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Social - The People
As the nation modernises to finally shake off socialism and having joined the EU in January, Bulgarians are being forced to face the challenge of dealing with, not just outdated agricultural jobs, but retaining the younger generation from seeking work abroad. Currently Bulgaria's population is falling faster than anywhere else in Europe, although this is expected to change.
When the Soviet Union collapsed a large market for Bulgaria's produce went with it. There is however, a sense of trying to make the local economy healthy again, with the help of state funds and investment from abroad, to give everyone better prospects and a better income.
There has been an outflow of people from Bulgaria and there is a risk this could increase as EU membership makes emigration easier. Depopulation is a practical worry for Bulgaria's government. If the young keep leaving, or not starting families, there will be less wage-earners to pay for pensions and social welfare. However, recent statistics show that less migration to the UK has happened than expected (8,000 Bulgarian and Romanian migrants came to work in the fist 3 months of 2007 vs 3000,000 predictions. Source: The Guardian 23.5.07).
The government wants young people to stay and bring up their children, and have a strategy to encourage them to do that, providing extra tax relief to persuade couples to have more children. There is a policy to help new mothers go back to work quickly and there will be more kindergartens.
The population is expected to increase over the next 5-10 years as wages increase (at 8% per annum) and GDP grows (expected to exceed EU averages over the next few years).
It is 15 years since Bulgaria cut its ties with the Soviet bloc and abandoned communism. Since then it has been trying to build its economy on a more stable footing.
Technology, the Economy and Politics
Bulgaria joined NATO on March 29, 2004 and signed the Treaty of Accession on 25 April 2005. It became a full member of the European Union on 1 January 2007. The country has been a member of the United Nations since 1955.
Bulgarian presidents are directly elected for a five-year term with the right to one re-election. The president serves as the head of State and commander in chief of the armed forces.
The Council of Ministers is chaired by the PM, it is the principal body of the Executive Branch and consists of 20 ministers early 2007. The Prime Minister is usually nominated by the largest parliamentary group, and is given a mandate by the President to form a cabinet.
The current governmental coalition is made up of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), National Movement Simeon II (NMS) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms representing mainly the Turkish minority).
The last elections took place on June 2005. The next elections are planned for summer 2009.
The Bulgarian judicial system consists of regional, district and appeal courts, as well as a Supreme Court of Cassation. In addition, there is a Supreme Administrative Court and a system of military courts.
The Constitutional Court is in charge of reviewing the constitutionality of laws and statutes brought before it, as well as the compliance of these laws with international treaties that the Government has signed. Parliament elects the twelve members of the Constitutional Court by a two-thirds majority, the members serve a nine-year term.
On July 17, 2006 it was announced that the United States and the Republic of Bulgaria had signed a Defence Cooperation Agreement, which refers to the conditions of the shared use of several military facilities on Bulgarian territory. These facilities are intended as part of a programme of security and defence in the fight against terror, based on the goals and principles of the UN. The U.S. has also signed a similar agreement with the Republic of Romania and the military units deployed to both Bulgaria and Romania will be known as Joint Task Force East.
It is expected a rotational force of about 2500 soldiers will be stationed at the bases for part of the year, commencing in 2007. During the rotation of this force, there might be brief periods when there are two groups of 2500 soldiers at one time in Bulgaria. The vast majority of the troops will be here on temporary duty for periods of several months. There have been joint exercises in Bulgaria for the last three years.
Locations will be the Novo Selo Training Area (in the north, near the border of Romania) and Bezmer Air Base (North East) and it is expected that there will be some use of Graf Ignatievo Air Base (Central Bulgaria), primarily for logistical support.
The bases will have an important economic impact. They will bring jobs to local communities surrounding the bases. They will require repairing roads, railroad terminals and other infrastructure. They will bring new life and economic activity to the areas around the bases.
Over the last couple of years, Bulgarian-American joint military exercises held at Novo Selo have brought an overall spending of more than $3 million to Bulgaria in the form of services, supplies and equipment, purchased from local businesses. In the last 13 years, the United States has provided over $100 million dollars in security assistance programs, including military education and training, foreign military financing and humanitarian assistance programs.
In addition funds are going into infrastructure programmes such as:
- Building Construction: $40 -$50 million from 2008- 2009
- Road and Utility Construction: $5 - $10 million from 2008-2009
- Building maintenance and minor projects: $600 - $800 thousand per year
- Roads and grounds maintenance: $300- $500 thousand per year
U.S. forces will also contract for certain support services as well as food, fuel and other supplies.
The quality of the telephone network can be unreliable and that can make access to the internet slow. The quality of telecoms infrastructure is likely to improve now that the privatisation of the fixed-line telecoms operator, BTC, has been completed.
Having said that, Bulgaria has become a popular outsourcing centre for some of the world’s IT giants (e.g. HP, Microsoft has plans to open a regional service centre) that profit from the country’s cheap, highly-skilled workforce, while also helping stem the country’s brain-drain. It plays a major role in the country’s economy, in the past supplying 80% of the hard drives of the Soviet bloc.
