Dnevnik, Croatia: Is Bulgaria Russia’s Trojan horse in the EU?

29 September 2014 | 11:54 | FOCUS News Agency

Picture: Focus Information Agency

Zagreb. Annual “Russophile festivities” held close to the Koprinka lake in Central Bulgaria attracted more than 7,000 people, including some MP runners, Croatian online news edition Dnevnik.hr writes.
The media comments that the European Union (EU) is the only guarantee for Bulgaria and that the country is also a member of NATO. However, the majority of the Bulgarians are attracted to the East.
According to a survey of the Mediana institute, 40% of the Bulgarians are against the sanctions on Russia.
At the Russophile fair Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria, Yuriy Isakov, expressed his satisfaction with the fact that this meeting was “so close and carved to the hearts of Bulgarians despite the political situation”.
Dnevnik comments further that the two countries shared common languages, the Cyrillic alphabet and the Orthodox Christianity, while during the communist era Bulgaria was considered Russia’s most loyal alley.
“The attempt of the West to cause a quarrel between our brotherly nations is doomed to failure,” commented historian Danail Danailov.
“The nostalgia for Russia is expressed in some Bulgarians since a quarter of a century after the democratic change the small country, inhabited by 7.4 million people, continues to be the poorest in the EU.
On the eve of early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, the tension between the EU and Russia gives hopes to the ultranationalist party Ataka, which started losing voters’ support.
At the meeting close to Koprinka Ataka leader Volen Siderov said that he would do his best for Bulgaria not to be turned into a firing ground against Russia,” Dnevnik.hr writes further.
The news edition adds that speaking of the big political parties in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) was represented at the event, too.
“The socialists were more moderate compared with Ataka and asked for balanced policy in the name of the national interests,” the article reads further.
“The right wing in Bulgaria, headed by former prime minister Boyko Borisov, focuses on Bulgaria, while the Reformist Bloc – Borisov’s possible future coalitional partner, wants removal of the Russian monuments in the Bulgarian capital city Sofia,” Dnevnik comments.
“According to analysts, the new Bulgarian government will have to find a balance between Russia and the EU.
Ognyan Minchev with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, thinks that Bulgaria has a paradoxical position.
“The country is member of the EU and NATO but Moscow is controlling its energy sources, while the Bulgarian oligarchy protects the Russian economic and strategic interests,” Minchev comments,” Dnevnik writes further.
The Croatian news edition also stresses on the fact that both the leftist and the rightist in Bulgaria were unanimous over the need to build the South Stream gas pipeline project.
“In the meantime, Bulgaria’s balancing meets with suspicion in Europe. The European media comment that Germany and the rest of the EU member states were afraid that Moscow may use its influence in Bulgaria to split the Union.
“Bulgaria is the Russian Trojan horse in the EU,” political scientist Daniel Smilov says,” the article reads further.