lessons to be learnt from the transitions in Central and Eastern Europe of the past 20 years is that issues left unaddressed tend to fester, ultimately absorbing disproportionate time and efforts in the politics of the present day.

In Bulgaria, this is clearly the case with the ambassadors who have been exposed as having collaborated with the communist-era secret services. It is extraordinary, if not surprising, that it is the only the current Government that is dealing with determination with an issue that should have been resolved a long time ago – and then, in the face of a rearguard action from the inheritors of those communist-era traditions.

While many may see this as an outrightly political issue, and indeed it is, there is also the issue of the functionality of a country’s judicial system. In the case of a transition from an oppressive society, this can have two threads – ridding the bench of the politically compromised, but also constructing a system based on genuine justice. Again, in the case of Bulgaria, this is an issue that should have been resolved a long time ago and yet continues to dog the realities of life.

If anything is to be learnt by participants from the Arab World at the Sofia Platform event on transitional justice on December 3 and 4, these negative experiences may go some way to providing it. Reform should never be hasty or ill-considered, but at the same time, if the dream of democracy is a sincere one, reforms dealt with only tardily will mar the gains of transition.