The Green Movement in Bulgaria: Between System Integration And

The development and distinctiveness of the Green Movement and the green parties in Bulgaria reflect the intricate logic of the transformations, which have been taking place in Bulgarian society over the past quarter of a century. The actors of the Green Movement have responded to these processes both in the direction of system integration and – more frequently – in the direction of contesting and opposing the system, whereby in their most productive periods they have even contributed to system change. Much like the green parties in the West, the Bulgarian environmental movement is the result of a social evolution promoted by a middle class that has endorsed a new type of modern culture. This middle class, however, has emerged and consolidated at a different historical time and in quite a different setting. This is the reason why it mirrors peculiarities that are common for the civic movements in the countries of the former socialist system, but at the same time it manifests specific traits typical for the “Bulgarian model” of transition. Environmentalism is one of the few causes capable of generating wide public support in Bulgarian society on an ongoing basis. During the three stages of its evolution (the “dissident” period from the end of the 1980s, the “NGO” period during the 1990s, and the “new green wave” of the first decade of the 21st century), the Movement has been expressing public discontent, has defended public interest against private interests clad in power, and has been a unifying factor of the broad moral opposition against the practices of the political status quo. The Green Movement has also been manifesting the national attachment to Nature, the deep cultural roots of which span over centuries. Despite its achievements, the Green Movement has failed to embed an autonomous and influential green party of its own in the institutions of power. The Movement – Party relationships are problematic. What has gained the upper hand is the logic that the Green Movement should go without a party and that the green parties should be outside the Green Movement. The reason why is that parties take environmentalism on board to the purpose of coming to power but afterwards they rapidly get marginalized. The willpower for direct civic participation in the decision-making processes over the last years has marked a new stage in the development of the Green Movement. After 2005, the consolidation of the environmentalist community into a civic coalition named “For Nature in Bulgaria to Stay” and the establishment of a new green formation determined to represent an authentic environmental party (the Greens), have set up prerequisites for launching an autonomous environmental project in Bulgaria. The volatility of the party system and the voter disappointment with the parties of the status quo now have opened opportunities for new political actors to emerge. The integration of the environmental project goes through the lasting inclusion of the green priorities on the agendas of all political parties and in the country’s policy at large. So far, the Bulgarian political system is far from envisaging an objective like this. The role of a catalyst to these processes once again falls on the shoulders of civic society embodied by the Green Movement, whereas the hopes for a “green breakthrough” in the system will continue to be linked to the synergy between this Movement and an authentic Green Party. March 2012 The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 1

Contents

INTRODUCTION...... 2 Part I: THE GREEN MOVEMENT AS A DISSIDENT MOVEMENT...... 6 Origins and Emergence of the Green Movement in Bulgaria...... 6 The Inspirations of the Dissident Movement in Bulgaria: Environmental Humanitarianism, Ecological Issues, Human Rights Activity, and Social Change...... 6 From Global Change to Local Action...... 6 Part II: THE GREEN MOVEMENT AS A NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION...... 11 From Dissident Politics to European Policies: Professionalization and Europeanization of the Green Movement...... 11 Establishment and Consolidation of the Environmentalist NGOs...... 11 Institutionalization of the Environmental Issues by Making Them Part of the Political Agenda...... 11 Part III: THE GREEN MOVEMENT AS A CIVIC MOVEMENT OF A NEW TYPE OR THE “NEW GREEN WAVE”...... 17 The Green Movement within the Post-Transition Context : New Challenges, New Issues, New Actors...... 17 Civic Green Policy...... 17 From Local Campaigns to a Global Change...... 17 From a Grassroots Movement to the Establishment of a New Green Party...... 17 Part IV. THE GREEN MOVEMENT AND THE GREEN PARTIES...... 30 Parties of the Change and Parties of the Status-quo...... 30 CONCLUSION...... 38 The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 2 Between System Integration and System Change

INTRODUCTION cultural, and structurally institutional distinctiveness.1 The emergence, development, and the Having emerged at the end of the 1980s characteristic features of the Green Move- as an expression of the desire to eliminate the ment and the green parties in Bulgaria totalitarian system, which was simultaneously reflect the intricate logic of the transfor- coupled with the desire to reform it, the Green mations, which have been taking place in Movement has continued to further develop Bulgarian society over the past quarter of this line over the following two decades. Dur- a century. At the same time, the evolution ing the transition period, the Bulgarian envi- of the actors expressing ecological and en- ronmental movement showed – though to a vironmentalist messages and ideas in the rather unbalanced degree – the capacity to in- Bulgarian society and political space is le- teract with the institutions of political power gitimately connected with the dynamic su- and to impact the processes of democratiza- pranational and global processes, in which tion and Europeanization. This was quite of- the Bulgarian state, the political elites, ten done without any due legitimacy granted and society at large were involved at the by the incumbent governments. It is in this end of the communist regime and the be- sense that the environmentalist and civic ac- ginning of the country’s post-communist tivity of the Greens coincides with the broader transition. The Green Movement and the process of public and political modernization green parties, which were born during this of a Western type, which, after the collapse transition, responded to the ongoing proof Todor Zhivkov’s regime in the fall of 1989, cesses both in the direction of system in- was accepted in practice as a guide-line with- tegration and – more frequently – in the out any other alternative whatsoever, both by direction of contesting and opposing the the political elites and society at large. system, whereby in their most productive In the first decade of the new 21st century, periods they have even contributed to sys- opposition became the leading line once again, tem change. but now it was accompanied by the willpow- In their different embodiments – from er to change the new status quo, namely the the first civic environmentalist demon- imposition of a neo-liberal, consumerist, and strations in the town of Rousse (1987) to brutally market-oriented social, economic, and the first independent running of a green political system. After 2005, the Green Move- party at a general election (the party of ment has entered a new stage of development, the “Greens” in 2009) – the Green Move- characterized by a new objective, new forms of ment has followed up the logic of the new action, a new direction, and new actors – both social movements, which are both value- of a civic and political nature. Now, the opposi- and culture-oriented, poorly institutional- tion is focused on the shortfall of democracy in ized, and pursue the change of the status the institutions of power, which on the political quo. At the same time, the Green Move- level is manifested by ideological pretense and ment mirrors the specific traits of the civic governmental populism, by misrepresentation movements functioning in a totalitarian and concealment of the underlying economic and post-totalitarian context, common for all the countries of the former Soviet Bloc,

but it is nonetheless affected by the coun- 1 The Bulgarian researcher Antoniy Todorov, for instance, reveals try specific Bulgarian “socialist” model the presence of a “cultural and institutional complex”, which has been structuring the political life in Bulgaria and has deter- and the subsequent national transition to mined the type of civic participation in this country from the ep- a liberal democracy and a market econo- och of the National Liberation to the modern period of Bulgar- ian history. See. Todorov, А., (2010). Citizens, Parties, Elections: my, which also reflect a deeper historical, Bulgaria 1879-2009, “East-West” Publishing House, Sofia. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 3 and political entities and individual players di- emergence of a “green civic society”,2 is con- rected by the “invisible hand” of border-free nected both with the Euro-integration process, capital, by the unhealthy prevalence of private the culmination of which was the accession of over public interest, all of which has brought Bulgaria to the European Union (2007), and about the “privatization” and destruction of the consolidation of the “green” sector after a the public good. succession of effective civic campaigns, which The criticism concerning these negative as- provoked a genuine public reverberation and pects of neo-liberalism pursued by the govern- had a serious political impact. Despite this fact, ing majorities “in line with the Bulgarian way however, throughout this entire period – from of doing things” has been accepted in the the emergence of the Bulgarian Green Move- circles of the Green Movement in Bulgaria not ment in the late 1980s to the present day – the only as an opposition, but also as an endorse- Green Movement has failed to produce an au- ment of the green ideas. By means of holding tonomous and influential green party capable numerous public events and political manifes- of representing it in the country’s governance. tations, the Greens uphold and protect the The Green Movement/green party relations principles of the law-governed state, the rule have often been problematic and what even- of law, and equality before the law, as well as tually gained the upper hand was the logic the principle of the socially accountable gov- that the Green Movement should go without ernance and distribution of public goods, thus a party and that the green parties should re- maintaining the line of the well-established main outside the Green Movement. The es- political and cultural tradition in Europe. tablishment of the new political party of “The The demands for a broader and direct Greens” in 2007 as a result of the wave of civic participation in the decision-making large-scale civic environmentalist campaigns, processes, which have a direct bearing which not only rallied, but further consolidated upon the natural and environmental con- the green sector community, continues to gen- ditions and the quality of the living ambi- erate hopes for improvement in this direction. ance in this country, for their part testify to On the other hand, the volatility of the the growing discontent with the way the Bulgarian party system and the vacillating country has been governed so far. They also political preferences of the active electorate bear witness of the distrust with the politi- have become a distinct trend over the past cal representation on one hand, and to the decade. This has opened genuine possibilities emergence of a “green” system of political for the emergence of new political actors on values concurrent with the traditions estab- the national political scene. The marginaliza- lished by the Green Movements in the West, tion of the right-wing parties of the transition, on the other. With a view to the exceptional which – over the previous decade – had firmly dynamism of the processes not only on the focused the hopes for a tangible change cher- global level, but on the national level as ished by the “post-materialist”-minded repre- well, the Bulgarian Green Movement had sentatives of the middle class, coupled with to “catch up” for the decades of isolation, both the absence of an authentic left-wing responding at the same time to the new party of a distinct social profile in a society trends, which is exemplified by a number of of a traditionally egalitarian political culture, anti-globalist ideas, messages, and actions plus the effects of the global financial and targeted at the youngest generations of environmentalists. 2 In this connection see the article of journalist Ivan Radev en- The upsurge of the Movement over the last titled “The Green Civic Society” in: Kanev, P., Krastanova, R. few years, which analysts have come to dub (editors), A Place for the Future, (2009), a collection of articles on civic participation and sustainable development, Sofia, Sofia the “new green wave”, alongside with the Civic Association – Shtastlivetza, pp. 123 – 125. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 4 Between System Integration and System Change

economic crisis, could well result in surprises the fact that this period saw the formation of on the territory of “traditional” politics. sever labels of green political formations (the The beginning of the Green Movement in Green Party, the Conservative Environmental Bulgaria is connected with the ecological protests Party, Ecoglasnost National Movement, Ecoglas- in the town of Rousse, which was one of the first nost Political Club), the position of dependency, ever manifestations of the organized civic society which they occupied in the capacity of partners at the end of the totalitarian regime. The ecologi- to more influential political actors, and the ab- cal demands were then taken over by the Public sence of an authentic “green” activity, became Committee for the Protection of Rousse and the the underlying factor for the marginal position Independent Ecoglasnost (i.e. “ecological open- of the green parties on the scene of “big” poli- ness”) Association, which brought to the fore tics for quite a long period of time. the need for a social and political reform based In this way, the activity of the Green Move- on transparency, the rule of the universal hu- ment during the 1990s and the first years of man rights, the observance of individual human the new millennium was carried out within the rights, and the accountability of the governance limits of various civic organizations and was for environmental protection at large. In this way, mainly connected with educational and aware- ecology and environmentalism, or green politics ness campaigns, research, and expert capacity in general – in the capacity of an essential part building, alongside with some participation in of the public renewal project – turned into one public policies. If at its beginning the Green of the major features of the Bulgarian dissident Movement emphasized on human and civic movement. On the other hand, this environ- rights protection, which were amply down- mental movement belonged to the broader civic trodden by the totalitarian state, during the stance, which opposed the moral bankruptcy of decade of transition, the stress was laid on the the regime and had no claims on representing establishment and development of non-gov- any ideological and/or political project. ernmental environmentalist organizations, on During the first years of the post-totalitarian the amassment of civic and expert experience, changes in the country, the Green Movement and on the promotion of the environmental was following the logic of the dominant politi- policies of the European Union and their inclu- cal set-up. The internal specificity of the Bulgar- sion on the agenda of national politics. ian transition throughout the 1990s, expressed What became most prominent in the ac- in the bi-polar opposition of “the blue” (i.e. tivity of the Green Movement with the on- the anti-communists and democrats) and “the set of the new millennium, in result of the red” (i.e. the nomenclature and former com- neo-liberalization of the economy, the mar- munists), was not conducive to authentic green ket- and corporate-orientation of the coun- ideas and their respective manifestation on the try’s political life, and the establishment of a arena of conventional politics. The civic move- consumerist culture of the Western type, was ment around Ecoglasnost eventually disinte- the aspiration for upholding the rule of law grated and its participants divided and aligned and the principles of the law-governed state, on the two sides of the new demarcation line which were and are seen as an indispensable between the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP)3 prerequisite both for the quality of democ- and the Union of Democratic Forces.4 Despite racy and the quality of life of the citizens of a democratic country.5 Environmental protec-

3 In January 1990, at an ad-hoc Party Congress, the Bulgarian tion was and is conceived as the protection Communist Party renamed itself to Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). 4 The Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) was the first and – for a whole decade – only political force in Bulgaria, which had no 5 In this connection see the conclusions of sociologist Antoniy other alternative after the collapse of the communist regime and Galabov in: Galabov, A. (2010) “Political Socialization and Val- claimed to represent the pro-Western project for the liberal de- ues in a Generation-oriented Aspect” in Democracy in Bulgaria mocratization of the country. in the 21st Century, Veliko Turnovo, pp. 129-139. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 5 of public interests vis-à-vis the corporate inter- the campaigns acquired supra-national di- ests promoted in the corridors of power, and mensions (such as the France – Rila Civic Net- as an important national political priority at work) and had an European impact (such as the same time. the campaign for the preservation of the pre- At the end of the first decade of the 21st scribed scope of the NATURA 2000 European century, the Green Movement acquired es- Network concerning the protected territories pecially important public and political dimen- in Bulgaria, and the campaign against the ge- sions. A testimony to this fact is first and netically modified organisms (GMO)). foremost the wave of civic environmentalist In 2007, a new green party was estab- campaigns after 2005, which grew into an lished and was named “The Greens Party”. It environmental protection coalition known is genetically connected with the Green Move- under the name of For Nature in Bulgaria to ment and claims to be an authentic political Stay.6 The second equally significant fact is the force. The new party was created “from the impressive potential for public opinion mobi- bottom up” to the purpose of changing the lization demonstrated by these campaigns. As system “from the inside”. Its establishment is a number of public opinion surveys indicate, another testimony to the reinforced organiza- people often recognized the environmental- tional strength and political self-confidence of ists as protectors expressing public interest the Green Movement, which is currently also and fighters against the sores of the social and seeking the proper institutional pathways to political system in the country, such as corrup- get integrated within the Establishment (the tion, lack of equality before the law, a deficit existing system). of democracy, and institutional incompetence, This analysis will first follow up the periods while their campaigns were one of the most in the development of the Green Movement popular events in the public environment.7 and will outline those major characteristics These initiatives were often local in terms typical for it, which have turned it into one of of scope and thematic in terms of contents the very few autonomous actors belonging to (such as the civic coalition, which was rallied the civic society in Bulgaria. At the same time, for the resolution of the waste disposal and the analysis will attempt to outline the issues, waste management crisis in the capital city So- which the Movement is currently facing. Fur- fia, the campaign against the storage of radio- ther on, this study will outline the portrait of active waste on the territory of the Novi Khan the green parties emphasizing on the context Municipality, etc.), but more often than not of their emergence, their development, and they grew into national al campaigns (such as the reasons underlying their weakness. The the campaign against the exchange of state- interaction between the Movement and the owned forests for waste lands, against the parties will also be brought to the fore along- excessive construction along the Black Sea side with the problematic nature of their co- coast, against illegal construction in natural existence. In conclusion, certain future trends parks in the mountains, against the repealed in the development of the Movement and the status of certain protected territories for the parties will be formulated with a view to the sake of private interests, etc.). In certain cases possibilities for their integration within the existing system, contributing at the same time 6 More information about the history, the member organiza- to its change from the viewpoint and logical tions, the campaigns, and the achievements of the coalition can be found on its website, namely: http://forthenature.org/ premises of environmentalism. 7 In this connection see the detailed sociological survey held by Roumyana Stoilova and Francisca Bieri in the: Sociologi- cal Problems Journal, issue 3-4. 2010, pp. 225 -249, which is based on a representative empirical survey of the attitudes to the activity of the Green NGOs and the environmental protection issues in Bulgaria. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 6 Between System Integration and System Change

Part I: THE GREEN MOVEMENT to this effect and then belittled the effects of AS A DISSIDENT MOVEMENT the nuclear disaster, for the first time ever fo- Origins and Emergence of the Green cused the public interest on the issue of the Movement in Bulgaria technological risks of industrial advance, What The Inspirations of the Dissident is more important, however, is the fact that this Movement in Bulgaria: Environmental catastrophe brought about the painful revela- Humanitarianism, Ecological Issues, tion about the moral essence of the regime, Human Rights Activity, and Social Change which loudly pretended to be constantly “con- From Global Change to Local Action cerned about the welfare of the people”. This event and the response of the ruling circles to The beginnings of the Green Movement co- its disastrous effects undoubtedly contributed incided with the belated and quite a short to the first authentic environmental event in period of anti-totalitarian dissident move- Bulgarian history only a year and a half later, ment in Bulgaria. On the other hand, the namely the civic protests in the town of Rousse. co-existence of social and environmentalist The so-called “Rousse events” began in demands for making a reform of the system the autumn of 1987. They were organized by happen, voiced by the Bulgarian Movement six women who had no party affiliation and for Openness and Perestroika, distinctly differ- were merely employees of the landscaping of- entiates the Bulgarian Green Movement from fice of the town. Their names are: Tzonka Bu- a number of other similar reformist move- kurova, Dora Bobeva, Vyara Nikolova, Evgenia ments emerging in the countries of the for- Zheleva, Stefka Monova, and Albena Velkova. mer Soviet Bloc. Indeed, in the larger part of The Rousse events were repeatedly held until the former socialist countries, environmental the spring of 1988.9 The protests were pro- organizations and even ‘green” parties were voked by the almost decade-long gassing of in existence as early as the end of the 1980s, the Rousse citizens. The dangerous gas was but the majority of them were “set up” by emitted by the plant producing nitrogen and the respective communist parties in order to chlorine compounds in the Romanian town create the smoke screen that the socialist re- of Georgiu just across the river Danube. These gimes were in line with the demands of their hazardous emissions were systematically ne- time. In some of the countries, there were in- glected by both the local and central authori- formal ecological initiatives even before the ties in Bulgaria, probably on account of the fact Chernobyl catastrophe, such as the Ecological that the chemical products of the Romanian Club in Poland (1980) and the Danube cercle plant were manufactured for the needs of the in Hungary (1983). In the Bulgarian situation, Soviet military industry, which required a seam- however, the environmental problems be- less manufacturing method and absolute se- came not only one of the major catalysts of crecy. The group of women, which organized dissident activities, but were the very essence the events, managed to attract the support of of the Bulgarian dissident movement as well.8 the party leadership overseeing the landscap- In fact, the first signs of public awareness ing system in the town and the tacit support of as regards the environmental hazards of “real the law-enforcement authorities. The demon- socialism” were first connected with the 1986 strations, dominated by the sizeable presence Chernobyl catastrophe. The inadequate re- of women,10 were voicing moral messages to sponse of the authorities, which initially tried the country’s governance, insisting that the to conceal every single piece of information

9 See Antonova, V. and Kamenova, D. (2008), Dismantlement, Vanguard Print, Rousse. 8 In this connection see: Leslie Holms in Holms, L. (1997), Post- 10 The march of mothers with their baby prams in February 1988 Communism. An Introduction, Polity Press, Cambridge. is probably the most emblematic event from this point of view. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 7 authorities should show concern and account- and high-ranking party functionaries from ability for the health and life of both the citi- the “reformist” wing of the BCP. Among zens of the town and the future generation them were the vanguard artist, Svetlin Rous- – their children. The moral appeals, however, sev, the coach of the Bulgarian rhythmic were accompanied by a yet another appeal for gymnastic team, Neshka Robeva, both of the “dismantlement” of the very system.11 whom were members of the Central Com- The civic pressure for openly voicing this mittee of the BCP, and film director, Malina problem and finding a respective resolution Petrova, who at that time was Chairperson made the central authorities intervene. Gri- of the Union of Young Cinematographers. sha Philipov, member of the Political Bureau The dissident writer Georgi Mishev who at of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) was that time was Member of Parliament elected sent to Rousse, where he made ineffective at- from the Rousse constituency was elected tempts to come to terms with the protesters to the post of Chairman of the Public Com- and failed to abate the public discontent. The mittee for the Environmental Protection of interference of the top brass party and gov- Rousse. In this way the environmental and ernmental leaders and the pressure exerted civic messages went well beyond the local by the organized citizenry led to a succession context and acquired serious national di- of meetings and talks with the Romanian side mensions. The problems of a Danubian town and to the gradual discontinuation of the became a problem of the system. hazardous manufacturing process. The public The Ecoglasnost Independent Association reverberation of these events was especially was set up in the spring of 1989 as a natural strong and the repressive apparatus of the continuation of the Public Committee for the system failed to dampen it down. Environmental Protection of Rousse. The ma- During the several months of protests, jority of its members were from the circles of a group of young artists organized an eco- the so-called “dissident” intelligentsia, some logical exhibition in Rousse, the main subject of them were educated in the West and had matter of which was the tragedy of this town. a broad view of the social and political pro- At the same time, a crew from the Bulgar- cesses taking place there. The Ecoglasnost ian National Television created a film called core group once again was made up by writ- “Breathe”, which was devoted to the envi- ers, poets, translators, scientists and research- ronmental protests in the town of Rousse.12 ers (a large part of whom were working for Representatives of the creative intelligentsia the Institute of Philosophy with the Bulgarian took it upon themselves to openly voice these Academy of Sciences), as well as artists (paint- events with the intention of provoking the ad- ers, actors, film directors, etc.). People’s actor equate response of the country’s authorities. Peter Slabakov was elected to the post of first On the 8th of March 1988, at the Cinema Ecoglasnost Chairman. For his part, he had House in Sofia, the first night of the public been repeatedly “punished” by the authori- screening of “Breathe” was held, although ties for his unorthodox statements concern- its showing was explicitly banned by the Cen- ing the “environmental” policy of the regime. tral Committee of the Bulgarian Communist The broad public reverberations with respect Party (BCP). It is at this first night precisely to the protest events in the town of Rousse fo- that the Public Committee for the Environ- cused the attention of the newly-established mental Protection of Rousse was set up. It association on new environmental problems, included outstanding dissident-intellectuals such as the construction of the Rila/Mesta Hy- droelectric Power Cascade, the pollution of 11 Antonova, V. and Kamenova, D. (2008), pp. 52-60, op.cit. the rivers, the project for the construction of 12 Director of the film is Yuri Zhirov, and the script is written by Violet Tzekov. a new nuclear power plant in the Danubian The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 8 Between System Integration and System Change

town of Belene, etc. Right after the attempt which the participants in the civic environ- for this independent association to be official- mental events were submitted within the ly registered was rejected, the activity of the 1988-1989 period of time, were disclosed civic group focused on a succession of direct only after the secret archives of the BCP Po- actions intended to gather public support. litical Bureau were opened over the last few In the fall of 1989 Ecoglasnost organized years15. The archive materials pretty much co- an open subscription meant to publicly voice incide with the memoirs published by the par- the environmental problems in this country. ticipants.16 At the same time, the authorities Apart from Ecoglasnost, two other impor- made attempts to dampen the civic initiative tant Bulgarian dissident formations took part by “taking over” the movement from the in- in the demonstration, namely: the Club for side. To this end, parallel structures were es- Openness and Restructuring (Perestroika) and tablished, which were meant to both disem- the Society for Human Rights Protection. This power and compromise the authentic partici- subscription underlies one of the few land- pants in these organizations. The authorities mark events in the history of the Bulgarian inculcated trusted “moles” of their own in transition to democracy. On November 3rd the two civic organizations, the development 1989, after the first massive self-organized of whom had to be under respective control, demonstration in the newest history of the and the party-state was very deft at employ- country took place in the streets of the capital ing these and other methods. The published city Sofia, the subscription was tabled at the sources are certainly incapable of exhaustively Bulgarian National Assembly on the very last revealing this type of covert interference, but day of the proceedings held by the Conference methods like these were characteristic for the for Security and Cooperation in Europe on the totalitarian regimes outside Bulgaria as well. issues of the environment, which at that time Ecoglasnost wound up its life as a dissi- was hosted by this country. The subscription13 dent formation on December 9th 1989 when was accompanied by a petition, whereby the it became one of the nine formations, which protesting citizens raised their demands for co-founded the Union of Democratic forces launching broader public reforms and enlarg- (UDF). For the duration of its brief existence ing the scope of human rights. in the capacity of an informal civic organiza- The subsequent reprisals signal that the tion, Ecoglasnost turned into the most readily authorities were prepared neither for the recognizable face of the dissident movement actual dimensions of the event, nor for the for the broad public in Bulgaria. Its assets in- broad public support it raised.14 The docu- clude the Rila-Mesta mountainous river hy- ments about the refusal to register the Pro- droelectric power cascade, the first anti-nu- tection of Rousse Public Committee and Eco- clear campaign against the construction of glasnost, alongside the evidence for pressure the Belene Nuclear Power Plant, plus the fact – both psychological and purely physical – to that some of its members are the authors of the first democratic Environmental Law in Bulgaria, which was passed by the Grand 13 This subscription has unofficially remained in history as the “Subscription in front of the Crystal Café”, which at that time was National Assembly in 1991. At the time of an almost cult-like place in the open for the artistic and creative intelligentsia, the city bohemians, and the so-called “informals”. establishing the UDF, Ecoglasnost was one of 14 Attracting the attention and empathy of the public was also the organizations enjoying the most numer- promoted by other “informal’ and non-conventional methods. Thus for instance, upon each of his appearances on stage, the informal leader of Ecoglasnost, actor Peter Slabakov, addressed the audience with an emotional ethical and environmental mes- 15 See in: The Rousse Committee, A Documentary Collection, sage where the description of the problems was merged with an Dareva, V., Mishev G. (Editors), 2002, Dr. Zhelyo Zhelev Foun- appeal for an adequate civic response. See in: The Ecoglasnost dation, Sofia. Independent Association, Alexandrieva, L., Karakachanov, A. 16 See in: The Collection of the Ecoglasnost Independent As- (editors). 2010, Dr. Zhelyo Zhelev Foundation, Sofia, pp. 74-84. sociation, op.cit. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 9 ous popular support. The number of its can- the green formations originating from the com- didates for members grew to such an extent mon dissident organization gradually became that exceeded the organizational capacity of marginalized on the political arena and even the association and it is during this period their stance in the infrequent encounters with precisely that a number of local organizations the country’s governance remained marginal. were set up throughout the country17. Some of the actors and formations, which This was actually the moment when the in- used to feed the dissident Green Movement, formal Ecoglasnost organization turned into a continued their active presence in the civic and national movement. Some of its members, such environmental sectors (mainly the Ecoglasnost as Alexander Karakachanov, Peter Beron, Edvin National Movement and partially the Green Sugarev, Krassen Stanchev, etc., are among the Party), but the new realities of the 1990s de- few who have been part of the political circles manded the emergence of new actors. The and have actively participated in the country’s new political priorities – the Euro-integration public life to date, whereas others, such as Pe- and Atlantic processes, the liberalization of ter Slabakov, the first Ecoglasnost Chairman, the economy, the receding social functions of are among the few personalities who – ac- the state and its withdrawal from major pub- cording to the opinion poll surveys – have been lic spheres – opened vistas for the growing permanently linked with environmentalism and prominence of the non-governmental sector, green politics. What is most important, howev- in which the newly emerged environmental er, is the fact that from the very beginning this formations and the “green: NGOs were about civic association outlined the direction of the to prove to be some of the principal actors. dissident movement and formed its core – the Some particularities concerning the green protection of fundamental human rights and formations from their opposition period merit the rights of citizens, such as the right to live special attention. Firstly, they upheld the idea and to healthy living environment, which can- of “civic” politics, and by criticizing the mor- not be realized without a serious social change. al bankruptcy of the regime, they took the In this way, the idea about carrying out a re- stance of a moral corrective force to the in- form of the system crystallized in the formula cumbent governance. Both in its initial goals “socialism with a human face” (ecology, hu- and the forms of organization and action, the man rights, social change). civic Green Movement in Bulgaria was very With its very entry into the UDF in the ca- much like the new social movements in West- pacity of a co-founder, however, Ecoglasnost ern Europe. The Bulgarian Green Movement, sustained a transformation. The establishment however, was functioning in a totally different of the Green Party by Alexander Karakachanov, environment, which eventually left a strong Secretary of Ecoglasnost (December 1989), imprint on it. which gradually grew into a partner of the The Bulgarian researcher, Olga Simova, coalitions formed by the BSP, and the split of claims that the civic movements in Bulgaria from Ecoglasnost into two separate organizations – that period failed to formulate “specific” goals, National Movement Ecoglasnost (or “the Blue” because they were united by a much larger and Ecoglasnost in coalition with the UDF) and Po- loftier objective – to oppose the regime, which litical Club Ecoglasnost (or “ the Red” Ecoglas- banned any spontaneous civic activity whatso- nost, which became a coalition partner of the ever. This is the reason why the biggest goal of BSP) – mark the end of the first stage in the the Green Movement (as well as the goal of all development of the Movement. It is a fact that the rest of the spontaneous civic manifestations from that period) was expressed in the demand for democracy as understood in accordance 17 See in: The Collection of the Ecoglasnost Independent Asso- ciation, op.cit. with the model of the liberal Western democra- The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 10 Between System Integration and System Change

cies, i.e. a democracy of human rights, and this knew that its decisions were prompted by oth- is exactly what the slogan of all dissident civic er – non-ideological – interests. That was why initiatives actually was.18 we regarded our pursuits on the subject of This explains why the Green Movement in ecology and environmental protection as the Bulgaria, much like other social movements in defense of values against certain – any other – Central and Eastern Europe in the period of to- group interests”.21 In this message we can see talitarianism, was constituted as an expression both the first post-materialist criticism against of the emerging autonomous civic society and the socialist industry and an economy labeled rose against the “political” society, which was “anti-environmental”, as well as the demands the embodiment of the totalitarian state.19 The for democratic participation and civic control Green Movement quite consciously assumed over the way in which society was governed, the stance of an actor voicing a supra-political, which must also involve the fundamental hu- universal, and environmentally humanitarian man rights and a healthy living environment.22 message, which defined and exposed “real” “Our social and economic life is based on socialism much more in terms of a moral and the fact that the various social groups are un- social order than as an overall political system. equally represented in the decision-making The Program declaration of the Ecoglasnost process, which determines the direction of the Association, passed by its General Assembly on overall development in our society. Those mak- April 25th 1989, says, for instance, that its ma- ing the strategic decisions are different from jor objective is the country’s “profound social the people suffering the main consequences and environmental restructuring”. 20 from the implementation of such decisions. On the other hand, the environmental mes- Without any doubt, this underlying social fact sage is as broad as possible: it reflects uncon- also concerns the policy pursued in the envi- ditional and universal values, which have been ronmental sphere. (…) Moreover, for each in- accepted by the communist state – de jure dividual the extent of responsible participation at least – and which the then regime would in the decision-making process is in inverse have found it hard to defy. In this connection proportion to the degree, to which he or she it would be appropriate to quote the words of suffers the harmful impact of environmental Liliana Alexandrova, a leading figure of Eco- pollutants. (…) All this obviates the need for glasnost during the first dissident stage of its introducing a democratic public control over development: “On one hand, for the majority the environmental policy of this country.” 23 of Ecoglasnost members, the worth of Nature or the quality of human life could not have 21 Ibid, p. 67. 21 The imposition of post-materialist values as one of the traits of the possibly been subject to any discussion what- cultural transformation of most developed industrial societies and soever. They were unconditional values going the reflection of this transformation in politics have been substantiated and treated in detail in the works of Ronald Inglehart. See in: beyond ideology. On the other hand, for us the Inglehart, R, (1977), The Silent Revolution. Changing Values and Party was merely only one of the groups ex- Political Styles among Western Publics, Princeton, Princeton Univer- sity Press, 1977, and Inglehart, R. (1992) Cultural Shift in Advanced ercising power in the country and we already Industrialised Societies. The connection between the new culture and the new social movements is manifested in the inter-connect- edness of the quality of life and the quality of the environment. 18 See Simova, O. (2010). “Civic Movements in Bulgaria. Twenty More specific information about the impact of the post-materialist Years Later”, in: The Bulgarian Democracy in the 21st Century, a “revolution” on the attitude to politics and political action see in: Collection, Veliko Turnovo, pp. 63- 69. Inglehart, R (1990), “Values, Ideology, and Cognitive Mobilization in 19 The list of proponents of this thesis among the analysts of New Social Movements” in: Dalton and Kuetchler (eds) Challenging the transition period is a long one. Thus for instance, see Ralf the Political Order. New Social and Political Movements in Western Dahrendorf in: Dahrendorf, R. (2000) After 1989. Morality, Democracies, Cambridge/Oxford/Polity Press, 1990, pp. 43-66 and Revolution, Civic Society, the “Citizen” Association, Sofia. This Dalton Russel J., Kuetchler and Wilheim Burklin (1990), ”The Chal- is also a stance uniting some of the leaders of the Eastern Eu- lenge of New Movements”, In: Challenging the Political Order: New ropean reformist movements, such as Vaclav Havel in the Czech Social and Political Movements in Western Democracies, Dalton Republic, Lech Wałęsa in Poland, and Zhelyu Zhelev in Bulgaria. and Kuetchler (eds), Cambridge, Polity Press, pp. 10-16. 20 See in: The Collection of the Ecoglasnost Independent Asso- 23 Program Declaration of the Ecoglasnost Independent Movement ciation, op.cit., p. 155. from April 25th 1989, ibid., p.154. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 11

Consequently, environmentalism as a form tion, rather than initating any radical political of supreme humanism is the major ideological change. Its message was that it was pursuing message of the green dissident movement. a policy, but it was a different policy of a civic Environmental humanism is an expression nature, which was far from the aspirations of endorsing ethical and intellectual values of coming to power and execising it. It had directed against the brutal “materialization” neither the ambitions, nor the readiness to of social, political, and economic relations – become a ”traditional” political actor mainly something that was rampant at the time of because it had no clear idea either about the “developed socialism”. This specificity is dif- form of the new social and political organi- ficult to grasp without going deeper into the zation of the country, or about its place in it particular “Renaissance” spirit of intellectual, in the capacity of an ideological and political creative, and moral ebullience at the end of project. The participants in the Ecoglasnost the 1980s in Bulgaria, which both gave rise organization were keenly aware of all these and provided a vent to the willpower for facts when later on they commented on these changing society that had been suppressed events from the distance of time.24 The sub- for decades by the reprisals imposed by the sequent incongruent developments, such as regime and the civic self-censorship of fear, Ecoglasnost joining the UDF, the formation of acquiescence and resignation. a Green Party separated from the Movement, The third characteristic trait of this pe- which entered into partnership relations with riod is connected with the formal aspect of the BSP, and the rapid division of Ecoglasnost the Green Movement, by virtue of which its into a “blue” and “red” factions, merely con- organizations remained at the level of “infor- firm the hypothesis outlined above. mality” and were unwilling to get institutionalized. In part, this stems from the very speci- Part II: THE GREEN NOVEMENT AS A ficity of the system, which does not allow for NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION the legal recognition and institutionalization of “self-emerged” civic initiatives. On the From Dissident Politics to European Policies: other hand, informality is a consciously cho- Professionalization and Europeanization sen stance, inasmuch as it reflects the desire of the Green Movement of the green movement actors to be seen as Establishment and Consolidation representatives of the authentic civic society. of the Environmentalist NGOs. Lastly, according to the logic of the clas- Institutionalization of the Environmental Issues sic green paradigm, the civic movements by Making Them Part of the Political Agenda from this period emerged from local cases (such as the gassing of the town of Rousse, In the period after 1989, a new actor emerged the construction of the Rila-Mesta Hydro- on the public scene, namely the non-govern- electric Power Cascade, etc.), which used to mental non-profit organizations. Their -emer provoke a political response on the national gence is connected with the new social and level and put to doubt the very raison d’être economic realities taking root in the country. of the ideological foundations of the system The priorities on the agenda of the then coun- itself. Addressing the “environmental” policy try’s governance were to erect the institutions of the regime, at the same time they actually of the liberal democratic political system and challenged its moral failure, the lack of social the market economy, but they were also ac- justice, and its inhuman attitude. Thus, in its companied by the need to create and consoli- initial stage, the Green Movement manifested date an autonomous civic sector. The devel- itself as a striving for reforming the system “from the inside”, through a kind of evolu- 24 The Ecoglasnost Independent Association, op.cit. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 12 Between System Integration and System Change

opment of the Green Movement took place Bulgarian Bird Protection Association, the Bio- within the limits of the attempts for the eman- diversity Bulgarian Foundation, the Agrolink cipation of civic society, which was looking for Association, etc., were working for various in- legitimacy by amassing knowledge, expertise, stitutes of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and professional authority. This period was con- and at a number of other academic units. nected with building the organizational struc- Contrary to the preceding period, what ture of the Movement, which at that time was was observed within the Green Movement engaged with making its own contribution by with a view to its legitimization was the “for- drafting the relevant environmental legislation, malization” of its constituent organizations. and with the institutionalization of the Euro- This means that the stress was laid on the or- pean policies in the Bulgarian political and pub- ganizational capacity and on the rapproche- lic agenda. At the same time, the green NGO ment and joint work with the institutions of sector tried to establish an internal cohesion by power in the form of participation in expert building itself as an “environmental commu- councils and commissions at the various min- nity” and to legitimize itself as a serious public istries and Parliament, in the form of joint actor in its relationships with the institutions of work with the local authorities, in the form of power by participating in the process of pub- legislative initiative, and lawsuit cases. It was lic policy making. The third direction was the the green NGOs that were the major actors search for contacts and legitimacy among kin- participating in the elaboration of plans for dred organizations outside Bulgaria and espe- the management of protected territories, for cially within the European Union. the preservation and management of forests These three dimensions in the activities and water basins, plans for their protection of the Green Movement, however, found it from industrial and chemical pollution, etc. hard to co-exist. The efforts to build profes- At the beginning of the country’s transition, sional and organizational capacity, to be seen the Green NGOs had had their prior existence, as partner to the institutions of power, and however brief it was. Actually, the first attempts to assert itself within the national and Euro- to set up environmental “civic” organizations pean public space were accomplished at an date back to the time coinciding with the end uneven pace and in a number of cases this of Todor Zhivkov’s regime. On the one hand, led to discrediting these very efforts. And this corresponded with the desire of the regime yet, there were achievements and they were to demonstrate – both nationally and interna- rather in the international interactions of the tionally – its concern for the state of the en- Green Movement. It took 15 years, however, vironment; on the other hand, they reflected to achieve a consensus on the need for inter- the spirit of the time and managed to mobilize nal unity in the form of shared principles and already existing “green-minded” generations, goals. Therefore, this period can be seen as the which had been socialized in the decade of the stage of professionalization and legitimization highest economic stability and material security along the lines of the future consolidation of (1970-1980) and in the decade of perestroika the Movement. With a view to its profession- as well (1980-1989). At the end of the 1980s, alization, the Movement laid the emphasis several organizations were set up, which on expertise, science, and research, which opened up vistas for experts to contribute to gave rise to a number of “mergers” between environmental protection and ecological exper- certain NGOs and research institutes, taking tise by making respective expert assessments. place on the basis of common members. Thus These organizations were recruiting members for instance, certain leading figures in some and supporters from students’ biology and of the large green civic organizations, such as ecology clubs and among the participants in the BALKANS Wild Nature Association, the various informal amateur initiatives. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 13

The impact of the university and research the institutions of the central and local au- centers must be included here, too, as these thorities. A number of the large-scale civic were the entities developing ecology and bi- campaigns for protecting the environment ology as academic and research disciplines, started during this period precisely. One of which – alongside other disciplines from the them, for instance, was the campaign for “exact” sciences – enjoyed the benevolence the protection of the Kresna Gorge, which of the regime. At that time, the most sig- was directed against the construction of hy- nificant among these organizations was the droelectric power cascades. Eventually, this Green Balkans Federation of Environmental campaign turned into one of the emblematic Associations25, which to date is not only the environmental battles of this period. New or- largest organization in terms of members and ganizations combining the espousal of both supporters, but also enjoys the authority and environmental and civic causes also emerged image of the most readily recognizable green and asserted themselves at that time. Rep- NGO in Bulgaria. This organization was es- resentatives of this sector unanimously now tablished at the end of 1988 after a civic ac- admit that this period marked the peak of the tion, whereby an informal group of students, “green” volunteering wave in this country. researchers, and lovers of nature protested The unifying thematic characteristic of against the poisoning of over a million of mi- the civic organizations during that period grating birds in Bulgaria in result of spraying were the campaigns in defense of wild na- tons of airborne chemical insecticides. ture (their purpose being: the identifica- The new organizations set up at the be- tion and protection of species subject to ginning of the 1990s in the form of NGOs extinction, the creation of conditions for made it possible for the new generation of their restoration and reintegration within environmentalists to give their contribution by the eco-systems, the opening of training espousing the cause of popularizing the envi- centers for volunteers who love nature, ronmentalist subject matter among the broad etc.). This is the direction in which many public. It is precisely then that they made their of the green organizations were work- first attempts at promoting green education ing, such as the BALKANS Wild Nature and scientific expertise. On the other hand, Association (which was especially active these organizations put on the agenda en- in 1991 in its capacity of an independent vironmental problems of significance for the association founded by ecologists protect- whole society and tried to offer solutions to ing nature who were former members of Green Balkans)26, the Biodiversity Bulgar- 25 According to information published on the website of the organization, the civic groups and volunteers of Green Bal- kans have held more than 400 actions, 180 of which are of 26 Some of the significant achievements of the Association are: a nation-wide significance. Many of these actions are mass the National Biodiversity Strategy (1993–1994), the Manage- protest demonstrations, which proved capable of preventing ment Plan for the Vratza Balkan Natural Park, the elaboration serious crimes against nature in Bulgaria. At the end of 2008, and implementation of action plans for the preservation of the Green Balkans network enjoyed 4500 individual members rare species, the protection of the water eco-systems of the united in 4 regional offices and 25 correspondent centers. For rivers Iskar, Vit and Ossam. The members of the Association are its 20-year-long existence, the organization has implemented among the group of non-governmental independent experts more than 110 environmental protection projects with the sup- approved by the Ministry of the Environment and Waters, who port of partners and donors such as the EU PHARE Program, have prepared the scope and description of zones belonging to USAID, GEF, REC, UNDP, WWF, EURONATUR, etc. Two large the NATURA 2000 European Network entirely on their own, as conservation projects – for the river Danube and the Western well as the zones covered by the two EU Directives – the Birds Rhodopes – to an overall cost of about EUR 20 million – were Directive and the Habitats Directive. Two of the members of the initiated by Green Balkans, the WWF, the Danube-Carpathian Association have been elected by the environmentalist organi- Program, and the Bulgarian office of the Bird Protection Society. zations as their representatives in governmental structures such Green Balkans is the first ever NGO in Bulgaria to have received as the Supreme Expert Ecological Council with the Ministry of support from the German Environmental Fund and the World the Environment and Waters and the Hunting Council with the Bank for the management and implementation of a project for National Forests Directorate. The Association also assists vari- the conservation of the biodiversity of the Pomorie lake. See: ous local initiative committees in their attempts to solve local http://www.greenbalkans.org/category.php?language=bg_ ecological and environmental problems. See: http://balkani. BG&cat_id=13, visited on 20.09.2011. org/about/history/, visited on 28.09.2011. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 14 Between System Integration and System Change

ian Foundation (set up in 1994 as a joint tional security, and economic benefits for Bulgarian-Swiss program for the preserva- the country.27 tion of biological diversity), For the Earth Though less frequent, the problems, which Environmental Association, the Nature the towns were suffering from, were also Fund Association, Eco-club 2000, the Na- highlighted by the green organizations. They ture on Lease Society, etc. This specificity is habitually concerned the increased demo- partly due to the deindustrialization of the graphic mobility and rapid pace of urbaniza- Bulgarian economy when many enterprises tion affecting mainly the capital city and sev- of the heavy and chemical industries were eral of the big towns in the country, whereby closed down, which brought about the what stood apart were the infrastructure and considerable reduction of the risks for in- town-planning problems, city pollution, the dustrial pollution and the gradual cleaning management of municipal space, and in more up of the ambient air and adjacent rivers. general terms – the disintegration and overall On the other hand, the priority focused on deterioration of the urban living environment. the preservation of wild nature was con- Other problems were emerging as well, which nected with the first adverse effects from were yet to rapidly escalate over the next de- the ongoing privatization and the weak- cade, namely problems connected with in- ened state control over natural resources, creased consumption (the issue here being resulting in the uncontrolled “misappro- waste management and waste disposal), the priation” and exploitation of the country’s organization of urban public transport, and natural wealth. the overall motor traffic. Last but not least, this Other green organizations continued to period saw the emergence of initiatives focus- put on the agenda various industrial and ing attention on the risks stemming from the technological problems and their respec- “conventional” intensive agriculture and the tive impact on the environment, such as concerns for food safety (the Agrolink Asso- the problems of pollution caused by the

thermal-electric power plants (the TPPs), 27 Actually, the attitude of the broad public opinion to nuclear the risks connected with the nuclear pow- power generation in Bulgaria has been inconsistent and is rather ambiguous. The conviction that nuclear power is beneficial er plants (the NPPs), and the future of nu- – both economically and politically – has been instilled in the clear power generation in this country. It population by the totalitarian state for decades. This conviction logically follows the ideological line of pursuing industrial and was the “older eco-generation” that was technological advance and five-year-plan production targets of the East European type, on which “developed socialism” was mainly working in this direction – mostly based, paying homage at the same time to the power genera- the Ecoglasnost National Movement. The tion dimension of the “Bulgarian-Soviet friendship”. On the other hand, the mass panic provoked by an entertainment activities of its members, however, did not show in the Bulgarian National Television at the beginning of enjoy a broad public support. Within the the 1990s, which announced fake information about a radia- tion leak from the Kozloduy NPP, speaks rather of fear and mis- context of the requirement raised by the trust concerning the capacity of the competent authorities to European Union for closing down two out secure the safety of the Kozloduy NPP. Without any doubt, this mistrust bears the signs of the experience after the Chernobil of the four blocks of the Kozloduy Nuclear NPP catastrophe and portends rather an ambiguous and dim Power Plant as one of the conditions for future for the Bulgarian nuclear energy, especially taking into account the fact that the governing authorities often adopt the Bulgaria’s EU accession, the prevailing at- same “schizophrenic” behavior. A fresh example to this effect is the stance of the incumbent Prime Minister, Boiko Borissov, titudes within the Bulgarian public space who was in the habit of talking about reviewing and even ter- were inclined against the closing down of minating the disadvantageous contract Bulgaria had signed for the construction of a new NPP in the town of Belene, funded the two blocks, because as early as the time mainly by Russia, and his arguments were based on the desire of the socialist regime the development of to avoid any energy dependency and uncertain profits on the background of the huge initial costs. But as soon as he headed nuclear power generation was taken to be the Cabinet in 2009, his stance concerning the Belene NPP a guarantee for energy independence, na- construction and the country’s energy (in)dependency have changed several times now and currently there is no clarity whether and on what conditions this project can be completed. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 15 ciation). All these problems coupled with the manding public access to information related insufficient administrative and managerial ca- to environmental problems, which were of pacity of the various state authorities opened public interest, was imposed in an especially up new niches for the varied activities of the visible way during the first decade of the new Bulgarian green organizations. millennium. The new civic campaigns orga- On the other hand, the process of Euro- nized during the next period in the existence pean integration opened prospects for the of the Green Movement, where a genuine green organizations to work for closer align- boom of this type of activity could be ob- ment of their activities with the European en- served, were based not only on the amassed vironmental agenda. A large part of the expert expert experience, but also on the civic com- activities involved with the preparation of the petence of the entire NGO sector at large.28 country for the process of harmonization and What should be pointed out here are sev- integration of the EU environmental policies eral typical traits, which summarize the devel- were carried out by the actors in the green opment of the Green Movement at that stage. NGO sector. They participated in the newly Over the period under review, it managed to established agencies and expert councils with appropriate and integrate a significant capac- the individual ministries and helped to draft ity in the area of public policies by means of the necessary legislative texts and establish working on numerous specific cases. This ca- the respective case law in this area. All these pacity was manifested not only on the level processes resulted in the genuine inclusion of of ecological and legal expertise (e.g. in the the green sector in the act of public policies area of legislation, in the area of legal prac- making. A good example to this effect is the tice with the large number of won lawsuits, fact that the overall process of determining, as well as with the numerous administrative selecting, and mapping out of the territories, opinions and acts, and with the consultative which were of the highest conservational val- vote NGO representative exercised at differ- ue for Bulgaria, by the EU network of protect- ent governmental agencies), but also with its ed territories NATURA 2000, was entrusted by specific work with citizens, which helped the the Ministry of the Environment and Waters Movement also build political and civic skills to several environmental non-governmental on top of its ample legal expertise. organizations such as the BALKANS Wild Na- The contacts and joint work with the institu- ture Association, the Biodiversity Bulgarian tions of the European Union on one hand con- Foundation, the Bulgarian Bird Protection As- tributed to integrating the EU environmental sociation, etc. priorities into the Bulgarian domestic agenda, To a large extent, the transparency intro- and on the other – imparted European legiti- duced at the public deliberations within the macy to some of the green organizations. The framework of the procedures for assessing country’s opening to Europe and beyond had the environmental impact of projects and ini- another important dimension as well, namely tiatives, as well as the control over the deci- its entry into the system of the international sions made by the respective competent au- non-governmental environmental community thorities, were the contribution of the green 28 Thus for instance, the citizens from the civic coalition for NGOs as well. The latter were the main actors finding solution to the crisis with waste dumping in Sofia hand- in the process of launching awareness cam- ed in to the newly elected Sofia City Mayor, Boiko Borissov, in December 2005 a copy of the Aarhus Convention (on the civic paigns intended for the country’s civic soci- right to access to information, law-suits, and participation in ety. They mainly concerned the international the decision-making processes whenever environmental issues are concerned) instead of a holiday season greeting card. The environmental standards and policies, which Convention has been ratified by Bulgaria, too, and over the last require that citizens should be involved in the years environmentalists have repeatedly referred to it not only when demanding information, but also in connection with fil- decision-making process. The practice of de- ing in respective lawsuit papers. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 16 Between System Integration and System Change

