In the weeks before the Cabinet changes announced on April 22, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev replied to a question about who would succeed Roumen Petkov as Interior Minister by joking that the new minister would look like Alain Delon.
It may seem trite to mention that Mihail Mikov, the old party lieutenant lifted from his place at the head of the Bulgarian Socialist Party platoon in Parliament to be deployed to lead the charge against organised crime and corruption, in no way resembles the French film icon. Mikov is, at least, the political colour that matches Stanishev’s word play on the resemblance of Delon’s first name to a Russian word for “red”, but it may fairly be surmised that the public and most interested observers were hoping for an appointment based on skill and drive rather than political loyalty.
More disturbingly, the changes, involving the replacement of four ministers and the appointment of a deputy prime minister to oversee the use of European funds, come across as half-measures, cramped by partisan political considerations. There is, further, the matter of how the changes came about, apparently more by accident than design, however much speculation there has been for months about changes to the executive.
Two of the most significant issues faced by Bulgaria are, first, organised crime and corruption, and second, inadequacy in dealing with European funds. Among the changes announced, the response has been to come up with someone to replace Petkov, and to create the post of deputy prime minister responsible for EU funds.
As to the first, it is scant surprise that reaction from the media and domestic opposition political parties has been to be underwhelmed. Reports have suggested that the job of interior minister was one that no one wanted, and that Mikov more or less had to be conscripted into the post. Whatever skills he may have as a party boss in the legislature, it remains to be seen whether he could prove to be the driving force needed to clean out and clean up law enforcement in Bulgaria. Given the depth of the problem, it would be no wonder if indeed no one wanted the job, given the career liability that it could very well prove to be. While the new appointment was made under circumstances forced by the resignation of Petkov, it may not prove enough to stave off what is likely to be a harsh judgment on Bulgaria’s crime-fighting performance when the next European Commission report on the subject comes out in June.
As to the post of deputy minister in charge of European funds, it is encouraging to hear that Meglena Plugchieva has a strong personality, because this will be one of the basic minimum requirements for the person occupying the new job to succeed. However, many questions remain unresolved, such as whether the responsibilities and rights of the new post start and stop in relation to those of the finance minister. Further, for the incumbent of the new post to succeed, she will have to have not only powers to persuasion but also the clout to discipline and sanction under-performing ministerial colleagues and departments. Without genuine power, the post could prove as ineffectual as that held by the deputy prime minister in charge of disaster management, a post with which the new deputy prime minister’s job could be said to have unsettling parallels, at least in the name alone.
Depending on further announcements on Cabinet restructuring, and depending on the performance in the coming months of the two new holders of these strategically important posts, it is not impossible that there could be reason for some applause. But for the time being, the more likely scenario is that the Cabinet changes will go down as an episode in what is likely to be a long and difficult campaign ahead of the 2009 elections.
