Bulgarian Diaspora in the Foreign Policy of the Republic of Bulgaria (1992-2013)
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UDC 327(497.2):323.113(=163.2) B. P. Grushetsky Taurida National V. I. Vernadsky University (Simferopol) BULGARIAN DIASPORA IN THE FOREIGN POLICY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA (1992-2013) Protecting the rights of Bulgarians living abroad is regarded as one of Bulgaria's foreign policy priorities by all its governments. The role of the Bulgarian Diaspora in foreign policy is determined by the fact that the number of Bulgarians living outside the historic homeland is 1.5 million people according to the State Agency of Bulgarians abroad (SABA). It exceeds 20% of the total number of Bulgarian people. Presently there aren’t comprehensive studies of the foreign policy of Bulgaria concerning the Bulgarian Diaspora. Some publications analyzed only the impact of this policy on bilateral relations of Bulgaria with certain countries, where ethnic Bulgarians live: Albania [2; 42] Serbia [1; 3; 26; 34; 40], Ukraine [9; 27]. Legal acts of the Republic of Bulgaria are used for more complete topic disclosure: the Constitution [11], laws [6-8], government programs [19-21; 30], decrees of the Council of Ministers [14-18], international agreements [5] and other official documents [10; 22; 24; 29; 31]. Statistical data of SABA [23] and the official census [4; 13; 28; 32; 33; 35-39; 41] are used for count the number of Bulgarians living abroad. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the main features of the state policy of the Republic of Bulgaria concerning the Bulgarians living abroad. Research objectives: to identify the main areas of settlement of the Bulgarian Diaspora, to analyze legal acts that govern the relationship between the official authorities of Bulgaria and Bulgarians living abroad, to distinguish state institutions responsible for the implementation of this direction of foreign policy of Bulgaria, to determine the stages of the state policy in this area, including nature of reform in 2009-2011. Bulgarian Diaspora can be divided into three groups based on territorial and temporal criteria: 1) Bulgarians living in their own ethnographic territory outside the Republic of Bulgaria (South-Eastern Europe); 2) the Bulgarians who migrated from their ethnographic territory from the late XVII to the first half of XX centuries (Banat Bulgarians in Romania, Bessarabian Bulgarians in Ukraine and Moldova, Bulgarians in Argentina and Brazil, the old Diaspora in the USA); 3) new Bulgarian labour migration of 1990’s-2000’s (Western Europe, Greece, USA). Belonging to the Bulgarian nation of individual nations and ethnic groups (Macedonians in Macedonia and Greece, Gagauz in Moldova and Ukraine, Gorani in Albania and partially recognized Kosovo, Krashovani in Romania) remains discussion question. The largest region of settlement of Bulgarians abroad are Western Europe (0.5 million), including Spain (151-164 thousand), UK (80-100 thousand), Germany (60- 94 thousand), Italy (41-70 thousand), Austria (35 thousand), France (25-30 thousand), Portugal (5-12 thousand) [23; 32, s. 32; 33, p. 350; 36, p. 6; 38, p. 8]. Number of new Bulgarian Diaspora is rapidly increased after the accession of Bulgaria to the EU. Accurate count of the population of Bulgarian origin is difficult in the UK, where mainly racial differences are considered, and France, where there isn’t study of ethnicity. The number of new Diaspora leaves behind the number of Bulgarians living in traditional areas. It steadily decreased in South-Eastern Europe, where the number of Bulgarians is 250 thousand. Almost half of them live in Greece (80-120 thousand). A large number of Bulgarians also live in Serbia (about 20 thousand) and Romania (9 thousand). Considering the ethnic group Gorani significant Bulgarian population are numbered in Albania (45 thousand) and partially recognized Kosovo (10-20 thousand) [23; 28, c. 70; 35, p. 60; 39]. The lack of ethnic origin study in the censuses in Turkey and Greece, as well as graphs "Bulgarians" in the census sheets in Albania and partially recognized Kosovo makes difficult the exact count of the number of Bulgarians in the region. The second largest Bulgarian diaspora resides in the CIS (about 330 thousand). According to different data Ukraine divides with the USA first and second places in number of the Bulgarians in their territory (204 thousand). In Moldova the number of Bulgarians is 67-80 thousand. Bulgarian diaspora in Russia decreased to 24 thousand in 2010 [4; 13, c. 12; 23; 37]. North America holds the third place among the regions. In the United States according to the Census 2010 the number of new Bulgarian diaspora is 96 thousand people. With the early waves of migration, the number of Bulgarians can reach 250 thousand [23; 41]. Other countries and regions