The European Commission has never had very warm feelings towards Bulgaria. That is why 10 years after its accession to the European Union this country's judicial system, internal order and social economic life is still subject to monitoring. Occasionally, the EU administration has been preparing and publishing various reports about Bulgaria and has been sending a series of recommendations aimed at solving certain problems in this country.

The latest publication was released several days ago within the framework of the so-called European Semester where the EU makes revisions, analyses and sends recommendations to EU member states about unsolved problems in their social and economic sphere. Bulgaria is among the 12 EU countries which are subject to special monitoring by the EU. Although the report about this country accentuates on the negative social and economic developments, it also points out that Bulgaria managed to reach a steadfast economic growth to the tune of 3% of the gross domestic product and that as a whole the country dealt successfully with the issues and the recommendations of the 2016 report, especially in the financial and banking sector, where progress is highest. The EU also admits that Bulgaria has scored unexpectedly good results in terms of reduction of harmful greenhouse gas emissions. The analysts in Brussels pay special attention to the existing imbalances in the economic and social sphere. They accentuate on the high indebtedness of the companies and the problem related to gray economy. The report pays special attention to the social imbalances. According to the analysis, the revenues of the wealthiest Bulgarians are seven times higher than the ones of the poorest citizens. The report also mentions issues related to corruption.

The experts from Brussels admit that Bulgaria has reached certain results in its economic and social sphere and come to the conclusion that the main problems of this country are the vulnerability of its financial sector and the intercompany indebtedness.

In that critical context some questions that remained out of the sphere of interest of the European experts arise: how Bulgaria's economy managed to reach one of the highest economic growths in the EU last year since there are so many imbalances and unsolved problems in this country; how the average monthly salary grew with 10% in 2016 and unemployment levels fell to nearly 6% if the problems in the country's social sphere were so severe?

Well-intentioned criticism, remarks and recommendations are useful. Everything and everyone can be subject to criticism, because nobody is perfect, but sometimes praises about real achievements and progress are more efficient than criticism, because they motivate people and institutions. However, this is within the competence of the political leadership of the EU and cannot be done by technical associates, analysts and experts. The problem in this case is that the analysis of the European Semester 2017 about Bulgaria is not of expert nature only. It has very substantial political dimensions, because the policy line and the attitude of the European politicians towards Bulgaria are based on such surveys and analyses.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov