site.btaPolitical Psychologist Ivan Ivanov to BTA: We Should Become Agents of Our Own Interests in Europe

The European Parliament elections in June will be crucial for Bulgaria, according to political psychologist Ivan Ivanov. He sees a lasting problem with the Bulgarian representation in the European Parliament. "Bulgaria's problem is that we rarely pursue our original policies, including through our MEPs. We try to adapt and bring home decisions made at the high European level. We should become agents of the Bulgarian interests in the context of Europe," Associate Professor Ivanov said in an interview with BTA.

Ivanov leads a master's programme in political psychology at the St Cyril and St Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo. He is a former deputy speaker of Parliament.

He is afraid that Bulgarian MEPs will continue to function as an appendage to the political parties at home which nominated them to the EU legislature, meaning they will not make active European policies. From his experience as deputy chair of Bulgaria's National Assembly between 2014 and 2017, Ivanov noted that there is no communication between the committees in the national Parliament and those in the European Parliament.

"The National Assembly does not push for our policies in Europe through the agency of the Bulgarian MEPs - for example, in the field of transport, energy, social policy and social security, agriculture - areas in which Bulgaria can be a key factor," he added.

"From a psychological point of view, we behave like the bad kid in class and act helpless. This kind of behaviour allows large European nations to solve their problems at our expense. We need to be confident, because we have the potential to give, not just to do as others say," the specialist argued.

He said the hope is that at the forthcoming European elections there will be politicians who vow to pursue a stronger, more adequate Bulgarian policy in Europe; otherwise, voter turnout will be relatively low, because people will assume that the MEP candidates will be compensated for compromises they have done on the domestic policy plane.

"The key to all political developments in 2024 is crisis, that is, the post-COVID crisis and the geopolitical military conflicts, which make it necessary for Bulgaria to have a steady government able to make strategic decisions," the professor said.

He noted that the present Bulgarian government is based on an innovative arrangement, according to which the prime minister's office is rotated between the two partners in the government "non-coalition", or "assemblage". "We have a Parliament which somehow manages to control the government. The situation shows that almost every party gets a piece of the power pie," he said.

"These factors make the present government stable to some extent. In construction, sometimes a shaky structure can be more stable seismically than a monolithic one. In a way, the current geopolitical situation is like an earthquake which makes political players in Bulgaria hold on to one another, be more accommodating and eager to suggest a governance formula to let the institutions function," he said.

"The problem with such crisis governments is that they lack a strategic goal. Our government says it is pursuing two tactical goals: eurozone membership and full Schengen membership. The strategic goal should set the milestones for the next three to 10 years. The government should pick the big 'stones' to lay at the foundation. We see that democracy nowadays is bogus, no big stones have been laid as a foundation. We need to make up our minds about what Bulgaria should be like as a modern, pro-European state and proceed in that direction unswervingly," the analyst said.

He noted that the EU pendulum is moving from liberalism and internationalism to patriotism and nationalism. More radical politicians are emerging and beginning to inspire nationalist-separatist movements. "Therefore, the Bulgarian government should focus on raising the quality of life and the level of democracy to make people see the point in EU membership," Ivanov commented.

"It should be decided whether education should come first, making it up to date, not backward and hierarchic, or whether the priority should be changing the welfare and pension system through more leftist policies, or whether stronger measures should be set to establish green and eco-friendly practices. The overriding objective should be to boost economic investment. This will justify the tactical goals, because more investment means less corruption, better skills, higher incomes and stronger consumption," Ivanov said.

Paradoxically, he said, there was more democracy in 2023 than in 2022, because there was separation of powers. The conflicts between the coalition partners are a good thing, because they bring shady dealings to light.

Ivanov warned, however, that the current Bulgarian government formula may create a situation where principles are abandoned if it lasts too long. Politicians may get used to taking the short view, which may undermine public confidence in the political class, and this may cause division and strong public tensions, he said.