Bulgaria's expats push for reforms as country votes

"Whether we mention Bulgaria in Chicago or Sofia, we do it with love," says Wanya Kramer, who has lived in the US for 20 years.

Together with advertising experts in her home country and activists who, like her, live and work abroad, she's organized the "You have the right to Bulgaria" campaign. It has aimed to encourage Bulgarian expats to vote in the parliamentary and presidential elections in their country on November 14, 2021. Bulgarians are electing a parliament for the third time this year after lawmakers failed to form a government following elections on April 4 and July 11.

There is no absentee ballot in Bulgaria, so expats can only vote in person at an embassy or a specially set-up polling station. It's usually volunteers who organize the voting.

"I know people who drive hundreds of kilometers to be able to vote," Kramer said, adding that most of her compatriots in the US are interested in life and politics in their home country.

"Many expats will return to Bulgaria if we fight corruption, if well-educated and qualified people work in the institutions and if the health and education systems are reformed," she said.

Reverse brain drain

Some have already done that. Andrey Gyurov studied at Truman State University in the US and then earned his doctorate in Austria. In Vienna, he headed a credit risk department at the Volksbank and taught at the university. In 2009, he returned to Bulgaria with his family and began teaching at the American University in Blagoevgrad.

"When I returned to Bulgaria, my biggest fear was that my family and children might not get adequate and quick medical care in an emergency. And that the education system would not have a high enough standard," Gyurov said.

For years, Bulgarian and Romanian students have shown the weakest results of all EU countries in international PISA studies. The Bulgarian health care system has been suffering from a massive brain drain of doctors and medical professionals for decades.

"In all these areas, Bulgaria needs real reform," Andrey Gyurov said.

An anti-graft message

Gyurov has decided to do something about it himself. He's running for the centrist "We Continue the Change" party, founded in September 2021 by former Economy and Finance Ministers Kiril Petkov and Assen Vasilev. Both are Harvard graduates and successful businessmen, and in May 2021 became members of the interim government appointed by Bulgarian President Rumen Radev after the failure to form a government.

By the time a new election was held on July 11, 2021, Petkov and Vasilev had won widespread approval for their dogged work. As ministers, they had uncovered serious abuses in the awarding of public contracts and at the Bulgarian Development Bank. When the second parliamentary election on July 11 once again failed to produce a government, Petkov and Vasilev resigned from their posts and threw themselves fully into the election campaign.

Andrey Gyurov explained that graft has long been the biggest problem in the country. "We need justice. That's why our top priority is zero corruption,” Gyurov said. "That's because corruption holds the whole country captive and hinders development in all areas."

Energy policy and the rule of law

Another young minister who trained abroad is Atanas Pekanov. He became part of the transitional government and has remained in his post. After studying in Vienna and London, he gained experience at the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) and the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt. As deputy prime minister, the 31-year-old is currently responsible for managing EU funds.

Together with his team, he's developing a Bulgarian "recovery and resilience plan" to ensure that his country receives resources from the EU's recovery plan, which is meant to help rebuild a post-COVID-19 Europe.

"We are continuing talks with the European Commission on energy policy and the rule of law," Pekanov told DW. In order to receive around €6.6 billion ($7.6 billion) from the EU's recovery plan, Bulgaria has to commit to phasing out coal by 2038.

"The government of former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who was in office until April, has done almost nothing on this issue in recent years," Pekanov said.

Deteriorating law and order

In addition, Bulgaria is in urgent need of judicial reform. A 2020 European Parliament resolution noted a "significant deterioration when it comes to respecting the principles of the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights." According to the European Commission, the prosecutor general exercises significant political influence due to his powers and position.

"First, we need to expand the accountability of the prosecutor general and facilitate legal action against the position," Pekanov said. Investigations of the prosecutor general are virtually impossible at present, he said.

"There's also a problem with public contracts," Pekanov said. "Bulgaria is the EU country with the most public contracts awarded without a tender,” he said, adding that to change that, Bulgaria needs a stable parliament and government.

Whether Pekanov will remain in a new government is still uncertain. "It depends on their priorities," he says.

A vote amid a crisis of trust

Bulgarians are going to the polls amid a fourth wave of the coronavirus, which has seen record hospitalizations and deaths. Yet many Bulgarians oppose vaccination. Bulgaria is the EU country with the lowest proportion of vaccinated people in the total population.

The reason, according to Pekanov, is that "nobody believes anybody in Bulgaria." Economist Gyurov, for his part, speaks of a "deep crisis of confidence" in the country.

According to polls, the center-right GERB party of long-time Prime Minister Borissov could once again emerge from the election as the strongest party. But after more than a decade as head of government, Borissov is politically isolated. Most other parties and much of Bulgarian society accuse him of corruption and nepotism.

Many Bulgarian expats, too, will go to the polls once again on Nov. 14, 2021, hoping their vote can change the country for the better.

"It's true that it is tiring to cast our vote for the third time in a year," Wanya Kramer said. "But fatigue is something you can overcome, as opposed to apathy. When it comes to Bulgaria, we will never be apathetic."

This article was translated from German.