Stanishev

Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev appears to have embarked on a pre-emptive campaign to shape reaction to the forthcoming report on Bulgaria by the European Commission.

In interviews given to, among others, the Times and the Financial Times, Stanishev has sought to influence reaction to the report within the European Union and on the domestic front.

Stanishev has said, no doubt correctly, that however critical the report may prove to be, it will have to acknowledge positive steps taken. These, according to his list, include the establishment of the State Agency on National Security and the appointment of a deputy prime minister to oversee the use of EU funds and the other changes within the executive. A recent foreign media report added to this list Bulgaria’s move to close down duty-free shops, which allegedly are sites of financial irregularities.

It is understandable that Stanishev would want to attempt to defuse the political time-bomb that is the EC report. He knows as well as any insider or observer of Bulgarian politics that it is certain to be used as a catalyst for, at very least, calls by the opposition for yet another motion of no confidence in the Cabinet. Even without this ritual combat being re-enacted, there will be calls from the opposition for the Cabinet as a whole or individuals within it to step down.

Stanishev used the FT to make a special plea that the EC not recommend sanctions against Bulgaria, saying that this would only be playing into the hands of extremist political groups such as Ataka, and would impede the reform process.

Should the EC indeed impose penalties, it would be unfortunate if the inevitable happened and lunatic groups such as Ataka seek to exploit the fact for partisan political gain. Yet, at the same time, there can be no avoiding that the EU is meant to be an entity operating according to a common set of rules, and no EU state should escape the consequences of not keeping to those rules.

Keremedchiev

Deputy Foreign Minister Milen Keremedchiev is someone who believes in seeing for himself, if a Bulgarian media report on June 11 is to be believed.

According to the report, Keremedchiev flew to Moscow after a series of media reports about the long queues and backlog for visa applications at the embassy. Incognito, so we are told, he joined the queue at 6am and spent three hours engaging applicants in conversation while waiting for his number to be called. When it was, he identified himself to those with whom he had been sharing the queue, and to the Bulgarian embassy staff - who, by the way, would have been well advised to know what their deputy ministers look like.

It may be debated whether it was worth the tax leva paying for a deputy minister to fly to Moscow to examine in person a situation well-known to be a problem. However, there is something commendable in such inspections, especially anonymously and without advance warning. Actions such as those by Keremedchiev send a message that a matter is being taken seriously enough for an in situ check-up and send a signal to the bureaucracy to take steps to address the situation.

Would that, for example, the ministers of the interior, of justice and of state administration, to mention just a few, don false beards (where applicable) and dark glasses and take the time to have some unannounced street-level encounters with the services for which their respective ministries are responsible.

The occasional departure from an expansive desk and a fast-track chauffeur-driven view of the world is by no means a bad thing, especially for ministers paid from the public purse to make a difference for the better.