and the establishment of affiliates of some of civic society, and hence – the shortfall of civic and the largest international organizations work- community solidarity combined with the super- ing for the protection and preservation of na- individualism and egocentrism characteristic for ture, e.g. the World Wild Fund (WWF Interna- the culture of the 1990s generation. tional),29 Bird Life International,30 Friends of the On the other hand, this issue has another Earth – Bulgaria, the CVS – Bulgaria (Coorpera- dimensions as well, which affects not only the tion for Voluntary Service) organization,31 etc. green NGOs, but also the Bulgarian “NGO The Green Movement made consistent at- model” at large.34 The way in which NGOs tempts to work with the local authorities as function stems from an organizational cul- well, whereby the highest achievements on the ture that is “imported” or “borrowed” in the local level can be said to be the establishment of Bulgarian environment and it often acquires relations of trust with the local communities.32 a corporate nature, which approximates the However, the capacity acquired with com- profile of this sector with that of business or- municating on the various institutional levels ganizations and makes it difficult for citizens – international, national, and local – could not to distinguish the NGOs as entities function- possibly make up for the absence of shared vi- ing for the public good. sion for common actions among the green or- Thirdly, it should also be noted that the pro- ganizations. The relationships among them were fessional profile acquired by the green organiza- often conflict-laden, which was partly due to the tions over the period under review helped to dis- very logic of the NGO sector functioning. This tance them from the broad public. This profile sector usually has foreign, frequently corporate made them a tolerable partner to the authori- donors, the organizations struggle for funding ties, especially in the numerous cases when the and for projects awarded precisely to them in an institutional administration could not deprive atmosphere of keen internal “market” competi- itself from their expert capacity and interna- tion, a lack of any legal framework capable of tional contacts, but it also encapsulated them in regulating the relations between the NGOs and the unenviable role of protectors of “birds and the government, an absence of financial incen- grasses”, thus denigrating their actual merits in tives for the burgeoning medium- and small-size the public perceptions. Having started as orga- business with a view to encouraging donations nizations of the civic society, the green NGOs on a national scale,33 a lack of civic experience increasingly more often got caught in the trap after the long years of total absence of a genuine of corporatism, expert encapsulation, and the “non-politic” neo-liberal lack of principles. All this explains their lack of openness both to civic 29 The WWF has been functioning in Bulgaria since 1998, and throughout the period of 2006 - 2008 the representative of the society and “big” politics alike. organization for Bulgaria was the WWF – Danube-Carpathian In fact, the green formations functioning Program. In 2008, the WWF registered a separate affiliate in Sofia under the name of World Wild Fund – Bulgaria, http:// within the framework of the party system at www.wwf.bg/, 29.09.2011. that time also rarely worked “hand in hand” 30 The Bulgarian Bird Protection Society is the largest Bulgarian NGO working for the preservation of the biodiversity, which is with the green NGOs. This is due to the differ- the official partner of Bird Life International in Bulgaria. http:// bspb.org ent profiles they inherently possess and the mu- 31 CVS - Bulgaria, http://cvs-bg.org/bg_index.shtml), visited on tual distrust and lack of understanding brought 29.09.2011. 32 A specific case in point is the local community in the munici- about by their different generational culture – pality of Kresna after the decade long campaign of the BAL- both civic and political, on one hand, and en- KANS Wild Nature Association against the construction of mini hydroelectric power plants in the Kresna Gorge. 33 On this subject matter see the exhaustive and very indica- 34 In this connection, see the study made by Vyara Gancheva tive report of the Bulgarian Center for Non-Profit Law released on the NGO sector in Bulgaria: Gancheva, V., (2007) “NGO in 2009 and entitled “NGO participation in the decision- Capacities for Sustainable Local and Regional Development” making processes”, on its website: http://www.bcnl.org/bg/ in: Euro-integration and Sustainable Development”, A. Man- articles/883-участие-на-нпо-в-процесите-на-вземане-на- tarova, M. Zakharieva (editors), Friedrich Ebert Foundation, In- решения-софия-2009, visited on 29.09.2011. stitute for Sociology, Sofia. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 17 vironmental, on the other. Actually, this is the neo-liberal model was imposed as a dominating most significant trait of the green organizations structural and value-oriented paradigm affecting from the years of transition, which distinguishes both economic relations and the political and them from their “dissident” predecessors. Hav- public life. Bulgaria’s entry into the system of the ing started as an opposition to the state with world globalized economy brought about the the desire to change the system, which actu- further merger of economic and political entities, ally created the first autonomous civic struc- which had begun as early as the beginning of the tures with their environmental demands, the country’s transition. These economic and politi- Green Movement in its NGO form fell under the cal entities were taking advantage of the weak- shadow of the state, on one hand, and – on the ened regulatory mechanisms on the national and other – under the shadow of corporate donors, supranational levels in order to “flow into” the and thus began to surrender its civic legitimacy. global market ocean. In nearly two decades, the circle got Certainly, the findings mentioned above closed. Both, the widening of the social base do not concern Bulgaria alone. The political of the organizations and their opening to the instability, which stems from the growing dis- country’s civic society over the next period trust concerning the traditional political parties, were about to prove to be the spring-board, coupled with the imposition of populism as the which would make it possible for the green political face of the neo-liberal and “free-of-val- organizations to bring about not only the in- ues” ideology, have characterized the situation ternal consolidation of the Green Movement, of the Western democracies both in Europe and but would open up the prospects for building outside it in the course of the last few years. In a “green” political project as well. Bulgaria, however, this political framework has specific “East-European” dimensions. Part III: THE GREEN MOVEMENT AS A On the social plane, the enforcement of CIVIC MOVEMENT OF A NEW TYPE the neo-liberal logic has led to an enhanced OR THE “NEW GREEN WAVE” process of social and economic stratification. What has been observed is the constantly The Green Movement within the Post-transi- widening gap between the impoverished stra- tion Context : New Challenges, New Issues, ta of the population plus the increasing mar- New Actors ginalization of the middle class (the so-called Civic Green Policy “losers” from the transition), on one hand, From Local Campaigns to a Global Change and, on the other, the emergence of the thin From a Grassroots Movement to the Estab- strata of the super rich (the “winners” from lishment of a New Green Party the transition, such as industrial, construction, media, and energy entrepreneurs, often The instability of the party system and the coun- recruited from among the circles of the for- try’s governance, leading to the swift emer- mer State Security officers and collaborators, gence and rapid “depreciation” of the newly or people connected with organized crime established parties, coupled with – in the broader on the national, regional, and international sense – the crisis of the ideological political proj- level),35 the economic interests of whom are ects, which threw wide-open doors to populist guaranteed on the highest political level. and nationalist formations, became the characteristic feature of Bulgarian political life during the 35 These processes are certainly typical for the so-called post- first decade of the 21st century. These phenom- communist transition in all the countries belonging to the former totalitarian system. In this connection see for instance: Hol- ena accelerated at the end of the transition and ms, L. Post-Communism - An Introduction (1997), Cambridge were not only a symptom, but also a factor in the University Press, Cambridge and Bafoil, F. (2006) Europe Cen- trale et Orientale: Mondialisation, européanisation et change- broader processes of societal transformation. The ment social, Presses Nationales de Sciences Politiques, Paris. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 18 Between System Integration and System Change

On the political plane, the enforcement of equality before the law has been enshrined in the neo-liberal model has increased the ideo- the new Bulgarian Constitution.36 logical vacuum, which emerged after the dis- In the first decade of the 21st century, the appointment with the two successive waves now emancipated major economic players, of mass privatization (in 1989-1990 and 1996- some of whom are notorious figures in the world 1997) during the so-called decade of tran- of organized crime, consolidated the practice of sition. The impact on the level of the party “expanding their influence” by “purchasing” system was manifested in the cartelization of politicians and policies in the form of orders the parties and the clientelism in their relation- for amendment to legislative acts, purchase of ship with the governing majorities. The blurred judicial and administrative decisions, positions boundaries between left-wing and right-wing, in the institutions of the local authorities, and between liberal and conservative political prac- a guaranteed access to public procurement. In tices in the governance of the country revealed the latest stage of their development, some of the growing lack of political principles on the the big economic players are no longer satisfied part of the governing elites and consolidated with their political “screens” in the corridors of the impression of voters that “all of them are power and have opted for direct inclusion in the all the same when they come to office”. political life of the country by setting up political The domination of economic logic, which formations of their own.37 had been pursued for more than a decade in All these processes impact the state of the the capacity of a “civilizational choice” and natural environment at an exceedingly rapid rate. a “modernization project”, and the entry According to a survey held in 2007, for the 2002- into the globalized system put the parties in 2007 period of time, Bulgaria lost more biodiver- the role of obedient conduits of the vested sity and natural landscape than over all the previ- interests of economic lobbies, the capital of ous 20 years.38 Within the context of the findings which had no clear origin. These lobbies were often connected with the former totalitarian 36 In the decade of the transition, the assets of the Bulgarian communist state were “privatized” within an inner circle of nomenclature and had emerged at the begin- business entities, which were hastily set up by “insiders”, who ning of the transition as a result of the hurried were directed by figures belonging to the communist State Se- curity and managed by criminalized sportsmen – former wres- “mass” privatization. The latter had brought tling champions and favorites of Zhivkov’s regime. The drain- about the coalescence of economic and po- ing of enterprises from their assets and the export of capital abroad were accompanied by setting up “cover” companies in litical structures subjugated to a short-term off-shore zones, which legitimized the process of dirty money laundering. In this connection see the book of the Bulgarian logic, whereby the former were looking for a investigative journalist Christo Christov entitled “The Empire of quick profit at minimum costs, and the latter Companies Set up Abroad: Establishment, Activities, and the Funds Tapping of the Companies with Bulgarian Stake Abroad were seeking maximum political and econom- 1961-2007”. Siela, Sofia, 2008. ic benefits throughout the duration of their 37 The latest 2009 general and local elections were especially indicative as far as this process is concerned. The newly estab- term of office. lished LIDER Party (acronym for Liberal Initiative for Democratic In fact, the corporate-monopoly logic of European Development) ran the elections and almost made it to Parliament, despite the fact that law-suits for misappropria- the neo-liberal ideology and practice increas- tion of government funds in especially large amounts have been filed against its leader, businessman Christo Kovachky. The lat- ingly more often turned into the total oppo- ter, who is also the owner of the Bobovdol TPP, had the audacity site of the ideas and practices of liberalism, to ask the government and the Ministry of the Environment and Waters in particular to pay the fine his company owed to the whereby in the Bulgarian post-totalitarian European Commission for having abused the EU environmental conditions this logic rendered meaningless standards by failing to meet the deadline for the implementation of sulfur cleaning facilities. the very idea for any free market initiative. The 38 See in: “Public Attitudes Concerning the Subject of Environ- lack of a “level” start for the economic ac- mental Protection in Bulgaria and the Degree of Acceptance of the Green Way of Life – 2007”, a study of the Biodiversity tors in conditions of a rampant economic and Bulgarian Foundation and the Institute of Sociology with the political corruption cannot possibly guarantee Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, on the website of the For the Nature in Bulgaria to Stay Coalition, http://forthenature.org/ equality, despite the fact that the principle of documents/category/54, visited on 11.11.2011г. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 19 laid out in the paragraph above, the boom of the owned forest and sea-coast terrains for private construction business and tourism, which char- terrains. Apart from the purely financial loss, the acterized Bulgarian economic life during the first state also suffered damages on account of the decade of the 21st century and especially after strongly adverse impact of such exchanges on 2005, opened broad opportunities for business- the natural environment.42 And despite the fact men with dubious capital and investment merits. that the new GERB government43, which came Under the pretext of developing local business, to power in the summer of 2009, proclaimed companies with off-shore registrations and shad- that the discontinuation of such exchanges and ow capital “invested” in construction sites located the punishment of the guilty parties would be in protected territories. This activity was accompa- one of its government priorities, these practices nied by wood felling in natural parks and reser- have not been terminated so far and are even vations and covering with concrete slabs remark- subject to further development.44 able natural spots, which were unique in terms of The new situation has another aspect as well their natural landscape and beauty. These vicious and it concerns the practicing of both – civic and practices, taking place in a number of cases with political participation. The discrepancy between the assistance of the local, legislative, and judicial the programmatic and ideological party labels authorities, led to the revocation or amendment and the parties’ actual activity on the political of the status and coverage of quite a few pro- scene, as well as the lack of transparency on the tected territories. The most conspicuous example part of the political elites in their relationship is the revoked status of a protected territory of with citizens and the corporatization of political the Strandja Natural Park in 2007, which brought life, create the perception of lacking democracy. about mass civic protests39 and ultimately resulted To a still greater extent this feeling is fed upon in the reinstatement of the previous protected the perceived cohesion between the political territory status of this park. circles and the criminalized economic environ- Another trend is the purchase at an extreme- ment. These facts result in the deepening dis- ly low cost or the outright embezzlement of stra- trust in the governmental institutions and bring tegic state-owned sites or terrains by means of a about the withdrawal from any conventional disadvantageous property exchange. Among the participation in the political life of the country. numerous examples that we can mention here is the purchase of a coalmine, which according 42 See in: Stoilova, Roumyana and Francisca Bieri (2010) “Nature to the Bulgarian Constitution is the exclusive Preservation: The Stratified Public Opinion”, the Sociological Issues property of the state, by a Bulgarian “business- Journal, 3-4. 2010, p. 227. 43 GERB is the Bulgarian acronym of the party Citizens for Euro- man” known to be close to the then authorities. pean Development of Bulgaria, a centrist political project of the new populist type, headed by Boiko Borissov, former Chief Secretary of Another wide-spread practice during the term of the Ministry of Interior at the time when the “tsarist party” NMSII office of the tri-partite governing coalition set up governed the country (2001-2005), and before that time – personal 40 41 bodyguard of the last party and state leader of the People’s Republic by the BSP, the MRF , and NMSP (2005-2009 of Bulgaria and head of the totalitarian regime, Todor Zhivkov. г.) was the disadvantageous exchange of state- 44 As early as the beginning of the new government’s term of office, the GERB Party parliamentary faction tried to pass an amendment to the Law on Hunting and Game Preservation, which makes it pos- 39 In this connection see the tale-telling analysis of Yassen Borislav- sible to extend the duration of the hunting season. The Environ- ov, journalist of the “Sega” Daily, concerning the civic campaign mental Coalition organized a petition against such amendments, in defense of the Strandja Natural Park entitled “Strandja – A which benefitted mainly the hunting business of one of the GERB Revolt against Ugliness” on the website of the Place for the Fu- Party Members of Parliament. http://forthenature.org/petitions/11, ture Campaign: http://placeforfuture.org/archives/153, visited on visited on 10.10.2011. As far as the legislative initiatives tabled by 10.10.2011. the new parliamentary majority are concerned, see the publica- 40 MRF is the acronym of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, tion of the Institute for Modern Politics “Two Years of the GERB which is better known as “the party of the Turkish ethnic minor- Party Term of Office – Clientelism and Erosion of Statehood and ity” in Bulgaria both among the Western analysts and media and Civil Rights”, which describes in detail all cases of lobbyist-inspired among the Bulgarian public. amendments to the Bulgarian legislation passed to the detriment 41 National Movement for Stability and Progress, formerly National of public interest since the beginning of the GERB government’s Movement Simeon II, is a centrist party, which governed the coun- term of office. http://www.glasove.com/dve-godini-ot-mandata- try between 2001 and 2005. Prime Minister of this Cabinet was na-gerb--klientelizum-i-eroziya-na-durzhavnostta-i-grazhdanskite- Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, son of the last Bulgarian Tzar, Boris III. prava-14808, visited on 10.10.2010. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 20 Between System Integration and System Change

The distrust in the party system and – on is another reason for channeling civic energy a larger scale – in the effectiveness and even outside the limits of “traditional” politics. in the significance and/or senselessness of po- This context appropriately mirrors the litical representation, shared mainly among new stage in the development of the Green the representatives of the so-called middle Movement. Ever since 2005, what has been class (which has been getting increasingly observed is a boom of environmentalist ini- more frustrated in the Bulgarian conditions tiatives in the form of local campaigns, ini- of “transition” and “post-transition” and has tiative committees, and civic groups. Some also been affected by mass emigration and an of them gradually, and in other cases – quite increasingly more visible economic and social rapidly, have turned into coalitions, uniting marginalization), has come to repulse a con- various actors who belong to the civic society. siderable number of active citizens from any This new stage has brought to the fore new political involvement. They rather preferred to subjects and topics for mobilization and they opt for civic participation as a guarantee for have been openly manifested in new forms independence, they were more inclined to get and by new public actors. involved or support informal and non-institu- The first major civic campaign in this new tionalized initiatives, which were considered to period was connected with the waste-dispos- be a guarantee for authenticity45, and found it al crisis in the capital city Sofia (2005) and the hard to accept the usefulness of party partici- decision of the Sofia City Municipal Council pation, and consequently the need for estab- to introduce a “temporary” strongly polluting lishing a party or supporting a party in power.46 technology (bundling waste into bales with- At the same time, the actual democratization out any prior separation of hazardous waste) of public space and the almost unconditional for a period of three years. This decision was acceptance of the democratic order as a public passed without any preliminary consultations project47 by the majority of Bulgarian citizens with the population and infringed several laws, administrative ordinances, and sanitary

45 In this connection see the results from an in-depth survey on norms. For the span of a year, the campaign the motivation for civic participation in the Green Movement mobilized the people from the locations and in the 2005 – 2009 period of time, held by Radosveta Kras- tanova in: Krastanova, R. (2010) “From Democracy of the Elites settlements most acutely affected by the way to Democracy of Participation? An analysis of the motivation “the problem was solved”. People there made of participants in the environmental movement in Bulgaria” (2005-2009), published in “Democracy in Bulgaria in the 21st all possible attempts to make their concerns Century”, Veliko Turnovo, pp. 82-91. public and to work for an appropriate solu- 46 This finding was confirmed by a recent in-depth survey of the generation within the 18 – 30 age bracket in Bulgaria. The au- tion to the crisis. They even did not hesitate thors see the apoliticization of the “new young” as an expression of the “conflict between generations”. According to Ivailo to go beyond the local and national level and Dichev “There is a grave crisis with representation: the young addressed the competent EU institutions – the people are unwilling to delegate their civic actions to parties or formal mediators and prefer to act individually and without European Commission, the European Parlia- any mediation whatsoever.” (Dichev, I., Spassov, O. (2009) The ment, and the European Court of Justice. New Young and the New Media, The Open Society Institute – Sofia, Sofia, p. 235). The citizens appealed to the EU institutions 47 According to a comparative study in the countries of Central to exert pressure on the Sofia Municipality to and Eastern Europe, held by INTERNATIONAL IDEA (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance), what prevails in the discontinue such hazardous baling, which, Bulgarian post-communist society ten years after the onset of under the Bulgarian conditions, was carried its transition are citizens with democratic values and expectations, whereas those whose expectations are for strong gover- out in an absurd way threatening the health nance independent from any democratic limitations are rela- 48 tively few in number. See on: http://www.idea.int/, visited on of the capital city population. 29.09.2011. In this connection, the French researcher Dianne Ethir speaks about an “Eastern European paradox” expressed simultaneously in a strong attachment to democracy and a 48 See for instance “Environmental Organizations: The Mayor strong dissatisfaction with it. See in: Éthier, D. “Le paradoxe Must Shoulder the Responsibility for the Solid Waste Dumping”, est-européen: attachement et insatisfaction envers la démocra- http://old.bluelink.net/zero-waste/camp_opinions.shtml?x=8531, tie”, Transition, n. 39 (4), nov. 1998. visited on 08.10.2011. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 21

