Caroline de Camaret is editor-in-chief of the Europe Department of the French TV channel France 34. Every month, her team visits one of the 27 EU member states for some firsthand experience with pending social and economic problems and to report about them to the European public. She recently visited Bulgaria to analyze the causes of the mass protests and self-immolations that swept the country last winter. 

“The European press has not discussed those developments, and this has left me in dismay”, Caroline says. “No doubt, those suicides by means of self-immolation are an important signal. I am absolutely shocked with the high extent of indifference of the European press and media to what is underway in Bulgaria. I find this absolutely outrageous: a wave of self-immolations, a deep social crisis, protest rallies that caused the government to resign. After all, the fall of governments in the wake of policies of strict economic restrictions that citizens of Europe cannot possibly tolerate, is a repeated phenomenon across the continent. The policy of constant tightening of belts, the growing restrictions has not been properly explained to the people. As part of our program, I talked to European MPs who have a more global outlook on Bulgaria and the European Union. We should give some time to how the bits of division between the political class and the people in Bulgaria should be glued together again. Well, this is an issue in Europe at large. We are living through a period of economic turmoil when wonders cannot occur. We are not likely to have miraculous solutions either in Bulgaria, or anywhere else. We have to speak the language of truth.”  The crew of Caroline de Camaret was not only after media scoops in Bulgaria. Thanks to different reports and points of view journalists tried to balance the positive and negative bits in the general picture. 

”One positive fact that we singled out is that the quality of Bulgarian medicine is very good. We visited different hospitals and found out that medical care is still quite good. Medical training of students is excellent, but I regret to say it, they are looking for much better career opportunities abroad, and this is a big problem for Bulgaria. On the other hand, foreigners come for medical services in Bulgaria, because they get value for money. This is very positive, but given the mass emigration of medics it is crucial how to keep intact this veritable Bulgarian treasure. We also shot reports about human trafficking, because the networks for recruitment of prostitutes are a big problem in Europe and this is a hurdle along Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen Area. There are fears voiced by other member countries that this could lead to a rise in the crime rates. It is believed that in terms of human trafficking and more notably, trafficking in women, the networks are very hard to crack down and a lot of time is needed. On the other hand, there is feeble European will for the harmonization of legislation and this is bad news. This phenomenon mars Bulgaria’s image and unfortunately, it is the image that most EU member countries actually present. And in reality, your country is full of dynamism; we met so many nice people who are very open and all they want is normal life. What has struck me is that the post-communist transition in Bulgaria is less successful than in countries like Poland, for instance. Poland succeeded in placing its finances in order in times of weak economic growth. This is still not done in Bulgaria, one of the poorest EU countries, and this is sad. Of course, there are political problem too. I think Bulgaria is in need of stronger European monitoring.”  With a series of reports Caroline de Camaret hopes to stir interest of other European countries in the problems that trouble Bulgaria which is to a certain extent, forgotten. For the majority of Europeans it is a Balkan country but only few are aware that it is part of the European Union. 

“I repeat that Bulgaria has a huge potential and on top of that it is very beautiful. We should also say that millions of tourists opt for Bulgaria for their summer holidays. It is known that the Bulgarian coast is very scenic. Besides, Bulgaria being a Francophile country, France should become more sensitive to this place where many people are fluent in French”, concludes French journalist Caroline de Camaret. 

Translated by Daniela Konstantinova