The previously Russian sphere of influence wants to free itself from Moscow’s yoke and has therefore elected a Western-oriented and openly Europhile government.
The energy war is reminiscent of the war in Ukraine. This Wednesday, the Russian company Gazprom announced that it had suspended all its gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland because these two European Union member countries failed to make the payment in rubles, which Vladimir Putin is now demanding in response to economic sanctions against Russia.
Poland and Bulgaria, which are heavily dependent on Russian gas, both announced Tuesday night that they had been informed of Gazprom’s suspension of supplies. Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov on Wednesday denounced “unacceptable blackmail”. For him, this interruption “represents a serious breach of contract”.
“We will not give in to such noise,” he stressed. “This one-sided blackmail is unacceptable.” “This is not blackmail,” but a reaction to “unfriendly acts,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied without going into detail.
Political revival…
Beyond the contractual aspect put forward by Moscow, this cut also has a symbolic side, which could even look like some kind of diplomatic revenge on Sofia. Alain Bauer, professor of criminology at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, who was a guest on our antenna this Thursday, believes that this is a reaction to the westernization of several countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, including Bulgaria.
“Bulgaria is losing a pro-Russian government to a pro-Western government, like Moldova, which just elected a pro-Western government and president. These are direct political reprisals against two countries that are falling backwards, to the west,” he explains.
At the end of 2021, after a year marked by several institutional deadlocks and a major political crisis, Bulgaria, the poorest country in the European Union, finally had a young, wealthy and Europhile government. It is headed by Kiril Petkov, a 42-year-old entrepreneur of Bulgarian and Canadian nationality who was educated at Harvard.
Like Ukraine’s new prime minister, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, renamed John Travolta because of his physical resemblance to the American actor, the JDD points out, the vast majority of his policies have been based on fighting the corruption that has crippled the country since the fall and paralyzes Communism.
… threatened by the Ukraine conflict
Along with current Deputy Prime Minister Assen Vasilev, he takes the leadership of the Let’s Continue the Change party and manages the feat of bringing together a majority after two first elections that failed to produce a majority in 2021, having held multiple offices during successive provisional governments, they achieved finally an agreement with several formations, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and two anti-corruption formations to finally get this majority. A success that did not please Russia, whose influence on the countries of the region is decreasing year by year.
Beyond the gas lockdown, the Ukraine conflict is sowing discord among Bulgarian politicians. While the prime minister was due to travel to Kyiv to assess Ukraine’s needs, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, a member of the ruling coalition, announced that it was refusing to supply arms to Ukraine. Otherwise, the BSP would leave the government and early parliamentary elections would be called, Ouest-France recalls. Currently, Bulgaria is the only member of the European Union, along with Hungary, that has not sent weapons.
“The Kremlin has failed”
As for the country’s energy supply, Bulgaria is now supplied with gas “by its EU neighbours”, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.
“We will ensure that Gazprom’s decision affects European consumers as little as possible,” assured the head of the Brussels executive in a short speech to the press. “Today the Kremlin failed again in its attempt to sow divisions between member states,” she concluded.