In the course of the campaign, it was es- one must keep his/her waste in his/her own tablished that the decision to bale wastes had yard”) and the attempts of the media to in- a complicated preliminary history. The company, stigate “proper Sofioters” against “the locals which had won the public procurement order, from the outskirts” with the argument that the was owned by a municipal councilor who was generated waste had to be dumped “some- close to the former Sofia city mayor. The capital where” after all, what emerged was a seri- city had neither a strategy, nor any organized ous and united civic coalition, which for the system for waste management and treatment stretch of a year continued to raise the issue of wastes. To date, the only legitimate solid both before the competent authorities in the waste disposal depot of the city dates back to country and the EU and before the citizens of the time of socialism and its capacity is almost the capital city at various public events. One depleted. In the summer of 2005, the depot of the lasting results from the campaign was was closed down, but later on it had to be re- the “admission” of the civic groups engaged opened, because the city had neither a solid with the solution of the issue to the proceed- waste processing plant, nor was there a project ings of the Sofia City Municipal Council. In for its construction at that time. It is then that February 2006, after a several-month-long the Sofia City Municipal Council came up with civic pressure, the Municipal Committee on the decision that baling waste was the only out- the Environment and Waters came up with come from the situation. the official decision to include the civic groups The decision provoked protests among in the decision-making process concerning the local population, which resulted in the sec- the disposal of the solid waste generated by ond closing down of the solid waste dumping the capital city. ground. An official announcement was made The campaign was not merely an ex- that the capital city was in a “crisis situation” and pression of the public discontent against that a “new” technology – solid waste baling – the flagrant abuse of law. It also managed would be implemented. Per se, this technology to attract the public attention throughout is applied very rarely and only for “packaging” the country to the increasingly more serious non-hazardous separated solid waste. But as the problem with the storage and management city had neither a system of separate waste col- of solid waste in the larger towns. It brought lection, nor a depot for hazardous waste, all the to the fore the thorny issue about the re- waste was baled “together”. The choice of the lationships between the “Waste Mafia” (a new technology made it incumbent upon Parlia- widely spread phenomenon, especially in ment to start amending the respective legislation, the countries of Southern Europe) and the as the decision of the Municipality contradicted administration of Sofia Municipality.49 Be- several laws and secondary legislative acts. Thus, sides, this campaign put the debate about amendments were made to the Environmental the choice of a solid waste treatment tech- Law, the Urbanization Law, and the Waste Man- nology on the agenda of both the mass me- agement Law. At the same time, however, waste dia and the Municipality and played the role was baled on open sites in three boroughs of of an “enlightener” of the public opinion the capital city without any construction permits, by making people aware of the EU environ- without the mandatory sanitary distances and mental standards in this area. This civic cam- control, as well as without the mandatory expert paign also managed to lay the foundations assessment on the impact such waste baling had on the environment. 49 For quite a long time, the waste collection and waste trans- Despite the tactical move of the Munici- portation in Sofia was usurped by a company, which had been pality to pit the different civic groups against awarded the concession for this activity, namely the “Wolf” Company, owned by the notorious “shadow” businessman, each other (following the principle of “each Roumen Gaitansky, nicknamed ‘The Wolf”. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 22 Between System Integration and System Change

of a public debate at the Sofia City Munici- to “leave” the boundaries of the Sofia Mu- pality about the need for strategic planning nicipality by being transported to the country of the waste management process. in order to be disposed in appropriate land- At the end of 2005 and the beginning of fill sites there, thus contributing to theex- 2006, the coalition Zero Waste was set up pansion of the problem on a national level.51 within the framework of the waste disposal The danger for punitive sanctions imposed campaign. In included veteran environmen- on Bulgaria by the European Commission on talists, such as the Ecoglasnost National account of the lack of a waste treatment sys- Movement, waste management experts tem operating in Sofia continues to face the from the NGO sector (from For the Earth En- country to date.52 vironmental Association in particular), civic The increased “investment” pressure on associations and initiative committees of the the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and the rapid affected boroughs, such as the Association “entombment in concrete” of a large part for the Preservation of Life and Health of the of the Black Sea resorts (following the ex- Inhabitants of Sukhodol (where the waste ample of the Spanish coastal line) provoked disposal depot is located), the Kremikovtzi the emergence of the first significant civic Environmental Association, committees of campaign for the defense of the Black Sea the affected by waste baling settlements, coast and its beach line. The campaign un- such as Eco Trebich and Eco Mramor, the der the name of “Let Us Save Irakli” began initiative committee named For Cleanliness as a civic initiative of a group of citizens for and Rule of Law from the Strelbishte Sofia the preservation of one of the few remain- borough, and other informal civic groups ing “non-urbanized” beaches, namely the from the city and the region, such as the beach line in the locality of Irakli-Emine, a Novi Khan – an European Settlement Associ- part of the zone belonging to NATURA 2000 ation. The coalition tabled a proposal for the European network. Within two months Municipality to pass a strategy for the inte- only, the initiative turned into a large-scale grated solid waste management meant to national campaign53 not only in Bulgaria.54. reduce the need for open site waste dump- The campaign unfolded mainly in Sofia and ing to a minimum. The strategy envisaged the reduction of waste at the source by sep- 51 Nonetheless, the waste baling was not discontinued, only the storage of the bales was terminated on just one of the arate collection, waste recycling, repeated three storage sites located between the Trebich Borough and the village of Mramor. waste utilization, and the elaboration of a 52 To the present day, Sofia has neither any waste treatment strategic environmental assessment subject plant, nor any modern solid waste disposal depot for safe waste storage. The proposal of the Zero Waste Civic Coali- to public deliberation, which had to comply tion for the elaboration of an integrated waste management with the national and EU legislations.50 strategy was turned down by the Sofia City Municipal Coun- cil and the municipal administration. The high environmental The capital city had no facilities for solid standards of the European Commission, the disagreements be- waste processing and harmless solid waste tween the central and municipal authorities concerning “who is to blame for the crisis”, and the internal in-fighting at the disposal at that time and what ultimately Municipality itself about the choice of a given technology have happened, after several warnings issued by deferred the solution to the waste treatment problem to a dim and unforeseeable future. And yet, due to a large extent to the European Commission and the civic pres- the civic activities, the Sofia City Municipality introduced the method of separate waste collection in 2005. sure exerted on the local authorities, was 53 6000 subscriptions in defense of Irakli and the last non-ur- that the baled solid waste gradually started banized wild beaches were gathered within 24 hours only. For further information see the Let Us Save Irakli website: http://daspasimirakli.org/index.php?option=com_content&tas k=view&id=74&Itemid=18, visited on 28.09.2011. 50 See the journalist publication entitled “Civic Organizations 54 See “Bulgaria for Second-hand Use – the 14th of October. Insist on Discontinuing Waste Baling and Introducing the Zero Thousands against the Construction Sites, which Are Killing Na- Waste Strategy in the Capital City” from June 13th 2006 on: ture”, a press-release of the Let Us Save Irakli civic group, on: http://old.bluelink.net/zero-waste/barometer.shtml, visited on http://daspasimirakli.org/index.php?option=com_content&tas 29.09.2011. k=view&id=80&Itemid=18, 28.09.2011. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 23 in several large towns, such as Rousse, Sta- an international France-Rila civic network, ra Zagora, Varna, Blagoevgrad, Plovdiv, but which was coordinated by a French citizen. also abroad – the support for the campaign Before growing into a civic association for in Amsterdam was connected to a large the protection of green areas and the in- extent with the sizeable immigrant lobby tegrity of urban environment, the Citizens there. The civic group Let Us Save Irakli for Green Sofia initiative started as reaction managed to attract to its side not only the against the illegal construction of a petrol support of the public opinion. It also man- station and the felling of centuries-old trees aged to exert pressure over the competent in certain boroughs of the capital city. For authorities – in this particular case the Min- its part, the Zero Waste coalition began as a istry of the Environment and Waters, which reaction to the solid waste disposal crisis in issued a two-year-long moratorium on all Sofia. All these and many other campaigns construction works in this locality.55 contributed to tracing and exposing new However, the campaign rapidly went be- environmental topics, such as: sustainable yond its local dimension of defending just urban development, town-planning and in- one beach line and set in motion an entire frastructure issues, conservation of natural wave of civic activity. As a result, at the be- wealth and landscapes threatened by ex- ginning of 2007, representatives of the new tinction in the form of “lands for the future civic groups and the Green NGO sector hand- generations”, bio-agriculture and the ge- ed in a petition to the Bulgarian and Europe- netically modified organisms (GMO), food an Parliaments, signed by 50,000 Bulgarian safety, etc. citizens, with the demand for the Bulgarian The specific cases showed a trend to government to make a commitment that it grow larger in scale and to become more would protect and preserve the Black Sea generalized, thus making it possible for the natural wealth and would elaborate a gov- green organizations to hold a public debate ernmental strategy to this effect. The peti- on a number of significant topics, which tion expressed the desire and determination had remain unnoticed or had been ignored of citizens for the protection of the Black Sea by the representatives of the governmen- coast to become part and parcel of clearly tal institutions. These topics include: the defined national priorities.56 relationship between public and private in- Over the next two years, the intensity of terests in the process of managing natural the campaign grew, and so did the num- wealth and resources, the rampant corrup- ber of cases subject to campaigning. The tion practices when political decisions are Citizens for Rila civic group launched a cam- made, the need for a strategic approach paign against the extension of ski-runs in and planning in the management of towns the protected territory of the Rila Moun- and smaller settlements, the need to over- tain National Park and against the project come the clash between economic devel- for the construction of an eighth artificial opment and environmental protection, etc. lake57 next to the emblematic Seven Rila The interactions with the governing institu- Lakes. Subsequently, the campaign expand- tions improved, they grew in number and ed outside Bulgaria as well in the form of acquired new forms. For the first time since the beginning of the democratic changes

55 See “The Ban on Construction in Irakly Was Extended by and the political crisis in the winter of 1996 Another Year”, information from News.bg published on the – 1997, the Bulgarian public environment website of the Let Us Save Irakli civic group: http://daspasimirakli.org/index.php?option=com_content&tas was witnessing massive civic protests, which k=view&id=125&Itemid=17, visited on 8.09.2011. often went beyond the legal and conven- 56 http://www.forthenature.org, visited on 29.09.2009. 57 This artificial lake is rather a toxic pool for artificial snow. tional forms of manifestation. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 24 Between System Integration and System Change

Alongside the rallies and street demon- tive power give up its intention to “exclude” strations, increasingly more frequent traffic a sizeable portion of the protected territories and road blocks were being organized by from the network, the purpose of which was means of the so-called flash-mobs58 or in- to benefit private investment interests. This stant mobilization of supporters, as well as environmentalist campaign enjoys the highest other ad-hoc thematic demonstrations, and recognition rate among the general public to other unconventional manifestations in front date, which testifies to the fact that the Bulgar- of various public institutions, such as the Par- ian citizens have proven to be best acquainted liament, the Council of Ministers, different with the NATURA 2000 European network on ministries, municipal councils, etc. The pro- the level of the entire European Union.60 The test policies often led to prompter and more protest actions also enjoy a broad public sup- effective political results than the numerous port to date, which is confirmed by numerous lawsuits filed in court and the partial success public opinion representative surveys.61 in certain emblematic cases,59 the thousands The environmentalists not only feel the of applications for access to information, the pulse of public opinion, but they also influ- lobbying efforts at the level of the political ence it with their fact-finding and analytical elite, and the pressure exerted during munici- work in support of the activities connected pal and parliamentary committee sessions. with the preservation of nature. The surveys The mass protests against the decision of testify to the high approval rate for the en- the Supreme Administrative Court, which re- vironmental campaigns on the part of the pealed the status of a protected territory of the majority of Bulgarian citizens who recognize Strandja Natural Park in the summer of 2007, in these protests the willingness to protect made the judiciary review its decision. This public interests. This makes certain analysts brought about a new legislative amendment talk about “the surge of a green wave in Bul- guaranteeing that the status of protected terri- garia“,62 which gives vent to the broad public tories in Bulgaria would no longer be subject to attitudes to environmental activities at large. appeals. The eight-month-long protest actions of the NATURA 2000 civic campaign in front of 60 A survey on the attitude of Europeans towards biodiversity, held by Gallup International in November 2007 within the building of the Council of Ministers with the framework of the Eurobarometer Surveys, indicates that the demand for accepting the protected terri- Bulgaria ranks first in terms of awareness of the NATURA 2000 network: Thus for instance, 80% of the Bulgarians tory network in its full coverage of 34 percent have heard and as much as 45% know what the NATURA of the territory of the country, made the execu- 2000 European environmental network of protected territories means. http://forthenature.org/upload/documents/no- date/Eurobarometar_Biodiversity.pdf, 29.09.2011. 61 According to a representative public opinion survey held 58 From the English coinage “flash mob“, or instantaneous by the Institute of Sociology with the Bulgarian Academy of mobilization. This is a new form of civic disobedience influ- Sciences, 87% of the respondents support the protests for enced by the wide penetration of cell telephones and the In- terminating the construction works in Irakli, 86.7% - in the ternet. In essence, this is a mass gathering of large groups of Strandja Natural Park, 75.1% are against the construction people at key public places aimed at manifesting protest or of ski-lifts in the area of the Seven Rila Lakes, and 73.1% defending a certain cause, which is held after a massive SMS and 72.1% respectively are against the construction of new message sending or by sending blog and social networks ski zones in the Rhodopes and Pirin mountains. As a whole, messages via the Internet. It is precisely in this way that on these high levels of awareness prove the effectiveness of the June 29th 2007 Sofia citizens blocked one of the busiest activities targeted at raising the awareness of the public. See places in the capital city – the Tzarigrdsko Shosse Boulevard Stoilova, R. and F. Bieri, (2010) op.cit., p. 246. at the Eagles Bridge, in order to express their protest against 62 See for instance the conclusions of the opinion poll survey the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court to revoke entitled “Public attitudes on the subject matter of nature pres- the status of protected territory of the Strandja Natural Park ervation in Bulgaria”, held jointly by the Biodiversity Bulgarian only an hour after the news about the decision broke out. Foundation and the Institute of Sociology with the Bulgarian 59 In the lawsuit on the Irakli case, the court decision was Academy of Sciences for the period 15.10.-26.10.2007, as issued in 2011, after 5-year-long continuous legal proceed- well as the “Survey on the public attitudes concerning nature ings. The decision was in favor of terminating the construc- preservation in Bulgaria”, held by the Alpha Research Opinion tion works of the Swiss Properties off-shore investment com- Poll Agency to order by the WWF Environmental Organization pany. See the website of the Let Us Save Irakli civic group: on the website of the For Nature in Bulgaria to Stay Coalition, http://daspasimirakli.org/index.php?option=com_content&t http://forthenature.org/documents/category/54, visited on ask=view&id=366&Itemid=1. 11.11.2011 г. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 25

However, the success of the protest ac- took part in the elaboration of one of the parts tions, which has been brought to fore far too of the New Town Plan of the capital city, namely often, actually demeans the political results the part concerning the green areas of the city. achieved by “conventional” activities. In fact, At the end of 2006 and the beginning of the Green Movement has scored public suc- 2007, the wave of civic campaigns and the en- cess and political results by combining protest trance of new civic actors in the green initiatives actions, which pinpoint the attention of the resulted in the rapprochement of the green NGO public opinion on existing problems, with ex- sector and the various civic initiatives. The en- pert opinions and demands for legislative mea- largement of the social base of the Green Move- sures formulated by the green NGOs, coupled ment was crowned by the establishment of the with civic pressure “from the inside” in the For Nature in Bulgaria to Stay Coalition. It united form of filing in lawsuit petitions, participation the best renowned organizations from the time in municipal and parliamentary debates, and of the country’s transition, such as Green Bal- tabling legislative initiatives. kans, the BALKANI Wild Nature Association, the It is in this period precisely that a new Biodiversity Bulgarian Foundation, For the Earth characteristic feature of the Green Movement Environmental Association, the Natural Fund As- emerged, namely the increasingly more fre- sociation, The Association of Parks in Bulgaria, quent practicing of direct action initiatives, re- alongside with branches of world environmen- alized in the form of unconventional protests, tal organizations, such as the WWF – Danube- happenings, blockades, etc. and by means of Carpathian Program, the Bulgarian Bird Protec- well-established forms of direct democracy, tion Society, and informal civic groups and new such as the handing of petitions,63 massive filing civic associations from the “second green wave”, of application for access to information,64 sum- such as the civic groups of Let Us Save Irakli, Let moning of local referenda, and an enhanced us Save Strandja Mountain, Citizens for Rila, the striving for direct decision-making by civic par- Eco Rila – Samokov Association, the White Coast ticipation in the functioning of the local authori- – Balchik Association, the UNECO Students’ Club ties. This for instance, in 2007, the Municipality for Ecology and Sustainable Development with of the town of Novi Khan decided to denounce the St. Kliment Ochridsky Sofia University, and the storage of radioactive waste on the territory also educational and cultural initiatives, such as of the municipality by summoning a referen- the Future Now People’s Chitalishte66, the Eco- dum initiated by the civic association called Novi logy Information and Training Center, as well as Khan – European settlement.65 In 2010, civic research and academic units, such as the 2001 initiative committees and associations united Phytoscenology Bulgarian Society, the respective under the formula of “Union of the Sofia City institutes of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Civic Associations and Citizens for Green Sofia” plus tourist organizations such as the Bulgarian Association for Altentarive Tourism (BAAT).67 The enlargement of the Green Movement in 63 Among the most successful conventional forms of action are the petitions containing mass subscriptions in defense of the direction of civic participation was accompa- the Bulgarian Black Sea coast (50,000 subscribers), and for nied by the democratization of the organization- the defense of Rila Mountain (170,000 subscriptions, out of which more than 70,000 are on a paper carrier, and more than al procedures, i.e. it was marked by its openness 95,000 have been posted on-line). Both petitions were filed to informal civic actors (the coalition itself has not in the Bulgarian and European Parliaments. See the website of the For Nature in Bulgaria to Stay Coalition, http://forthenature.org/petitions, visited on 11.11.2011г. 64 With the advanced penetration of the Internet and on-line 66 Chitalishte is a centuries-old cultural center dating back to the communications, these forms of gathering public support have period of Bulgarian Revival in the 18th century, which is typi- marked a significant surge. cal for both larger and smaller Bulgarian settlements, providing 65 For further detail see facilities for educational and cultural activities and combining a http://ggeo-events.blogspot.com/2008/02/blog-post.html, vis- rich library, reading room, training and performance space. ited on 09.10.2011, and http://www.bgpetition.com/phrao- 67 See the website of the For Nature in Bulgaria to Stay Coali- novi_han/index.html, visited on 09.10.2011 tion, http://forthenature.org/members, visited on11.11.2011 The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 26 Between System Integration and System Change