with a significant presence of the Bulgarian diaspora are Central Europe (new EU members, 18 thousand), Argentina (40 thousand), Australia (20 thousand), South Africa (20 thousand), North Africa and Middle East (about 10 thousand + 55 thousand Bulgarian Jews in Israel) [23]. State institutions responsible for the formulation and implementation of foreign policy towards the Bulgarian Diaspora are the Council of Ministers, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, National Assembly, President, State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad. The main authority that shapes state policy regarding foreign Bulgarians are the Council of Ministers, since it owns the key powers in the foreign policy of Bulgaria, including the development of laws, signing and denunciation of international agreements [11, c. 25, 31]. Ministry of Foreign Affairs is directly responsible for the development and implementation of foreign policy, sends representatives to international negotiations, monitor the diplomatic missions. The Ministry of Education is responsible for the implementation of educational programs related to the Bulgarian Diaspora. The role of the National Assembly as the only legislative body in the formation of the Bulgarian policy towards Bulgarians abroad is much lower. Parliament approves the relevant laws, and ratifies the most important international agreement [11, c. 23-24]. Speaker of the National Assembly performs representative functions [11, c. 21]. Parliament committees and groups support inter- parliamentary relations, including on issues concerning the status of the Bulgarian Diaspora. Bulgarian President has mainly representative powers actively using them in establishing cooperation with Bulgarian communities abroad. In addition, the President has the right to veto the laws and the power to appoint the ambassadors to other countries, thus can indirectly influence the implementation of policies concerning the Bulgarian Diaspora [11, c. 26-28]. Specialised authorities responsible for state policy regarding the Bulgarian foreign compatriots and regulatory framework relating to this sphere, formed during the 1990's - 2000's. The need for regulation of relations between the authorities of Bulgaria and Bulgarian communities abroad led to the formation in 1992 of the Agency of Bulgarians abroad (ABA) [16]. In 2000 ABA was transformed in SABA [14]. A new charter was adopted. According to it the main function of the organization is "the coordination of government policy towards the Bulgarians living outside the Republic of Bulgaria." The Agency hasn’t broad powers, its activity is limited to consultative and communicative work. In particular, the responsibilities of the agency include assistance to the authorities in the development of legal acts concerning foreign Bulgarians, coordination of ministries and departments, local government in this area, the study of the status and existing problems of the Bulgarian Diaspora, maintaining constant communication with Bulgarian communities around the world, collection and distribution of material assistance to the Bulgarian Diaspora organizations [31]. Some influence on public policy concerning the Bulgarian Diaspora have non-governmental organizations of the Bulgarians, including the Association of Bulgarian schools abroad (ABSA), whose work resulted in the adoption in 2009 of the educational program “Native language and culture abroad” [25]. State policy of Bulgaria in relation to Bulgarians living abroad for a long time was not included among the foreign policy priorities of the country. During the Cold War, only a question of the Bulgarian minority in Yugoslavia raised [34, p. 78-79]. At the same time it was assumed that in countries, which together with Bulgaria were part of the Warsaw Pact and Comecon (such as the USSR and Romania), the national question is successfully solved. So Bulgaria does not have to intervene in the social life of the local Bulgarian communities. With Greece since 1960's friendly relations started to establish, and the Bulgarian authorities did not dare to raise the issue of national minorities. A similar situation was with Turkey. Only after the aggravation of bilateral relations as a result of Revival process beginning Politburo of the BCP CC decided to protect the rights of Bulgarian citizens in Turkey [22, p. 20]. Radically changing of international situation and internal structure of Bulgaria in the late 1980s - early 1990s led to the formation of a coherent state policy on the Bulgarian Diaspora. In addition, labour migration not only increased the number of Bulgarians living abroad, but also expanded their territory of residence. It passed the four main stages of formation. In the first phase (1992-1997) ABA was formed as specialized administrative structure. Educational programs for Diaspora began to be implemented.