The Jeleva story & Bulgarian bloggers in focus

With the Jeleva story dominating the EU news these days, it is definitely worth taking a look at Bulgarian eurobloggers.

I'd like to mention Vihar Georgiev writing at the EU Law Blog who has participated in yesterday's recording of the 11th episode of the Chasing Brussels Podcast that should appear soon. He published a long article on the motivations behind Jeleva's nomination as well as two follow-up posts (here and here).

And today, Boyan Yurukov who participated in the Th!nk About It! blogging competition ahead of the European Parliament Elections published a great article that we can easily read thanks to Google Translate, despite the fact that the original version is in Bulgarian.

In the article about Bulgarian politicians using blogs and Twitter, Boyan builds a beautiful argumentation that starts at the EP election campaign, passes by some Bulgarian ministers' web 2.0 efforts, and ends with the fact that the Jeleva story was on Twitter 30 minutes before the main Bulgarian news networks had it on their screens.

The richness of the Euroblogosphere lies in its individual and linguistic diversity - and I can only recommend not just to focus on some English and French blogs but to look around for the many gems that are worth reading, too!

On video: The Bulgarian Commission candidate Rumiana Jeleva

The Bulgarian Commission candidate, foreign minister Rumania Jeleva, sat down with New Europe editor-in-chief Alexandro Koronakis to speak about her career, her opinion on the van Rompuy/Ashton ticket, women in the Commission, and the future of the Nabucco pipeline project:



Worth watching!

European Parliament elections 2009 (56): Follow-up on the Bulgarian (non-)vote

I recently quoted some figures that 50% of Bulgarians don't intend to vote on this year's European elections.

Now, after a hint by Ruth, Boyan Yurukov from Th!nk about it! has followed up on this issue, explaining why Bulgarians don't vote and what the civil society and bloggers' community are trying to do against this apathy:

In Bulgaria people don’t have faith in the system. Most people don’t see an alternative in the opposition either. This causes a sort of a mass political depression in our people - we don’t see a point in doing anything. We either don’t vote or cast a negative vote against whoever is in charge at the moment. In this way several new parties have managed to climb on top of the public disapproval and received a big support in the last few elections.

In this sense, the European elections do not seem to be different because they are, more or less, national elections for a European institution. But if people don't trust their own politicians in their own country, why should they send them to Brussels/Strasbourg to change something?

Yet one more argument for true European elections!

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Under the category "European parliament elections 2009" I am following up national and European activities on the path to the European Parliament elections 2009.

For an overview over all articles in this category have a look at the overview article.

For the five newest post see also the sidebar.

European Parliament elections 2009 (53): Almost 50% of Bulgarians don't want to vote

Via europolitweeter I found this news from Bulgaria citing an opinion poll which found that 47% of Bulgarians do not want to vote for the EP elections, and that only 33% are decided to go to vote.

Pretty negative figures for the first Europe-wide European Parliament elections Bulgarians are going to participate in!

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Under the category "European parliament elections 2009" I am following up national and European activities on the path to the European Parliament elections 2009.

For an overview over all articles in this category have a look at the overview article.

For the five newest post see also the sidebar.

Good news: Swiss support Schengen including Romania and Bulgaria - updated

As a vigorous supporter of free movement, yesterday's news that almost 60% of the Swiss support the enlargement of the Schengen free movement agreement for Bulgarians and Romanians was really good news.

The alternative would have been - if I understand it correctly - the halt of the agreement, because the European Union does not allow such a discrimination of its member states: All... or non.

In this sense: Welcome to the family, Switzerland!

From Coulisses de Bruxelles:

Cela fait chaud au coeur de voir que la xénophobie ne triomphe pas toujours.

100% agreement!

The Neue Zürricher Zeitung (NZZ) remarks (by linking different press articles) that finally the Swiss are seen as "good Europeans" instead of being just isolationists.

Corruption in European Union countries

Corruption is once again on the agenda these days. And yes, there is corruption within the European Union.

That there is even corruption or related practices within the institutions of the European Union has been discussed quite recently, not for the first time.

But while for anyone working on Central and Eastern European countries it is not really surprising to hear that Romania and Bulgaria have the highest perceived corruption in the European Union, reading from the EUobserver that populations in Finland, Portugal, Italy, France, and Great Britain have the feeling that corruption is not fought appropriately in their countries is rather discouraging.

The EUobserver article is based on the Corruption Perception Index Report published by Transparency International yesterday.

Tracking: EP elections (XI) - supplemented

In Estonia, several high political figures are planning to run for the European elections in 2009 (or at least they are considering it). The names mentioned are Edgar Savisaar, former Prime Minister and controversial Center Party leader, Andrus Ansip, current Prime Minister of Estonia, and Siim Kallas, current EU Commissioner.

In Poland, political parties also get ready for next year's elections.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister and member of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has participated in the PES (Party of European Socialists) manifesto discussion.

An Irish businessman and Labour member launched a pro-European group to inform about the EU's work ahead of the upcoming elections.

And the Greek opposition leader Papandreou confirms that the stupidities of the past will be continued in the future saying "the Euroelections will not only be a vote on the course of Europe, but they will have the character of a referendum for the government and its policies to which an end must be put".

Supplement: Dutch right-wing liberals from VVD will rally against Turkish EU membership during the 2009 EU parliament election campaign, demanding a 10-year moratorium on the issue

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Under the category "Tracking: EP elections 2009" I am following up national and European activities on the path to the European Parliament elections 2009. So far: (10), (9), (8), (7), (6), (5), (4), (3), (2), (1).

Powerful Women (I): Meglena Plugchieva

The category "Powerful Women", which I will continue in the future, will be dedicated to European women with influence on the national or supranational level but with relevance for both.

As seen in the "Females in Front" petition, looking for qualified women for top European jobs is a permanent task and my "Powerful Women" series will be part of this work.

The first woman to be mentioned is Meglena Plugchieva (photo). Mrs. Plugchieva is Deputy Prime minister of Bulgaria and in this function responsible of monitoring and coordinating the EU funding.

Those of you following the news will have read that the preliminary publication of an EU Commission report on the state of affairs in Romania and Bulgaria has provoked intense discussions in Bulgaria and in the European Union - not least because huge amounts of EU funds will have to be repaid due to corruptive practices and misappropriation.

These bad news show that Mrs. Plugchieva, in office since April/May (before she was the Bulgarian ambassador to Germany), has quite a tough way to go. Yet, she has shown in her statements that she is ready to be as tough on this subject as it is necessary:

"I will not be Brussels' carrier pigeon. I will coordinate the work of each group of experts responsible for the EU funds absorption. However, this does not mean that the ministers, who have taken commitments to absorb funds under operative programs of the EU are exempt from their responsibilities and duties."

(STANDART)

Today's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, one of the leading national newspapers in Germany, calls her the "Guardian of [public] virtue" and remarks that she does not appear like a "woman with the back to the wall" but like a hard working and assertive politician willing to eliminate all corruptive practices in her country.

And in June, a high official of the Bavarian government (the most important German federal sub-unit) said about her:

"The nomination of Mrs. Plugchieva is an important signal for the earnest effort of the Bulgarian government to fight the misappropriate use of European funds. With Meglena Plugchieva, this task is in good hands."

(Compliance-Magazin)

We will see whether the pressure from Brussles will be helpful for Mrs. Plugchieva. From my side, I can only hope that she is successful in bringing corruption and criminal practices down. This is as important for her country and the European Union as it is - supposedly - for herself!

Good luck, Mrs. Plugchieva!