Is Bulgaria an African Country?? …??

I just received the below through ”Sofia Weekly – the Bulgaria Online Newsletter” …  

 

German Expert: Bulgaria Is Like African Country

The German expert Philip von Walderdorf said Tuesday the situation in Bulgaria was like in some African country, and that it could not be tolerated.

 

In an interview for the Deutsche Welle, Von Walderdorf, who is a business consultant and a former officer of the German Chamber of Trade and Industry, pointed out that the Bulgarian politicians were to blame for the country’s situation, and that terminating the EU funding for the country was the best way to punish them.

“As a German taxpayer, I cannot accept the fact that the money from my taxes would sink somewhere in Bulgaria, stolen by various mafia organizations, and that everything would be in vain”, von Walderdorf stated.

He further expressed his indignation by saying that “these are outright African manners. All states paying this money are really angry, and don’t want to pay for Bulgaria any more.”

According to the German expert, the Bulgarian politicians had to be pressured from all possible directions to rectify the situation.

Von Walderdorf contrasted the terrible state of Bulgarian politics to the booming economy pointing out that similar state could be noticed in many other countries.

 

Personally, I thought it is completely inappropriate to hear such words from the mouth of an EU official … What does Africa have to do with Bulgaria … (Africa – a continent with its own problems and challenges).  ??

I further thought such words are not just exceptionally out of place, but I guess also pointing to deep problems of culture, and communication(s), in the EU administration. Am not sure whether good or not, but I really laughed at what the EU official had said – I just find it so ridiculous – just me, I guess, being very personal, right here.

Finally, and on the point about EU administration engagement with member countries (that I raised in a previous post) – if a country misbehaves, how would you make sure it stops this a starts behaving…? Talking about it is one thing, critising the country is another, engaging about the misbehaviour with the country is quite another, and remaining involved, whilst using the power of sanctions, is, again, quite another thing. 

 

Brussels busts Bulgaria according to the Economist

I thought what the Economist published about Bulgaria last week is interesting … Have a look at this: http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11751745&source=features_box3&mode=comment&intent=postTop

The Issue – Corruption in Bulgaria, and Other Countries

The Economist tells the story of Bulgaria who, together with Romania, became a member of the EU in January 2007. Despite this, the EU has just stopped some of the flow of EU money to Bulgaria because of repeated instances of corruption the Bulgarian government has failed to address. Such instances of corruption are said to go as far as controlling where EU money should go, in other words, directing it to where it should not necessarily go.

SAD. Why?  Because, as much as this shows poor governance on behalf of the Bulgarian government, it also does so on behalf of the EU. Why is this happening? Can EU engagement with and in member countries be only at the level of government administration? … And, what is corruption …?

As it happens, you can learn just as much, if not more, from the comments on the article (what a great way of using online media). These tell you that Greece has been having corruption ever since it joined the EU (in 1981!!), that Italy who is one of founding members of the EU is notorious for its high levels of corruption, institutional nepotism and crime (comment by ”panathatube”), that Romania has corruption too, but, apparently, not as much  … and seems like not going as far as meddling with EU money (and so, no sanctions …??).

What is Corruption …?

Corruption is not just people doing bad things. It goes very deep into relationships, values and corresponding behaviours, both at the level of governments and societies. For example, Del Monte and Papagni mention that corruption has sources that are, for sure, economic, but also cultural and political … It is an interplay of regulation, effectiveness of legal systems and social capital. The latter they define as:

”Social capital is embedded in primary social institutions which provide people with basic values, such as high levels of social trust, cohesion and participation.”

How Corruption Works – the Bulgaria Case

Based on my personal experience (I am Bulgarian), I know that corruption in Bulgaria is not JUST ABOUT the government doing bad things. No, it is also about Bulgarian society, in some ways, seeing this, and sometimes doing it, too. It is also about those who see it hating it, and not doing it, but not also not doing much to stop it, because they have no mechanisms and social support to do so!!

And so, this web of actions, thoughts, behaviours, and abuse, ends up being a tangle that Bulgaria, and Bulgarian society can not resolve by themselves, first and foremost because there is no good political leadership, as well as no such which would come from within society.

(In any case, this is why governance in Bulgaria is, for now, poor.)

The Importance of Leadership

Leadership would be very important to detangle the tight knots of corrupted practices and approaches in Bulgarian government and society.  This would be leadership that would see through the knots and have the vision for how these would be transformed. It would also be leadership that would find ways in which to combine soft methods, tools and approaches (soft system methodologies) with, so to say, ”harder approaches”, such as instituting regulation and legal mechanisms and systems. Such leadership would be about managing, and influencing, in a way that would gradually enable the country to drift away from corruption.

An approach integrating soft system methodologies could also enable the Bulgarian government to shift from more to less (and much less!!) corruption without there being any conditions for an opposition, or else, to resort to violence … such is the nature of soft system methodologies. As I understand them, these are focused on changing approaches, feelings and thoughts first – and only then changing behaviours. (rather than the other way round, which is quite oppressive … for anybody)

 … Such leadership could come from within the country … could also come from without.

… Such leadership could also come from those who have been entrusted to lead (and increasingly less doing it) … but could also come from those who have not been formally and institutionally entrusted to lead, but who have the power to do so.
It would emerge bottom-up from within the society, as participatory, or distributed leadership.

The EU and Leadership …?

I wonder whether the EU has ever looked at corruption, as a problem, in this way. They probably have, at least some of them. Bigger question is, though, have they ever also approached corruption in member countries in this way, and also tried to do something about it? They may have, then how …? Has there ever been capacity building in (new) member countries, i.e., seeking ways to engage with both (new) member countries’ governments and societies? Or, is it just about: we give you the money, you’d better do good things with it …

The ”we give you the money, you’d better do good things with it …” is an approach that is unfair and also implies inequality. It is, also, very immature. An administration, and a government, as high-level as the EU, should know better that they should engage with member countries and participate in how the EU money is used, and spent. They should also use opportunities along the way to enable changes, good changes, in governments and societies, by creating opportunities for local people to make those changes … Yep, this is very hard. So what? It is the right way to go. If you see it that way, you can also do it.

(This is why EU governance is poor, too.) 

Conclusion 

… To conclude, such reflections do not speak well on behalf of the EU … hopefully not so much so on behalf of Bulgaria. Participaroty leadership does not necessarily have to come from without the country, it can also come from within! So, brace yourself, Bulgaria, and start doing it, at last.