Comment by Emilia Milcheva:
"People, wake up and go out to protest!" - this is the appeal of one of the thousands of citizens, angry about the victims on Bulgarian roads. The cause of their discontent was the death of a 12-year-old child, after which the father could not remain silent in grief.
After the protests and the 37 measures announced by the government, the aim of which is to reduce deaths and injuries on the roads, the big unknown is whether the institutions will do their job when the sustained pressure weakens and people return to their homes. Then only the parents who lost their children, from the association "Angels on the Road" - to continue the fight for justice.
Those over 1,000 people who filed a report with the prosecutor's offices in Vratsa and Montana a few months ago about the poor condition of the Kozloduy-Lom road will not be in a hurry to go home either. The section is not included in the 36 identified by the RIA that urgently need to be made safe. Since December last year, citizens have been protesting and demanding that road II-11 be repaired, which is used daily by workers at the nuclear power plant. They have sent letters to ministers and deputies from the region because of the miserable roads in the Northwest. In vain. But the RIA list still includes one of the deadliest roads in Bulgaria - Ruse-Byala - where in 2024 13 people died and over 200 were injured.
Protests remain the most effective tool
For many in Bulgaria, the authorities are powerless to fulfill their promises. For example, the "urgent measures against water shortages" requested by caretaker Prime Minister Glavchev quickly evaporated with the resignation of his cabinet. And out of 30 road measures identified in 2019, only two have been implemented, he said in "Referendum" on BNT, road expert Rosen Rapchev.
But can we rely on constant protests to make the state do its job and guarantee the rights and quality of life of its citizens?
In theory, democracy offers various pressure mechanisms that have the potential to systematically, rather than episodically, hold the government accountable - elections, the judiciary and civil control through NGOs and the media. In Bulgaria, they are weakened. Low voter turnout and apathy reduce the pressure on politicians, and frequent votes in the last four years have caused fatigue and disappointment. The justice system is cumbersome, corroded by corruption and political influence. The independence of the system has been undermined by "brokers" like Petyo Euroto, Notary, Krasyo Chernichkia, prosecutors for dirty orders and judges "rotten apples", as former French ambassador Xavier de Caban called them. Signatures and petitions also do not work.
Investigative journalists expose corruption schemes and focus attention, but… any miracle in three days. Society has acquired "immunity" due to the intensity of scandals, which range from incriminating videos to a political raid on the Dogan Palaces. Media freedom is deformed. Dependencies, political-economic or subordinate to Russian propaganda, dictate the content. That is why the connections between poor infrastructure-corruption-lack of control-death are rarely exposed, and disasters are usually presented as the result of the unreasonable behavior of the leaders.
For now, protests remain the most effective tool, because the authorities find it difficult to ignore them - as long as they are large and prolonged. Anger is the fuel, but hope for change is the engine. Such were the protest actions in 2013-2014, triggered by the election of Delyan Peevski, then still in his early days as an oligarch and outside the "Magnitsky" list, as head of the National Agency for State Security. Angered by the election of a man with deep addictions and a controversial reputation, thousands took to the streets and protested for months. Then the strong civic energy, united in #DANSwithme, succeeded, in which the parties were difficult to distinguish - Peevski was withdrawn literally for a day, and the following year the BSP-DPS cabinet resigned under pressure.
But neither the "Peevski" model, nor he himself disappeared, what is more - today he has already solidified himself as a central player, equipped with his own party.
The normalization of the absurd has become the norm
"If Peevski becomes prime minister…" This hypothesis sounds absurd, but in recent years the normalization of the absurd has become the norm. Fewer and fewer people are shocked - even major scandals like the "Eight Dwarfs", which in a normally functioning democracy would lead to resignations, investigations and convictions, have been quietly growing in Bulgaria. A unifying cause for all, such as the rule of law, is being discredited through targeted propaganda irradiation that labels the protesters: "paid", "working for foreign interests", "Sorosoids".
Until two years ago, political forces such as the "We Continue the Change" and "Democratic Bulgaria", born from the wave of protests, upheld the principles of boundaries that are not crossed. After the "assembly" with Peevski's support, which he also provides to the current government of GERB-SDF, BSP and "There is such a people", it is no longer the same. Part of society today would be outraged by "Peevski-prime minister", another would accept him with cynicism, a third - with approval. All this kills the energy for mass protest.
Our silence is golden for the corrupt and thieves
Should we wait for a new generation of anger from educated young people or wake up if we want to change the state and the political elite?
It seems that many Bulgarians have reached the phase in which even the big blunders with life, statehood and justice do not provoke strong protest demonstrations. This insensitivity is dangerous for the health of society - there is no hope, there is no anger, apathy is setting in. "What should I protest about, when it will still be the same…" This is also one of the reasons why Bulgarian streets are not flooded with waves of protest like in Serbia, Romania, Greece, Turkey, not counting the occasional outburst of discontent due to a long water shortage, lack of electricity or problems in schools/kindergartens. In 2017, over half a million Romanians took to the streets to protest against corruption - the largest since the fall of communism, while in Bulgaria the memory of the largest demonstration - the UDF rally in Sofia 35 years ago, which gathered almost 1 million people, has faded.
The protest energy has been exhausted and partially lost not only because of political hopelessness, but also because of the demographic situation. Thousands of young and engaged Bulgarians are abroad. The protests of 2021, when some of them returned due to the pandemic, showed what an explosion of civic energy means. And they are exactly what is missing in "Bulgaria has no more children to kill".
The remaining Bulgarians will have to stay awake even without these young people - otherwise their silence will be golden for the corrupt and the thieves.