EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
On Friday morning, the media broke the news that the toy retail chain "Hippoland" was being inspected by the National Revenue Agency, the Economic Police and the General Directorate of Market Supervision. This happened exactly a day after employees of the company joined the organized protests against the government and after the owner of the company, Marian Kolev, said on social networks that his 17-year-old son was gassed by the police during the protests and almost lost his sight. Kolev published a satirical text in which he sharply criticized the actions of the government and the police.
Meanwhile, another successful businessman has had a much more eventful last few days. The well-known businessman from Varna, Veselin Mareshki, has turned out to be an indirect beneficiary of a beach concession through a company connected to him. The beach in question is "Cabacum-Sever 2", which according to the media has been managed by a company connected to Mareshki until now. But in recent days, the government, through a hasty procedure, has transferred the concession to another company, which, however, again turned out to be connected to Mareshki. The new concessionaire of the beach will be "Buldimex 2012", which is owned by Andon Donchev, a former MP from Mareshki's "VOLYA" party, who will pay about 10,000 leva less for the beach than the previous concessionaire.
The Mareshki-Kolev paradigm or the dualism of power
These two names – Veselin Mareshki and Marian Kolev, very clearly illustrate the dualism in Bulgarian statehood. And this dualism is extremely, downright desperately simple. Stupidly simple. If you are with the government – you get a concession. If you are against it – you get repression. If you persist, we may let you develop your business, as long as you do not start hindering any of "ours". This is the situation, here and now, in Bulgaria. And it is already obvious to everyone. There is no need for an insider from the political class to write bestsellers about corruption and abuse of power. There is no need for investigative journalists to write 5-page analyses about how many specific businesses with political connections have once again received a low-interest loan from the Bulgarian Development Bank. Each of us knows that this is happening. However, it is no longer even hidden.
In exchange for what did Mareshki manage to win a new concession? In exchange for supporting GERB's proposal for a new constitution and convening a Grand National Assembly. In recent weeks, Mareshki has been constantly changing his position on the subject. Sometimes he supported the idea, sometimes he did not support it, apparently while he was negotiating with GERB for something in exchange for possible support. The leader of VOLYA, of course, rejected accusations that the concession had anything to do with his announced support for the VNA.
Rent for you, constitution for me
The saddest thing is that Mareshki never read GERB's proposal itself. Yes, that's right. After weeks of discussions and interviews related to this topic, Mareshki still hasn't read GERB's proposal for a new constitution. And what's the point? He got his - the concession - for himself. That's how politics is done. You pay me, I support whatever you want. And what is it - does it matter? The important thing is to get the money, and the state - it's... the mother anyway, forgive the French. It can hardly get much worse, right? And even if it does, it doesn't concern me. Apparently, that's how the political class thinks in our country.
In general, the draft for a new constitution appeared only to have an excuse for the government to stay in power and not have early elections. Most of GERB's proposals for constitutional changes are insignificant, but on the other hand, they opened Pandora's box - now all political formations can practice with all sorts of meaningless ideas for constitutional changes, such as returning the barracks.
The only essential part of GERB's proposal for a new constitution is that relating to the prosecutor's office. If these proposals are accepted, the prosecutor's office in our country will acquire even greater and unconditional power. This is something that should not be allowed at all costs, given that the prosecutor's office is already the strongest public institution in Bulgaria and its arbitrariness has increased even more since Ivan Geshev became the chief prosecutor. Of course, this topic is quite far from the things that concern Vesselin Mareshki, such as how to maximize the rent he derives from the little power he managed to acquire after the last elections.
Money for ours, terror for yours
While Mareshki was slurring his words in front of the cameras, 20 civil servants from at least 4 different institutions simultaneously stormed the headquarters of "Hypoland". The synchronized nature of the inspections initiated and carried out by several separate institutions such as the National Revenue Agency, the Economic Police and the General Directorate "Market Supervision" clearly shows that the order came from one place. Such "coincidences" of inspections from so many different departments never happen. That is - someone in the administration or the executive branch ordered this to happen exactly like this. This suggests that this is an attempt at intimidation in a way that could only be defined as administrative terror.
The public reaction was not long in coming, of course. The suspiciousness of the initiated inspections did not escape the Bulgarian public, and Marian Kolev and "Hypoland" received the support of a huge part of Bulgarian society - whether through publications on social networks or through mass shopping at the chain's stores. The public pressure also reached public institutions, as a result of which, on the evening of the same day that the administrative inspections were initiated, the Ministry of Interior announced that they had been canceled.
Although it is an obvious attempt to cover up the situation and quell public discontent, this move has made the actions of the public institutions look even more suspicious. If the inspections are completely legitimate, are not administrative arbitrariness and there is nothing wrong with them, then why, instead of justifying its actions, does the state administration suspend them so quickly? The fact that the actions of the relevant state institutions against "Hypoland" were suspended as quickly as they were initiated - as if with a snap of the fingers - only confirms the suspicions that this is an attempt at intimidation due to the public support that Marian Kolev and his company have expressed for the protests.
Either you respect authority, or it ruins your face.
The Mareshki-Kolev paradigm (money for ours, fight for yours) is the established method of governance in Bulgaria and especially a regular practice of the GERB government over the past few years. Of course, GERB governments are not the only party with such "bad habits" (we can remember similar episodes during the short cabinet led by the BSP in 2013-2014, and even earlier if we dig deeper), but the last few governments have been precisely theirs. One of the most eloquent and disturbing illustrations of this governance mentality appeared in the leaked recordings of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's telephone conversations. In June, a recording was leaked in which Borissov said in plain text that he had ordered the Financial Supervision Commission to enter the insurance company "Eurohold" in order to intimidate its owner - Asen Hristov. Borisov's exact words to him are "I'll smear his face [through the Financial Supervision Commission] because he doesn't respect me."
This purely stupid arbitrariness will continue as long as it can continue, as long as we allow it. Have no illusions. Any government would reach similar levels of abuse of power if allowed to. The government will not limit its own excesses. This can only happen in two ways. Either by another government - that is why the separation of powers is important - or by the electorate, during elections or protests and other forms of public disobedience. Remember very well the Kolev case and the Mareshki case. Especially if you protest - so that you remember why you are doing it. And even more so if you do not protest. So that you understand why you should protest.