been registered as a legal entity) and the con- held throughout this period.69 On the other sensual principle in the decision-making process. hand, For Nature in Bulgaria to Stay coalition From 2006 to 2009, the coalition was the most managed to table legislative initiatives and significant actor pursuing the “green” subject motions for amendments to several legislative matter and imposing it on the political agenda acts, such as the Environmental Law, the Law of the country. To a large extent this was due to on Forests, the Law on Hunting, the Law on the variety of instruments for political impact, Protected Territories, the Law on Genetically which the coalition used to employ. But what Modified Organisms (GMO), etc.70 Thus the played an equally important role for the success coalition succeeded in affecting governmental of this coalition was the flexible democratic for- decisions on the national, regional and local mula of making internal decisions. Last but not level, and created precedents in the Bulgar- least, what merits mention here concerning the ian case law (e.g. the lawsuit concerning the achievements of the coalition is the public support Strandja Natural Park).71 it enjoyed owing to the broad thematic scope of The wave of green civic activity also im- the campaigns and the varied profiles and ori- proved the intensity and quality of interaction entations of the participating organizations. The with the EU institutions. As a result of the nu- achievements of the coalition are also largely due merous signals for infringements of the en- to the fact that the new civic groups managed vironmental legislation sent to the European to bring closer together the three “green” gen- Commission, and the petitions with signatures erations in Bulgaria, by making them overcome of hundreds of thousands of Bulgarian citizens the long-standing differences and contradictions (only the subscription for the protection of Rila that used to divide them before. Mountain, for instance, contained 170,000 sig- The joint work between experts and citi- natures), which were handed in to the National zens, both in the capacity of environmental- Assembly and the European Parliament, and ists, resulted in improving the quality of inter- due to the supranational networks set up to actions with the governmental authorities and the purpose of exerting pressure, the Bulgarian with the broad public simultaneously. The logic Green Movement enjoyed and is enjoying an in- of continuity, which was established as a lead- creasingly better visibility on the European level. ing principle in the functioning of the coalition, In 2006, in result of the civic campaigns contributed to the reception of its green mes- connected with the waste management crisis sages by broader public circles and resulted in and the problem with the entrepreneurial over- the greater durability of the results it achieved. development of resort localities, the European The coalition managed to win the confidence Commissioner, Stavros Dimas, paid a special of the citizenry, a testimony to which are the subscriptions for the protection of Bulgarian 69 For further information on this significant phase from the development of the Green Movement see: Peter Kanev, in nature and the support they received by tens Kanev, P. (2009) “In Search for a Place for the Future”, pub- of thousands and even hundreds of thousands lished in: Kanev, P. and Krastanova, R. (editors), A Place for the Future. Year One, Sofia Civic Association – Shtastlivetza, of citizens, coupled with the high public recog- Sofia, pp. 16-58, and Krastanova, R. (2008) “Civic Society and nition rate and the approval68 for the coalition’s Environmentalism in Bulgaria within the Context of European Values” in Civic Society and European Values, a collection of actions during several of the key campaigns it acts from the Conference under the same name, the Society of Solidarity Foundation and the Jean Jaures Foundation, Sofia, pp. 179 -194. 68 According to a representative opinion poll survey held in 70 http://forthenature.org/documents/category/34 , visited on 2009 by the Institute of Sociology with the Bulgarian Acad- 11.11.2011. emy of Science, to order of the Biodiversity Bulgarian Founda- 71 For greater detail see the publications “The Bulgarian Law- tion, as much as 83. 1% of the respondents agree that the court Issued a Final Decision Proclaiming that the “Zlatna perla environmental organizations guarantee the preservation of (Golden Pearl) Complex in the Strandja Natural Park is Illegal”, nature, and only 16.9% are of the opinion that they hinder on the website of the For Nature in Bulgaria to Stay Coalition, economic development. The pollsters interpret this result as a http://forthenature.org/news/669, as well as “Strandja Moun- mark of substantial public confidence in these organizations. tain Remains a Natural Park”, http://forthenature.org/news/74, See Stoilova, R. and F. Bieri, (2010) op.cit., p. 242. visited on 10.11.1011. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 27 visit to Bulgaria, one of his major objectives respect to their commercialization.74 This leg- being to meet the representatives of the civic islative decision is even more significant within sector.72 The official visit of representatives of the context of the liberalization of the policy the Committee on Petitions with the European concerning GMOs, which has been promoted Commission in October 2008 was provoked by by the European Commission on the territory the numerous signals for abuses to the envi- of the European Union over the past few years. ronmental legislation of the country, but above The most remarkable feature of this process, all its major aim was to get acquainted with however, is the broad coalition formula of the the success of the civic campaign in defense campaign, which started as an initiative of BG of the NATURA 2000 network in Bulgaria, Mama, the internet e-forum of Bulgarian moth- which ended up with the victory of the envi- ers, but gradually came to involve a broad circle ronmentalists, when the Council of Ministers of civic and political actors, such as industrial made the decision to reinstate the territories and agricultural branch organizations (the Bio- excluded from the network (located mainly in products Bulgarian Association, the National the mountainous and Black Sea resorts of the Beekeeping Association, the Regional Council country), thus restoring the initial coverage of of Agrarian Cooperatives – town of Veliko Turn- 34% protected territories as substantiated by ovo, the Association of Chefs in Bulgaria, etc.), the scientists and experts in the first place.73 the Greens Political Party, the For Nature in Bul- Since 2009 the Green Movement has en- garia to Stay Association, the Bioselena Foun- tered a new phase of development and expan- dation, the Foundation for the Environment sion of its social base, which brought about the and Bio-agriculture, an Initiative Committee of most successful green civic campaign to date Parents and Citizens, students’ and professional under the slogan of “Bulgaria – a zone free clubs, scientists, and informal civic groups. of GMO”, which was directed against the lib- What is also important to note here is the eralization of the regime concerning growing fact that within the framework of this broad crops based on genetically modified organisms civic coalition, the representatives of the Greens in Bulgaria. The campaign was launched at the Political Party preferred to make their public end of 2009 in connection with the amend- appearances in the capacity of representatives ments to the GMO Law and forced the govern- of the citizenry (i.e. of the green organizations ment and Parliament to pass a strongly restric- they initially originated from), or in the capac- tive law, which – on the basis of the wide cov- ity of experts, but not as representatives of a erage of protected territories within the scope political party. Undoubtedly, this conduct was of the NATURA 2000 network in Bulgaria – in dictated by the desire to attract as much public practice makes it impossible to grow GMO support as possible and qualified the underly- crops on the territory of the country, at the ing supra-party and universal message of the same time providing for very strict rules with coalition, namely that the competitiveness of Bulgarian agriculture within the boundaries of

72 Stavros Dimas declared: “Despite the fact that Bulgaria occu- pies only 2.5% of the overall territory of the European Union, this 74 The amendments to the most contentious Article 80 of the country is home to nearly 70% of the protected bird species in GMO Law read that “a ban is imposed on growing and freeing Europe and about 40% of the European protected habitats. This GMO in the protected territories and protected zones of NATU- exceptional natural biodiversity must be protected, as the legis- RA 2000, and also at distances shorter than 30 km from their lative protection is the only secure way of preserving the future boundaries, at distances shorter than 10 km from stationary economic and social welfare. What I expect from Bulgaria is to beehives, at distances shorter than 7 km from agricultural lands coordinate its legislations with the EU requirements and – most subject to biological way of raising crops and farm produce, importantly – to ensure its proper enforcement in the practice of as well as at distances smaller than those enumerated in Ap- real-life cases.” See this on the website of the Let Us Save Irakli pendix 2 for areas subject to traditional methods of crop grow- Campaign: http://daspasimirakli.org/index.php?option=com_co ing”. 144 MPs voted for the text formulated in this way, only ntent&task=view&id=338&Itemid=1, visited on 29.09.2011. 1 voted against, and 3 MPs abstained. For further detail see: 73 “The Council of Ministers Enlarged NATURA“, see on the “The Citizens Have Won a Victory in the Battle with GMO”, website of the For Nature in Bulgaria to Stay Coalition, http:// website of the For Nature in Bulgaria to Stay Coalition, http:// forthenature.org/news/1969, visited on 11.11.2011. forthenature.org/news/1413, visited on 10.11. 2011. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 28 Between System Integration and System Change

the European Union should be promoted by and the green parties would be able to enjoy an developing biologically untainted crops and increasingly larger public support. this objective should enter the governance pri- In the newest stage of its development orities of all political parties. that far, the Green Movement revealed some The civic reaction to the GMO case com- new characteristics, such as: bined several new aspects, which the political • First, it put new topics on the public and economic actors felt obliged to take into agenda and offered a new interpretation consideration increasingly more from that point of already existing topics, and after a suc- on. Firstly, this reaction was a testimony to cession of effective campaigns these top- the heightened sensitivity of consumers and ics became an integral part of the coun- the presence of environmental culture among try’s political agenda. certain strata of the population.75 Secondly, it • Second, the Green Movement empha- meant that the latest environmental issues had sized the need for making environmental already been fully accepted within the public protection a national, governmental, and space – starting from the food safety problems public priority. This is testified by both and ending with the ethical dimension of ge- the numerous successful campaigns with netic engineering – i.e. issues questioning the genuine political results (such as legisla- direction, in which technological advance was tive amendments, legislative initiatives, developing. Thirdly, the public reaction is an judicial decisions, the integration of the expression of the willpower for stricter norms environmentalist subject matter into the and rules to be imposed on the market in the pubic policies), and the impressive public direction of an enhanced regulation on the na- response these campaigns generated. tional and supranational level. Last but not At the same time, contrary to the prevailing , the public support for the campaign is an least economic and market-oriented logic, supported expression of national cultural predispositions by the institutions of power as well, in the pub- and of a deeply rooted agricultural tradition.76 lic environment the Green Movement defended The unprecedented high public approval of the the belief that economic and social prosper- “Bulgaria – a zone free of GMO” coalition in- ity go through the preservation of nature and dicated that should the Greens decide to get the quality of the environment. In this sense, it permanently committed to this cause, this was proved to be a major actor tracing the philoso- one of the areas in which the Green Movement phy of sustainable development, which for several decades now has been exerting its impact

75 In one of the few systematic representative public opinion sur- on the overall European approach to politics, veys concerning the relationship between environmental protec- not only in the area of environmentalism. tion and environmental value attitudes in Bulgaria, Roumyana Stoilova and Francisca Bieri found out that the “GMO case” in • Third, the Green Movement facilitated Bulgaria “certainly marks a new stage in the development of the emergence of a new type of civic and environmental culture”. See Stoilova, R. and F. Bieri (2010), op. cit., p. 228. In the same connection see the conclusions of Anna political actors who are molded “from be- Mantarova in: Mantarova, A. (2010) “Dimensions of Environ- mental Culture”, Mantarova, A. (editor), Environmental Culture low”. These actors stay their autonomy in a Society Undergoing Modernization, Sofia, pp. 81-121. with respect to the government authori- 76 It is appropriate to mention here that from a societal point of view up to 1944 Bulgarian society was an agrarian society with ties, and declare their right to exercise their traditional agrarian culture, which had a considerable impact on direct “civic” politics and to impact the the specificity of the political life in the country after Bulgaria won its national independence in 1878. The agrarian parties decision-making processes without being enjoyed an exceedingly wide support among the population, a institutionalized or formally recognized by testimony to which is the governance of the Bulgarian Agrarian People’s Union (BAPU) of Alexander Stamboliysky in the 1920s. the Establishment. In this sense, such is the During the totalitarian regime, despite the nationalization of all farmlands, the BAPU continued its existence (though in rather a response of the new type of political ac- bureaucratic way) and even enjoyed a certain amount of auton- tors to the deepening democratic deficit of omy with respect to the governing Bulgarian Communist Party. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 29

the institutions of power, and at the same One of the most interesting characteristics of time, this is the way in which they contrib- the Green Movement, however, is the fact that it ute to the democratic renewal of the public managed to combine the formula of non-party and political life in the country. and supra-party civic participation, creating at • Fourth, the enlarged social base of the the same time prerequisites for the emergence Green Movement contributed to the proof an authentic green party. The new party of cess of consolidation of the green sector, the Greens, which was set up in 2007, made a turning it into a genuine “environmental- broad referral to its genetic link with the Move- ist community” of shared principles and ment. It is true that both on the leadership level values – a fact, which has unanimously and the level of supporters and grass-root par- been accepted by the representatives ty members, the party drew support from the of the Movement as one of its highest ranks of the Green Movement. It is only logi- achievements at that time. cal that the registration of the party coincided • Last but not least, the Green Move- with the peak period of the booming “second ment succeeded in taking the environ- green wave”. The future will show whether the mental problems out of their local – and Movement and the Greens Party would prove even out of their national – context, thus capable of co-existing and feed on each other, making them part and parcel of the Eu- as well as whether the Greens would live up to ropean agenda of themes and policies, the achievements of the Movement by manag- and the NATURA 2000 civic campaign ing to impose civic demands on the agenda of is an appropriate example to this effect. Bulgarian politics “from within” – demands, The campaign under the motto of “Bul- such as the assertion of the principles of the law garia – a zone free of GMO” testifies to governed state, equality before the law, which the ability of the Bulgarian Green Move- guarantees the protection of the public good, ment not only to get integrated within the a change in the current system in the direction European environmental context, but also of an increasingly expanded civic participation, to set up precedents at the level of the Eu- and – in the broader sense – a demand for the ropean Union. Campaigns such as France- system change of the current Establishment. Rila indicate the availability of a capacity Despite the enumerated achievements of for raising international civic support. The the Green Movement, the situation with its recently established Balkan Anti-Nuclear constituent organizations, however, indicated Coalition (BANC), which was initiated by a number of problems. Some of them concern the Greens Political Party, is a yet another the formal level and make up the first type step in this process of supranational en- of problems. On one hand, the fact that the largement.77 New initiatives, such as the new civic initiatives upheld their status of in- “Climate Coalition – Bulgaria” established formality created prerequisites for greater au- in 2005, which was especially active after tonomy and flexibility in the functioning of the the 2009 Climate Summit in Copenha- Movement, whereby the civic organizations of gen, placed the environmental activity of a new type were less dependent and hard to the greens in Bulgaria within the context manipulate by the Establishment and its struc- of the global environmental challenges.78 tures. On the other hand, however, this pecu- liarity created conditions for instability and – in

77 The coalition was established on March 26th 2011 and en- a number of cases – for unpredictability of the compasses green parties and civic organizations from Bulgaria, campaigns and their outcome. Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, and Turkey. See further information about this coalition on the website of the Greens Party: Coalitions and campaigns generate public http://www.zelenite.bg/3654, visited on 10.10.2011. energy and a large amount of civic support, 78 You can find further information about this initiative on the website of the coalition: http://www.climatebg.org/. but often they also create an impression of The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 30 Between System Integration and System Change

ephemeral formations, which is not always the forms of interaction with the representa- necessarily true. Because these formations tives of the Establishment, which is testified lack a stable organizational structure and by a number of campaigns held by the en- a constant pool of participants, an outsider vironmentalist coalition. These contradictions may remain with the impression that they prove incapable of enhancing the public im- disintegrate and “vanish” once the brief pe- age of the Movement, because they rather riod of mobilization is over. The internal links taint it and undermine its authority. between formal organizations and informal The above mentioned differences also groups, which have a cumulative and – in the had an impact on the polar antagonism con- final account – a durable impact on the pro- cerning the debate on the need for establish- cess of consolidation and enlargement of the ing a green party. Such a party could hardly Movement, are invisible for the naked eye in rely on success without the support of the the short-term period of time. The qualitative Green Movement, which would have actually results brought about by quantitative accu- spawned it. Nonetheless, over the last several mulations take time, which is often incompat- years it seemed that the centrifugal forces ible with the dynamic nature of the “political within the Movement had taken the upper agenda”, as it requires a fast decision-making hand. This was largely due to the principled process and immediate effects on the level of opposition to the establishment of the Greens political results. At times, this characteristic Party within the circles of the environmental- trait of the coalitions and campaigns makes ist community. They also opposed to the input them invisible for the public eye and also of a serious amount of human resources in makes it very hard indeed for their participants the party building effort, which would have to be recognized as serious partners and op- brought about the partial “blood loss” with- ponents to the authorities. The conventional in the Movement. In this way, right after its mass media, or the so-called “fourth estate”, establishment, the Greens Party was placed contribute to their “invisibility” as well. in the difficult situation not only to have to And – to top it all – the modesty, which prove its capacity to generate public support, the coalitions and campaigns consciously try to but also to prove that it was a truly authentic impersonate, often harms their initiatives. Be- anti-system party by managing to change the yond the causes they defend, the broad public system without becoming a part of it.79 rarely connects them with specific names of organizations and personalities (whereas this Part IV. THE GREEN MOVEMENT connection was very strong in the dissident AND THE GREEN PARTIES period of the Movement). All this hinders the Parties of the Change and Parties presence of a more lasting positive reverbera- of the Status-quo tion in the public space and, as a consequence, hinders the wider public support for the initia- The green parties in Bulgaria, much like the tives of the Green Movement. environmental parties in the “old” Western The second type of problems is of an democracies, are largely the product of the essential nature. The fact that the organi- Green Movement evolution. Some of them zations belong to different “green” genera- have emerged “from below”, from the civic tions, as well as the differences in the civic society itself, in result of substantial experience and political culture not only between the or- and the desire for an in-depth social change ganizations, but very often within themselves, generate problems concerning the work done 79 This means that the Greens Party as an anti-system party, at- tempting to change the system without becoming a part of it, among partners. These problems are con- must do so without the financial resources, which officially or un- nected both with the form of joint action and officially, covertly or overtly, usually fund the parties in Bulgaria The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 31 achieved by political instruments. However, expressing and upholding the status quo, in the distinctions between the Bulgarian greens the conditions of a post-totalitarian transition, and their Western counterparts lie in the dif- the left-wing and right-wing parties exchange ferent political, economic, and cultural en- their long-established roles. Thus for instance, vironment they have “grown up” in, and in in Bulgaria, the Union of Democratic Forces their different historical time, the specificity of (UDF), which embodied the opposition to the which underlies both their characteristic traits communist status quo, assumed the role of and their weaknesses thus far. Much like the the political alliance standing for change, al- Green Movement, they are in the unenviable though the ideological profile of some of its position to “catch up” at a fast rate what the constituent formations could hardly be quali- “model” they aspire for has already achieved, fied as left-wing or progressive. The Bulgarian namely – the developed industrial democratic Socialist Party (BSP), despite its attempts to Western societies and their corresponding gain legitimacy as a modern left-wing party, political and party system. The speed of this which defends social equality in the new mar- “catching up” process leads to explicable ket environment, was seen through the eyes of mistakes, which are inherent in any process a significant part of society as an emblem of a of “development” and “growth”. One can- conservative status quo, preserving and repro- not make sense of these mistakes, however, ducing the privileges of the nomenclature or outside the limits of the country’s transition “the governmental aristocracy” (in the sense and the political “model”, which the transi- implied by the French sociologist Pierre Bour- tion itself has imposed. dieu) from the time of “the old regime”.81 Two are the characteristics of the Bul- Second, the dominating political clash at garian post-totalitarian party system, which the time of the transition, mainly expressed in – if seen in terms of mutually complement- the opposition between the BSP and the UDF ing each other –explain to a large extent (“communists” versus “democrats”), was not the absence of an autonomous green party especially conducive to the formation and in- in Bulgaria. dependent materialization of a green party. First, the specific post-socialist situation in This is the reason why the Bulgarian green the countries of Central and Eastern Europe formations of the transition preferred to stay turned “upside down” the political cleavages, in the shadow of their big political partners by which are traditional for the West European supporting them in a coalition format at the countries.80 If in all the Western democracies time of elections, which sometimes brought the left-wing parties are generally connected them awards – either parliamentary seats or with the idea about the need for change and ministerial posts, and in a number of cases – are perceived as “progressive” parties, while public and political legitimacy,82 but they rare- the right-wing parties are seen as the entities ly received any public authority whatsoever. The fate of Ecoglasnost mirrored the bi-po-

