Maxim Behar: Parties Lack Economic Strategy for Bulgaria

Host (Lora Indzhova): Will the seventh elections bring stability and a majority in the upcoming 51st parliament? We'll discuss and probably vote on this topic with PR experts Desislava Olovanova and Maxim Behar. Hello and welcome! I'm happy to see you here, especially in this format, as we discuss politicians' behavior and their campaign promises in the official pre-election campaign we're currently in. I want to start with something a bit different that caught my attention last week. Yesterday, I watched journalist Lora Krumova in a political interview and again noticed the same thing—politicians' behavior is becoming more radical. There's a tendency towards aggression rather than trying to explain to voters why they should support them in the next election. Do you agree with this, and what rhetoric do you expect from the candidates?

Maxim Behar: I think this trend of radical political speaking is not unique to Bulgaria. We see it abroad too—in Austria yesterday, before that in France, Germany, and Belgium. There's a global radicalization of political views, not just the way politicians speak. However, in Bulgaria, this isn't driven by political arguments or positions but by political incompetence, as in other countries. Our politicians may have some political orientation—left, right, nationalist, or patriotic—but they have no vision for what should happen in Bulgaria in the next 3 to 5 years. Everything boils down to the economy and business—whether there will be money, if foreign investors will be attracted, and legislative stability will be ensured. Nobody actually focuses on politics. Back in the 70s, in Italy, governments changed every 2-3 weeks, but the country's economy ran smoothly.

Host: What's the problem in Bulgaria, and why are these issues disregarded until after the elections, when they become a post-election concern?

Maxim Behar: Because politicians can't and don't know how to address these issues, for the same reason we are at the seventh elections now. From the first election of this series until now, decision-makers have been incapable of leading Bulgaria to a better market or good economic and business relations.

Host: Are our politicians able to properly explain economic topics? Take the recent miners and the sustainability plan, for example. It's become a political football lately, but it's not clearly explained to people. Does it include compensation for the miners or not? Even when we, the journalists, ask politicians what the real issue is and why we see scenes where during the national anthem cables are unplugged, and they were hugging on the podium, we still don't get clear answers. How does this affect voters?

Maxim Behar: These are fleeting scenes from the political operetta we've been watching for years. The impact on voters is evident in the declining voter turnout with each election. The main reason is the lack of real debate in the media, local forums, or anywhere about what should happen in Bulgaria. Bulgaria needs to open up economically—the market needs to open up further, and the "Brand Bulgaria" to be promoted. We need to explain to the world that even if governments change frequently, investors should come because Bulgaria has some of the lowest taxes in Europe, many business niches, and, most importantly, capable people. Bulgaria has intelligent, ambitious, skilled people who want to work, as evidenced by the many companies successfully exporting products from Bulgaria.

Host: We don't hear this kind of positivity from politicians.

Desislava Olovanova: It's becoming increasingly difficult for business people in recent years.

Maxim Behar: It's hard to find good people—this is true worldwide.

Desislava Olovanova: Operating and planning a business here in Bulgaria is becoming more difficult. The lack of political stability makes it nearly impossible to plan a business future with certainty.

Host: By the way, a major investor left Bulgaria. We're talking about the cable factory in the town of Mezdra, and there's also significant downsizing in Pleven.

Maxim Behar: These companies are not leaving because of Bulgaria; they are scaling back their operations globally.

Host: From what I've read, they're shifting operations to Romania.

Maxim Behar: I don't believe that bureaucracy or market difficulties in Bulgaria are greater than in comparable countries. I'm not talking about Western countries, where relations are already established. And I don't think politics affects business in Bulgaria as much, except in some rare cases of major investments involving bribes or commissions. Business is the foundation in Bulgaria – it generates money, provides salaries, and pays taxes.

Host: To some extent, I agree with you, but for example, in a conversation with Chef Ivan Manchev, who, besides being a TV personality, is also an entrepreneur, he said that for business representatives, predictability is important. In this chaos of constantly rotating interim governments, businesses lack predictability. Isn't this a problem for investors?

Maxim Behar: Lora, there's no predictability anywhere in the world. No one can expect it. Predictability existed during communism – it was super easy then; everything was predictable. But there's no predictability today. One day, you can be extremely successful, and the next day, you can go bankrupt. These are the rules. In the Silicon Valley in America, if you haven't gone bankrupt three or four times, you're considered unsuccessful. These are normal processes.

Host: Still, shouldn't a business have some development strategy or direction at least?

Desislava Olovanova: I believe the problem lies elsewhere – the existing laws aren't being followed, and there are no sanctions for violators. For example, if one company uses corrupt schemes, hires workers on the black market, and doesn't pay their insurance, while another company, which is Western and operates based on different principles, follows the rules, the latter becomes uncompetitive. Bulgaria allows this, as it's like an open yard with no sanctions.

Host: Who is responsible for fencing our yard, then?

Maxim Behar: It's up to the regulatory body and the judicial system, of course. Since we're on the fourth day of the election campaign and there are at least 25 more to go, I'll bet with anyone that we won't hear a concrete business or economic program from any political party because they don't have nor can't come up with one.

Host: Final words, Mr. Behar.

Maxim Behar:  Whether there will be a coalition of four or six parties, it makes no difference because none of these political forces – at least as far as we've seen – has presented a clear, precise, conservative economic program that explains how life in Bulgaria will improve. It doesn't matter how many parties form a coalition if they don't have a single common goal to unite them and work towards it.

Host: And explain it to the people – what exactly is their plan?

Maxim Behar: If they had such a plan, they'd probably find a way to explain it. There are PR experts around party leaders, but if they knew this, they would likely explain it. The most important thing right now is what we're going to do in Bulgaria – that's crucial because we see what's happening around the world.

Host: Thank you for this conversation. We'll invite you back again before the end of the campaign, and by then, we might have more material regarding the politicians' promises during the campaign.

Maxim Behar: In the meantime, if you hear any economic thoughts from the political parties, please write them down so we can discuss them.

Host: For sure, though I'm still hesitant to take you up on that bet because I'm more inclined to believe that we'll see a lack of specifics regarding economic strategy. Hopefully, we're both wrong and turn out to be poor prophets rather than heading in the right direction.

Watch the full interview here.