Europe Archive

What kind of signal European elections have sent

The elections for European Parliament have sent a very clear message to politicians from all political families and this message has two main points: a need of reforms and a further deepening of the integration processes within the European Union itself. The message concerning the need of reforms comes from the fact that traditional parties

Brexit and its consequences on affected countries, including Bulgaria

As the process of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union accelerates, there are more arising questions concerning the different routes and scenarios which this monumental change could take, as well as its direct and indirect influence on major affected countries— the United Kingdom itself, in addition to other EU Member States, such as in

Economic and Political Risks before the Russian Federation

Crimea’s annexation by Russia, the severe opposition of Moscow to the rest of the world and most of all to USA and EU and the subsequent sanctions, raise the question would these sanctions affect in any way the main parties in the conflict? Considering the isolation that Russian fell into as well as the fact

What’s in the Basis of Economic Prosperity?

This analysis will compare 30 European member states in terms of certain macroeconomical indicators, as shown in the enclosed table, for finding out a dependency regarding their tax systems and the level of their economic development. As I hope the analysis will show, economic prosperity is not based by all means on the type of

GERB’s Reformer Hypocrisy

They say GERB would be making reforms, should it win a second mandate. At a meeting between the government and the business, held on the 3rd of December, Mr. Simeon Dyankov asked the ministers what kind of reforms they were going to initiate, should GERB happen to win a second mandate. Since, for a full

Borisov Attempts to Bribe Bulgarian Voters

When in 2009 Simeon Dyankov took over the Ministry of Finance, the first thing he dealt with was to keep the budget deficit below the limit of 3% – the reference value, defined in the Stability and Growth Pact, which, if exceeded, would incur sanctions. Once he proved that the triple coalition has left budget

Tax Over Deposits Interests is an Attempt to Conceal a Lie

The government decided to impose tax on deposits interests – this news blew up the public space on Wednesday. It’s been a long time since the government has last produced news with such public response. If one tracks down through the whole governmental policy, however, and in particular the one related to incomes, would reveal

It’s the Economy, Stupid!*

Bulgaria is the poorest EU Member State and this fact no longer surprises anybody. Bulgarians got used to their place in the bottom of all rankings and revealing such information has even become an occasion of jokes and laughter. Of course, this is sad, but Bulgarians somehow manage to accept their destiny because all illusions

Fighting Crisis by Decision Avoidance

Most European Union member states entered recession at the very beginning of the second quarter of 2008. This made the government (the Triple Coalition at that time) think that Bulgaria would be left isolated from the world processes and it would become something like an island of stability amongst the ocean of sinking economies. Such

The Absurdity of Contemporary Bulgaria

It is impossible to have a normally-functioning society provided that half a million Bulgarians are illiterate, another half a million have as much as primary education and still another million and a half have left school at 15. All these people sum up to a two-third of the work force of the country and half