80 It is in this connection that first democratically elected Presi- lar model, which was typical not only for the dent of Bulgaria after the collapse of the totalitarian regime party system of that period, but for the entire wrote: “The political environment of the post-communist society – a society in transition from communism to democracy and public life as well. This bi-polar division even a market economy – is an abnormal, non-standard, unusual environment, and making an analogy with the physics of ele- mentary particles I could dare call it “a distorted environment”. 81 This is the reason why it is small wonder that the greater This is the reason why to a large extent it would be senseless part of the members and supporters of the new Greens Party and naïve to speak about “left”, “right”, or “center”. (…) The originate from within the circles of the disillusioned active sup- parties here have not been “grounded” yet, their feet are not porters of the “right-wing” parties – the UDF in particular, but rooted in a social base, i.e. those social groups, strata, and sub- also of the more conservative Democrats for Strong Bulgaria strata, the interests of which they claim to express and defend. (DSB) party. (…) Zh. Zhelev, The Parties and the Party System of the Transi- 82 The Green Party became the first ever and only Bulgarian tion – 1, see on: http://novotovreme.bg/?cid=34&p=&id=3601, green party to date, which has been acknowledged as a mem- visited on 28.09.2011. ber of the Greens faction at the European parliament. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 32 Between System Integration and System Change

brought about a split within the Holy Synod of with which Ecoglasnost had asserted itself on the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, which was di- the public arena. vided into a “blue” wing (of an anti-communist The Green Party is qualified as a mode- bias, supporting the UDF) and a ”red” wing rately-centrist party. After 1991, when it ran (supporting the status quo).83 Having been unit- the general election with the UDF, it continued ed in upholding civic and environmental causes to run elections by participating in coalitions before the democratic changes, the dissidents with various political labels. In 1994 the Green from Ecoglasnost underwent several splits be- Party entered into coalition with socialist and cause of ideological reason, but more frequently social-democratic parties within the format of their splits were prompted by short-term politi- the Democratic Alternative for the Republic cal ends. The decision for the movement or a (DAR). In 1997, it entered into an exotic coali- part of it to joint one or another coalition was tion together with the MRF, the Alliance of the dictated by the motive for a greater political “ef- Democratic Center, and the “Kingdom Bul- fectiveness”. In this way, the autonomous politi- garia” Federation, and after 1997, it oriented cal project initiated in the name of environmen- itself to coalitions formed around the BSP and talism was gradually left behind and was used from that time on it invariably has been run- increasingly more frequently as an instrument ning elections in this format. This led to partial and spring-board for coming into office. success and what merits mention here is the The first official green party in Bulgaria, bear- fact that almost at the very beginning of the ing exactly the same name – Green Party, the transition, the Chairman of the party, Alexan- Chairman of which was Alexander Karakacha- der Karakachanov, was elected Sofia City May- nov, was set up on December 28th 1989, imme- or. Two Bulgarian Prime Ministers from the first diately after the establishment of the Union of decade of the transition were also members of Democratic Forces. The party managed to avail this party at the onset of their political careers, of the prestige and authority of Ecoglasnost to namely Philip Dimitrov (who was Prime Minister the maximum extent, as well as of the favorable of the first UDF government in 1992), and Ivan context at that time (an increasing number of Kostov (who headed the Cabinet during the supporters to the Ecoglasnost community and second UDF term of office from 1997 to 2001). a rapidly growing membership), thus attracting However, the only large-scale independent new members to the organization.84 Despite campaign of the Green Party during this period this fact, the Green Party failed to add to its “as- remains the 1997 subscription in defense of Vi- sets” achievements commensurate with those, tosha Mountain. The stance, which the Green Party had taken for a rapprochement with the

83 In this connection see Peter Kanev, in: Kanev. P. (2002), “Re- party of “the nomenclature”, did not seem ligion in Bulgaria after 1989: Historical and Socio-cultural as- to prove conducive to attracting a broader pects”, in : South East Europe Review, 1, 2002, pp. 85-95, and Daniela Kalkandjieva in: Kalkandjieva, D. (1997), The Bulgarian electorate from the circles of the middle class Orthodox Church and the State 1944-1953, Albatros, Sofia. representatives who were looking forward to 84 The party was registered on February 15th 1990 in accordance with the Political Parties Act and returned 16 MPs to the change, and to this end they rather preferred Grand National Assembly. The political objectives of the Green to give support to the parties of the UDF. Party are: an unpolluted environment, health, understanding, a society of free people, middle class, a reasonable economic Some of the figures from the “old Ecoglas- reform, a new taxation policy, fast and decisive privatization, nost”, headed by the dissident writer Edvin the right to ownership of land and forests, the freedom for owners to cooperate and associate, a responsible social policy, Sougarev, moved on to establish the National the unity of the nation, an independent foreign policy. As of 85 April 1990, the membership of the party numbered 5000 peo- Movement Ecoglasnost, which remained ple. Members of the party leadership were: Solomon Passi – a within the UDF. Among the political “assets” future Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria at the Cabinet of NMSII (2001 -.2005), Philip Dimitrov – future Prime Minis- ter of the UDF government (1992), as well as other politicians unknown at that time. See http://www.omda.bg/bulg/news/ 85 See http://www.omda.bg/bulg/news/party/Ekoglasnost.htm, party/zelena_partiya.htm, visited on 29.09.2011. visited on 28.09.2011. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 33 of this Movement are mainly the campaigns in their terminology) of toxic wastes in Bul- against nuclear power generation, connected garia. During 1990 – 1991, the Political Club with the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant, and issued its own Ecoglasnost newspaper. Politi- at a later stage – with the construction of the cal Club Ecoglasnost returned MPs of its own Belene NPP. Other such campaigns were those to the 37th National Assembly as well, within against the storage of nuclear waste, includ- the framework of the coalition it had set up ing the referendum against the nuclear waste with the BSP and one of the several Bulgar- store in the Novi Khan Municipality, as well the ian Agrarian People’s Unions – that under the Movement’s participation in the search for so- name of “Alexander Stamboliysky”. PC Eco- lution to the solid waste disposal crisis in Sofia glasnost also returned MPs of its own to the in the capacity of member of the Zero Waste 38th National Assembly, this time within the Coalition, and still later on – as part of the Civic framework of the Democratic Left Coalition, Environmental Union (CEU).86 To date, the anti- set up once again together with the BSP.88 nuclear policy is the determining factor in the To conclude the review of the green forma- public manifestations of National Movement tions from that period it would be interesting Ecoglasnost, which over the last few years has to mention the establishment of a party of a been working closely with local civic and re- “centaur” type – the Conservative Environ- gional groups such as CEU, for instance. mental Party,89 which was set up by former In 1990, the so-called “left-wing” faction members of the Green Party who had split of Ecoglasnot under the leadership of its first from it because they disagreed with its “left- Chairman, Peter Slabakov, separated from the wing” bias. The newly established Conserva- remaining factions to set up an organization of tive Environmental Party (CEP) was also an in- its own under the name of Political Club Eco- tegral part of the UDF and has remained in the glasnost. The newly established PC Ecoglas- history of the Green Movement with the fact nost managed to return 17 Members of Parlia- that it was the spring-board, which shot to the ment to the Grand National Assembly elected post of Prime Minister its leader, Philip Dimi- on the party slate of the Union of Democratic trov, who thus headed the first UDF Cabinet. Forces. PC Ecoglasnost determined itself as In fact, the green parties and formations an environmentalist movement,87 which up- from that period seem to have strived to ac- held the major values of humanism, placing a quire the ideological distinction of “green” special emphasis on human rights. Much like organizations, similar to those of the Western its “blue” counterpart, the National Move- European green parties, but they remained ment Ecoglasnost, Political Club Ecoglasnost at the level of imitation and instrumentaliza- stood against the construction of a Nuclear tion, gaining legitimacy – simultaneously in Power Plant, the Gorna Arda Hydroelectric the left-wing and right-wing political environ- Power Cascade, and the storage (or “burial” ment – at the expense of the dissident heritage of Ecoglasnost.90

86 For further detail on CEU see the website of the group http:// grupa-geo.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-action-day.html, visited on 29.09.2011. 88 See http://izbori.bg/parties/POLITIChESKI-KLUB-EKOGLAS- 87 The choice of the formula of “Movement” rather than “Par- NOST.46.html, visited on 03.10.2011. ty” is very indicative. It eloquently speaks about the willingness 89 Since 2000, there have been no entries or other information of the formation to keep on representing the broad supra-party in the political parties registers about the activity of the CEP. formation, which was characteristic for Ecoglasnost in its dis- For further detail see: http://www.omda.bg/bulg/news/party/ sident period. Unlike it, the choice of the label “Political Club” sds.htm, visited on 28.09.2011. rather speaks about the separation of an organization, which 90 A fleeting glance at the history and achievements of these is closing in within itself. This kind of linguistic contradictions, parties can confirm this statement, despite the fact that a con- which are a frequent occurrence among the political forma- siderable part of the new party builders and leaders had never tions of the Bulgarian transition, actually reflects the ideologi- taken part in any conceivable form in the dissident manifesta- cal, programmatic, and organizational confusion dominating tions and events organized by Ecoglasnost at the end of the the political life in the country throughout this period of time. 1880s and the beginning of the 1990s. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 34 Between System Integration and System Change

Some researchers of the Bulgarian political has the status of a youth organizational structure life are of the opinion that, on the whole, the of the Green Party. Bulgarian transition ended at the beginning of Although the Green Party managed to the new millennium. On the other hand, it can win the status of a Bulgarian representative be assumed that “the end of the transition’ in the factions of the Greens at the European was actually marked by Bulgaria’s accession to Parliament, it began losing both members and the European Union on January 1st 2007. Re- supporters. This is the reason why it opted for gardless of the fact which of these two theses enhancing its capacity by “merging” with is accepted, the rise to power in 2001 of the the newly established Green Bulgaria party National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) and its in 2009. After the merger, the party took the government headed by Simeon Saxe-Coburg- name of Green Party - Bulgarian Greens and Gotha, son of the last Bulgarian King Boris III, won the support of 0.51% of Bulgarian vo- imposed the lasting formula and practice of ters at the 2009 MEP election. At the 2009 the liberal-centrist policy and thus put an end national general election, the Green Party - to the dominant political model of the 1990s, Bulgarian Greens made the decision to give which was based on the opposition pitting “the its support to the GERB Party, which – accord- BSP against the UDF”. This event actually sig- ing to its leader, Alexander Karakachanov, – naled the fact that the latter model had been was “the party most interested in redeeming completely exhausted in the national context democracy in the country”, as it was “least of Bulgaria. On the other hand, it was a reflec- connected with the status quo in Bulgaria”.92 tion of the supranational process moving in the In the fall of 2009, the Green Party - Bulgarian direction of an enhanced economic and politi- Greens ran the local elections in a coalition cal neo-liberalization. The new situation proved with Ecoglalsnost.93 conducive both to the entry of new political ac- The Greens Party94 was also registered in tors on the national arena and to their subse- 2007. As already mentioned, it was the suc- quent rapid “devaluation”. cessor of the achievements and values of the The efforts of Bulgaria to accede to the EU “new green wave”. In line with the good tra- within the “post-transition context” have had ditions of the West European green parties, an interesting impact on the development of the three co-chairpersons are heading the top green parties in the country. The first ever elec- leadership of the Greens. This co-leadership tion for Members of the European Parliament combines representatives of three generations (MEP) in Bulgaria came right after its accession of green activists who have been working for back in 2007 and the need for a European le- the Green Movement. The three co-chairs gitimacy at the level of the European Parliament are: Andrei Kovachev from the BALKANS Wild brought about some accelerated “party build- Nature Association, Petko Kovachev, who ing” efforts and the emergence of several new represents the first green generation, and a green parties and formations, such as Green young lady, Dentza Petrova, who represents Bulgaria for instance. The opportunities opened the youngest generation in the Movement. by the EU accession not only at the level of Euro- pean legitimacy, but also in terms of access to the substantial EU environmental funds, led to the in- 92 The quotation is taken from a material published by the “News. Bg” Internet News Agency on June 25th 2009. For ception of other “green” structures, such as the further detail see: http://news.ibox.bg/news/id_993493209; visited on 29.10.2011. Green Alliance, which has been renamed to its 93 For further detail see the article of Lora Phileva published in current official name of Party of the Greens in the Dnevnik Daily, entitled “Three Green Parties United for the 91 Local Elections” at: Bulgaria , and the Green Tigers, which currently http://www.dnevnik.bg/bulgaria/2009/09/27/790480_tri_zeleni_ partii_se_obediniha_za_mestnite_izbori/, visited on 10.10.2010 94 For further detail see: http://www.bulgariangreens.org/, vis- 91 http://www.greensbg.com/, visited on 29.109.2011. ited on 29.09.2011. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 35

The most interesting moment in the elec- the country’s governance (i.e. the moderately tion program of the Greens is the claim that populist GERB Party), the 2009 general elec- the party intends to work for change by vir- tion also saw a green party – the party of tue of a new formula for political governance, the Greens – run its first independent elec- which is based on the party’s determination tion campaign and win 0.52% of the popular to be wide opened to the instruments of di- vote96. The party, however, was not allowed to rect and participatory democracy. What is also run the 2009 partial local elections following notable in this program is the felicitous match a decision issued by the Supreme Administra- between environmental (green”), traditionally tive Court.97 The party was getting ready to liberal, and traditionally conservative values, run again the 2011 local election with a party whereby the environmental protection and slate of its own. The main message of its elec- the sustainable development of both society tion campaign was the need to strengthen the and the state are closely linked to individual mechanisms for direct civic participation in the human rights through a broader access to the governance of the country at both the local decision-making process, but at the same time and national levels.98 This election campaign, these rights are an instrument for staying the though insufficiently successful, marks the lat- national culture and identity of Bulgarians. est stage in the development of the green par- The party determines itself in the follow- ties in Bulgaria for the time being. ing way: “… an association of personalities Electoral analysis is not subject to this who accept the ethical principles of environ- study. Yet, with a view to the development mental protection, the preservation of nature of the green project as a political opportunity and the cultural and historical heritage of the for the future, it would be interesting to cast country, as well as the observance of human a glance at the electoral results of the Greens rights, the parliamentary method of govern- Party from the latest elections.99 As it has being the country by means of an enlarged direct democracy, coupled with the liberal eco- 96 According to the election results published by the Central nomic principles and upholding the identity of Election Commission, the Greens Party won 21,841 votes the Bulgarian nation, culture, and traditions.” or 0.52% of the overall number of voters. http://rezultati. cik2009.bg/results/mandates/rik_00.html 2009. For the capital According to its statute, the party works for city the results are as follows: constituency No. 23 - 4774 votes “protecting the environment and preserving or 2.10%, constituency No. 24 - 3127 votes or 1.65%, and constituency No. 25 - 2513 votes or 1.26% of the overall num- nature in the capacity of a permanent operat- ber of voters. http://rezultati.cik2009.bg/results/proportional/ rik_00.html, visited on 08.07.2011. ing doctrine and priority in the present and 97 For further detail see: future sustainable development of the state http://www.vesti.bg/index.phtml?tid=40&oid=2524633, 95 10.10.2011. See additional information about the 2009 elec- and its civic society”. tions in: 2009 Elections: MEP Elections, General Election, Local The new party managed to attract organi- Elections (2009), A.Krasteva and A.Todorov (ed.), publication of the New Bulgarian University, Sofia. zational support and membership among the 98 At a press-conference on the 28th of September 2011 in the participants in the initiatives of the new wave Bulgarian Telegraph Agency, the party announced the beginning of its election campaign under the motto “Think globally, in the Green Movement and their supporters. act locally – cast your ballot for the Greens!” The candidate for Sofia City Mayor, Andrei Kovachev, outlined his priority, namely: Alongside the big event – a yet another “new” “a secure and legally provided civic participation in the sessions party came into office and took the helm of of the Municipal Council”. The candidate for Bourgas Mayor, Daniela Bozhinova, also laid the stress of her campaign on the direct participation of citizens in the governance, which should 95 The major principles of the GREENS are: “defense and pro- “become a working principle on the local and national levels tection of nature and the environment, assertion and obser- in Bulgaria”. For further detail see the website of the Greens vance of human and civic rights, consolidation, development, Party at: http://www.zelenite.bg/4019, visited on 10.10.2011. and improvement of democracy as a principle meant to govern 99 No analysis of the green parties’ performance at previous both society and the state, social justice as a priority of state elections will be made here mainly because of the reasons governance, sustainable development of the economy and pointed out further on in the study, namely that running elec- the state, high quality, modern, and accessible healthcare and tions before was not any serious attempt to uphold the green education”. http://www.bulgariangreens.org/ustaw, visited on political project, since it was rather a desire to use green mes- 05.10.2011. sages as an instrument for achieving other ends. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 36 Between System Integration and System Change

come traditional for the green parties’ profile, The first type of parties or formations this electoral cross section indicates that it is (such as the Green Party, Green Bulgaria, the mainly the younger, highly educated voters of Green Alliance, the Conservative Environmen- a high professional status who predominantly tal Party, etc.) were set up mainly on the basis live in larger towns (mostly in the capital city) of provisional and opportunistic motives, such that support such green organizations.100 The as running elections, competing for a larger lacking basis for comparison does not make share of the electorate, positioning to the it possible for us to draw any categorical con- purpose of gaining access to elected office, or clusions about the possible future develop- European subsidies, or grants-in-aid, or some ments. Nonetheless, with a view to the typi- other sort of legitimacy (e.g. representation on cal features of the Bulgarian political context the European level, creating a positive image at the time being, namely: unstable govern- among the international “green” commu- ment, receding party membership and a gen- nity), and their major objective is to become eral withdrawal from the “traditional” politi- part of the country’s governance and be as- cal parties of the transition, the rapid rise of signed a certain office. They exist in the shad- new formations and their fast marginalization ows, within the framework of broad and – in on one hand, and on the other – the unstable certain cases – unprincipled coalitions, and electoral behavior of voters and the high de- voice environmental goals and values mainly gree of disapproval concerning the function- on the programmatic level, rather than on the ing of the political and governmental institu- level of political action. Their purpose rather tions among broad strata of Bulgarian soci- is to get integrated within the system. For ety,101 we can still map out some observations this reason, however, this kind of formations and formulate certain hypotheses, without can hardly rely on electoral support, having in any claim to their being exhaustive. These ob- mind the typical traits of the green electorate servations concern the typology of the green described above, and in a broader sense – the parties in this country, while the hypotheses traits of the active electorate, which either re- concern the future of an authentic green proj- fuses to vote, or hesitates, or is disappointed ect subject to implementation within the cur- with the party system altogether. rent political system. The second type of parties or formations First and foremost, the brief review of the has emerged from authentic civic campaigns Bulgarian green formations indicates the ex- and was born as a result of the desire for ac- istence of two types of green parties, which tions aimed at bringing about both social and can be described as follow: political change. In a number of cases, these formations generate public support, which 100 2009 Elections: MEP Elections, General Election, Local Elec- goes well beyond the goals of environmen- tions, op.cit. 101 According to data compiled by the Bulgarian representa- tal protection that in turn inflames additional tion of Transparency International, i.e. the Transparency Inter- supporters of a highly varied ideological and national Association, over the last six years Parliament and the government rank highest in the corruption index surveys and social profile. At present, this type encom- are thus qualified by people as the institutions, which have passes only two formations: Ecoglasnost (in been affected by corruption to the highest extent. For more information see the source: Transparency International, the initial stage of its existence – from the http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/ gcb and the Transparency International Bulgaria Association establishment of the UDF, to which Ecoglas- http://www.transparency-bg.org/?magic=0.3.2.1, visited on nost was a co-founder, up to 1992) and the 29.09.2011. A survey held for the European Values Surveys by the Open Society Institute – Sofia in 2009 for its part indicates new Greens Party. These two formations have that the authorities and the institutions of power enjoy the made a claim for bringing about a system lowest confidence rating among Bulgarian citizens in comparison with all other EU member countries. For more information change not only on the programmatic and see the source: ideological levels, but on the level of organi- http://www.opendata.bg/opendata.php?q=44&s=4&c=36&i= 530&t=2&sel=2, visited on 28.09.2011. zational and political action as well. Although The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 37 they also strive to make it to the corridors of an genuine liberal-democratic project, could power, this is not their only trait and aspira- attract to the green project citizens who are tion. With a view to the analyses outlined likely to profess views and attitudes with a above, under certain circumstances, this type libertarian bias. The enhanced anti-globalist of parties does have chances to succeed. messages circulating among the young gen- Last but not least, the peculiarities of to- eration in the green movement are another day’s Bulgarian political system create actual proof to the plausibility of such a hypothesis. prerequisites for an independent, stand-alone A yet another consideration to this effect and authentic green party to enter the coun- is the traditional attachment of certain strata try’s governance.102 On one hand, a brief in Bulgarian society to the agrarian political glance at the electoral profile of the Greens project. Over the last few years, this attach- Party outlined above indicates a potential for ment was manifested in a number of cam- support on the part of the “post-materialisti- paigns in defense of Bulgarian agriculture and cally” minded voters. On the other hand, the food safety. Given the strongly marginalized ideological vacuum and the political mimicry position of the existing agrarian parties, the of parties have begun to repel the electorates possibility for these people to be attracted in of the “traditional” parties increasingly more the capacity of a “green” electorate is a plau- often. This pushes voters in the direction of sible assumption. The green parties, however, supporting “new” and frequently “exotic”, must first assert themselves in the public envi- ideologically failed, and inconsistent political ronment, by proving themselves to be genu- formations, which rapidly come to disillusion ine fighters against the negative aspects of their new-found supporters. the system and defenders of public interest. The increasingly more tangible difficul- During the past several years, all green ties experienced by the BSP in its efforts to formations make claims on representing “the follow a political conduct, which is natural authentic Bulgarian green project” ,103 despite for a genuine left-wing party elected to the the significant differences among them. At country’s governance, and the marginaliza- the same time, individually, they also make tion of the right-wing parties, coupled with claims on the achievements of the new wave the growing discontent with the withdrawal in the Green Movement, much like the dis- of the state from the social sector and the sident formations before them did, when, increasingly louder demands for introduc- during much of the 1990s, they were argu- ing stricter regulations on the market actors ing about the heritage of Ecoglasnost. This by the state, opens up an opportunity for an conduct cannot possibly be crowned with electoral breakthrough to be accomplished any serious political results, nor can it make by a green party of a socially responsible pro- the green political entities more recognizable, file, which upholds the rule of law and the unless they launch specific and targeted ac- inherent public interest. At the same time, the tivities as a proof to the fact that they uphold huge decline of confidence in the liberal-cen- environmental principles and that their inten- trist formations, such as NSMP, the traditional tion is to impose these principles along all the disapproval of the MRF, and the absence of stages of the political process.

102 Political scientist Milen Lyubenov wrote the following in his 103 In this connection see the letter to the Committee of the article “Parties on the Verge”: “Parties will face the challenge European Green Party entitled “Information for the EGP on the of having to catch up with the development of Bulgarian so- 2009 MEP and General Election in Bulgaria”, signed by the ciety, which – for its part – may cause some of them to drop then leader of “Green Party – the Bulgarian Greens, A. Kara- out at the expense of new emerging parties. This will guaran- kachanov, on the website of the party: tee the openness of the governmental formula”. Lyubenov, M. http://www.greenparty.bg/index.php?optiAon=com_ (2010), “Parties on the Verge”, in: Democracy in Bulgaria in the content&view=article&id=8578%3A-2009&catid=78%3A2010- 21st Century, Collection, Veliko Turnovo. 10-06-07-12-41&Itemid=137&lang=bg, visited on 10.10.2011 The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 38 Between System Integration and System Change

There is, of course, a yet another scenario, phenomena, which have emerged at the time though not as optimistic as the previous one. of the country’s transition to democracy and The insufficient political and governmental market economy and have deepened in the experience of a young green party, combined post-transition situation. It is in this sense that with the specificity of the post-totalitarian the green campaigns have brought to the political culture of Bulgarian voters, which fore the most essential and painful problems pushes them to lend hasty support to new of Bulgarian society, thus turning into a sort political actors whom they perceive as “sav- of a public vent of public discontent. iors”, could lead to the short-term success This first aspect of the Green Movement of such a young green party, followed by as is an integral part of a broader logic of con- hasty a withdrawal of voters’ confidence. The testing the status quo, where other actors risks connected with the eventual “melting claim to play as well. This aspect outlines an down” or dissolving of any authentic young important characteristic trait, namely: the civic green party in result of the need for it to enter campaigns have the capacity not only to op- into coalitions and make recourse to compro- pose the practices of the status quo, but also mises with the status quo, could bring about reveal its moral bankruptcy. The participants the discreditation of the stance, which such a in the civic campaigns perceive themselves as party upholds as a defender of civic interests a moral corrective, which has risen against the and the public good. irresponsibility of the government, the politi- It seems that the way to establishing an cal corruption, the chameleon-like change- environmental project for public and political ability and hypocrisy of the parties. In this development goes through the lasting inte- sense, the Green Movement marks the return gration of green priorities into the policy of to the “roots” planted by the dissident groups the government, and this is a task, which re- at the time of totalitarianism.. Besides, in the quires the commitment of all political parties last stage of its development over the last five in the country’s governance. For the time be- to six years, the Movement has focused the ing, the Bulgarian political system and gover- public attention on the most essential political nance are far from such an objective, both be- problem for modern Bulgarian society, name- cause of the lack of political will and the obvi- ly: the rule of law and the equality of all Bul- ous backwardness of the governing political garian citizens before the law as a guarantee elites as far as their becoming aware of this for their freedom. need is concerned. This is the reason why, for On the other hand, the Green Movement a yet another time, it is mainly the civic society reveals a second aspect, namely: both its embodied in the Green Movement that must genuine political achievements and the pub- assume the role of a catalyst to these process- lic reactions the Movement provokes indicate es, while the hopes for a “breakthrough” of that the cause of environmental protection re- green ideas in the current Establishment will mains one of the few public causes that unite continue to be connected with the synergy the Bulgarian public space. The success of the between the Green Movement and an au- campaigns is due to a large extent to the fact thentic green party. that the public opinion recognizes them as acts staying the public interest, which thus far has CONCLUSION been ignored both by the political and economic actors in the governance of the country. The development of the Green Movement The Green Movement, however, has a yet in Bulgaria over the past several years repre- another and very significant third aspect, sents the cumulative response to a number of namely: it gives expression to deep cultural pre- social, economic, and political processes and dispositions inherent in the Bulgarian nation. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: Between System Integration and System Change 39

The protection and preservation of nature and nomy, and for the indivisibility of ethical and the state of the environment are emblematic esthetical criteria. not only in the capacity of a response to ex- In terms of politics, the same values and isting structural, political, and socio-economic culture are expressed as a higher level of civic problems; they are the expression of character- awareness and critical attitude, as mistrust istic features of Bulgarian culture as well. The and lack of respect for the traditional political attachment to nature as national wealth and institutions and forms of political representa- the sense of pride it generates are an impor- tion, and also as a direct civic action and an tant factor for civic mobilization and support. enhanced desire and capability for participa- Nature as a symbol of the Fatherland was one tion in the political process, frequently taking of the leitmotifs of the Bulgarian intellectual, the form of openly manifested participation revolutionary, and enlightened elite during the in various informal, autonomous, and “self- epoch of the National Revival in the 18th cen- generated” civic initiatives. tury. It is one of the marks of national identity The social and economic marginalization in a period when national independence was of the middle class and its purely “physical” absent. The hymn of Bulgaria, entitled “Proud reduction in numeric terms over the last quar- Stara Planina” (the Bulgarian name for the Bal- ter of a century create problems for the sus- kan range), is a yet another proof to this ef- tainability of the trend for more visible public fect. In a sense, nature is a genetic part of the expression of post-materialist values and cul- Bulgarian “national identification code”. At a ture. This situation, however, can be recom- time when the sympathies for populist and na- pensed by raising support among the “ma- tionalist project are prevailing among the ac- terialistically” minded strata of the popula- tive voters, this tendency could well fascinate tion. The social base of support for the Green people and take some of this nationalist feel- Movement over the last several years and for ing to quite a different direction. the Greens Party in particular, which emerged Last but not least, the Green Movement from the ranks of this Movement precisely, is acts as a catalyst to processes, which combine a living proof to this effect. the national peculiarities of the situation in In conclusion, the direction taken towards the post-transition period with supranational the consolidation of the Green Movement processes and trends. The Movement mani- over the past six years and its attempts for an fests a trend focused on the public expression institutionalized participation in the political of post-materialist values and culture among life of the country, expressed in the formula certain strata of the middle class, which have “Green Party plus Green Movement”, have their own “environmental”, cultural, and po- made a claim for both a genuine integrations litical dimensions dating back to the end of within the political system and an attempt for the country’s totalitarian period. a system change simultaneously “from the In terms of culture, these values and cul- outside” and “from within”. All these trends ture are expressed in a certain preference for create prerequisites and opportunities for the quality of life, which is inseparable from raising sufficient support for the implementa- the quality of the environment, as well as a tion of an authentic green political project in preference for personal and collective auto- Bulgaria in the foreseeable future. The Green Movement and the Green Parties in Bulgaria: 40 Between System Integration and System Change

About the author:

Radosveta Krastanova is an assistant professor is co-author and editor (together with Peter at the New Bulgarian University. She teaches Kanev) of the collection entitled “A Place for environmental policy and sustainable devel- the Future. Year One.”, Sofia, Sofia Civic As- opment to bachelor and master program stu- sociation – “Shtastlivetza”, 2009. It contains dents at the Departments of Political Science articles and studies of different researchers, and Economics and Business Administration. experts, journalists, and students on topical Since 2008, she has been working on her subjects connected with ecology, environ- doctoral thesis concerning civic participation mentalism, sustainable development, and in the Green Movement in Bulgaria within the civic participation. framework of a joint doctoral program be- At the same time, the author is Chairperson tween the New Bulgarian University and the of the Sofia Civic Association – “Shtastlivet- University of Burgundy, France. She special- za”, a member of the civic coalition set up ized at the University of Nottingham in the for the resolution of the solid waste disposal United Kingdom (2008), and at the University crisis in Sofia (2005 - 2006), and an active of Burgundy (2006, 2011). member of the National Environmental Co- She is member of the research team with alition “For Nature in Bulgaria to Stay” from the French House of the Humanities (Maison its inception in 2006 to the present day. Over des sciences de l’Homme) in the town of Di- the last three years, this Association has been jon, which studies the behavior and attitudes establishing contacts and organizing interac- of citizens to the environmental problems and tion events among various civic society actors policies. She has a number of publications (such as the academic community, the NGO in Bulgarian and French on the “new green sector, the business community, and the lo- wave” in Bulgaria, on the motivation under- cal authorities), and has also been promoting lying the civic participation in environmental the introduction of sustainable development protection, and the new forms of political as both an educational discipline and practice mobilization in modern democracies. She on the level of university education. The development and distinctiveness of the Green Movement and the green parties in Bulgaria reflect the intricate logic of the transformations, which have been taking place in Bulgarian society over the past quarter of a century. The actors of the Green Movement have responded to these processes both in the direction of system integration and – more frequently – in the direction of contesting and opposing the system, whereby in their most productive periods they have even contributed to system change. Much like the green parties in the West, the Bulgarian environmental movement is the result of a social evolution promoted by a middle class that has endorsed a new type of modern culture. This middle class, however, has emerged and consolidated at a different historical time and in quite a different setting. This is the reason why it mirrors peculiarities that are common for the civic movements in the countries of the former socialist system, but at the same time it manifests specific traits typical for the “Bulgarian model” of transition. Environmentalism is one of the few causes capable of generating wide public support in Bulgarian society on an ongoing basis. During the three stages of its evolution (the “dissident” period from the end of the 1980s, the “NGO” period during the 1990s, and the “new green wave” of the first decade of the 21st century), the Movement has been expressing public discontent, has defended public interest against private interests clad in power, and has been a unifying factor of the broad moral opposition against the practices of the political status quo. The Green Movement has also been manifesting the national attachment to Nature, the deep cultural roots of which span over centuries. Despite its achievements, the Green Movement has failed to embed an autonomous and influential green party of its own in the institutions of power. The Movement – Party relationships are problematic. What has gained the upper hand is the logic that the Green Movement should go without a party and that the green parties should be outside the Green Movement. The reason why is that parties take environmentalism on board to the purpose of coming to power but afterwards they rapidly get marginalized. The willpower for direct civic participation in the decision-making processes over the last years has marked a new stage in the development of the Green Movement. After 2005, the consolidation of the environmentalist community into a civic coalition named “For Nature in Bulgaria to Stay” and the establishment of a new green formation determined to represent an authentic environmental party (the Greens), have set up prerequisites for launching an autonomous environmental project in Bulgaria. The volatility of the party system and the voter disappointment with the parties of the status quo now have opened opportunities for new political actors to emerge. The integration of the environmental project goes through the lasting inclusion of the green priorities on the agendas of all political parties and in the country’s policy at large. So far, the Bulgarian political system is far from envisaging an objective like this. The role of a catalyst to these processes once again falls on the shoulders of civic society embodied by the Green Movement, whereas the hopes for a “green breakthrough” in the system will continue to be linked to the synergy between this Movement and an authentic Green Party. February 2012