SOFIOM and Bulgaria

15 h 21 min in Bulletin by Webmaster

Presented by:

Miss Iliana BORISSOVA

2, Popova Shapka Street

Input. B, and. 7, Apt. 32

1505 Sofia, Bulgaria.

Tel: ++ 359. (0) 2.843.55.20

Phone for contact in Paris: 06.22.17.75.72

E-mail: iliana.borisova@mail.com

Miss Iliana Borissova, 33, holds an MBA from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées and also a law degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has extensive professional experience in the banking sector as well as an independent consultant in various sectors, enabling her to successfully manage the mission entrusted by SOFIOM. Since her studies in European law, she has attached great importance to economic, scientific, political and technological cooperation between Bulgaria and Europe.

BULGARIA

General informations

Located in the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe, Bulgaria has an area of ​​110,993 square kilometers, or about 1 / 5th of that of France. To the north of the country are Romania, to the south Greece and Turkey, to the west Serbia and Macedonia, and to the east the coast of the Black Sea.

The Communist enterprise

Like the other countries of the East, Bulgaria built its industry on the model of the Soviet enterprise. Interdependent among themselves, state-owned enterprises supplied each other with raw materials, energy, services, manpower, finished products, capital, and worked in relation to plans fixed in advance. The planned system was oriented towards production, without consideration for economic rationality or for the satisfaction of the recipients of the goods produced.

In the factories, the labor force quickly became disinterested in the objectives of production. The old system guaranteed everyone a job and offered no tangible reward when the job was done right. In addition, hard work and involvement were viewed suspiciously by both employers and colleagues.

The good student of the Balkans

In the Balkan “powder magazine”, Bulgaria is the only country to have avoided ethnic conflicts. President Stoyanov and the government of Ivan Kostov succeeded in maintaining good relations with both Russia and the West without compromising national interests. Bulgaria has rigorously observed the embargoes against Iraq and the former Yugoslavia, although these have been detrimental.

The objective of accession to the European Union

Bulgaria has a geostrategic position at the crossroads of Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the CIS. It is also a major transit point for oil and gas pipelines.

The country has been a member of the WTO since 1996. Bulgaria joined the Free Trade Area (CEFTA) on 1 January 1999, which also includes Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Hungary (100 million consumers). It has also signed a bilateral free trade agreement with Turkey and belongs to a grouping around the Black Sea.

Bulgaria has completed the first four chapters (education and training, science and research, common foreign and security policy, SMEs) of the acquis communautaire required for accession to the EU and is in the process of completing two External Relations and Cultural and Audiovisual Policy). The objective is to integrate the EU in 2007.

SOFIOM in Bulgaria

As part of the SOFIOM redeployment project, Bulgaria, one of the CEECs of Eastern Europe, is designated as a real project that is situated on an international issue: the situation of La Francophonie in the world.

Bulgaria and La Francophonie is not a recent history: since 1987, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has supported the COPERNIC program, which allows 50 engineers and economists from 15 CEECs to follow a management cycle in Paris in partnership with major French companies ( DANONE, RENAULT, BOUYGUES, Carrefour etc.).

Since its creation in 1989, the ENPC MBA has received applications worthy of Grandes Ecoles from Bulgaria and other countries of Eastern Europe.

In 2004, it was decided to promote science, engineering and technology by relying on SOFIOM and old networks.

Since April 2004, what have we done in Bulgaria?

An in-depth relationship with His Excellency Jean-Marie Daillet, former ambassador of France in Bulgaria, whom the President of SOFIOM met on numerous occasions.
A mission in Bulgaria looking for partners.
The privileged relationship with Mr Vassil Vassilev President of the Association of Employers in Bulgaria.
The presence of Iliana Borissova at the SOFIOM Steering Committee of 21 October 2004, which reports on her work and results.
CONCLUSION

The delegate of Bulgaria is committed to developing academic and B2B relations between France and Bulgaria.

During his official visit to France Prime Minister of Bulgaria Mr. Simeon Saxe-Coburg (non-statutory King of Bulgaria) met Mr. Baudouin Prot Chief Executive Officer of BNP Paribas, as well as representatives of Thales and EADS. These companies want to work on projects in the sphere of energy and defense and the SOFIOM can be the bridge that will facilitate this work.

Perestroika

The communist countries wanted to surpass the capitalist countries economically but failed. By the mid-1970s, hope in communist society had disappeared in Bulgaria. Already the myths about Western superiority were common: for example, it was said that the Bulgarian engineers were incapable of operating the sophisticated Western machinery without the assistance of foreign specialists. The launch of the Perestroika in the USSR, some ten years later, gave rise to new hopes, that of catching up with a prosperous West by copying its success.

Inspired by Soviet perestroika (restructuring), the process of Bulgarian democratization has nevertheless encountered a surge of Bulgarian nationalist fever, making the problem of the Turkish minority appear to be one of the main dangers in the political transition to Bulgaria. ‘market economy. The culmination of the crackdown was reached during the brutal “bulgarization campaign” of the winter of 1984-1985. Thus, not only Turkish toponyms were prohibited, but also the surnames of citizens of Turkish origin. This means that the Turks were forced to adopt Bulgarian patronyms (with the Cyrillic alphabet), even on tombstones; It was necessary to change the Turkish names in the cemeteries.

Communist Bulgaria collapsed with the collapse of communist regimes in the USSR and in Eastern Europe. Todor Jivkov was dismissed on 10 November 1989 and replaced by Petar Mladenov. In 1990, free elections in 1990 reintroduced political pluralism and freedom of expression.

From difficult beginnings

While a still dispersed opposition movement, based on the defense of human rights and nature, is beginning to emerge, a “palace revolution” led by some of its ministers forces Todor Jivkov Who had been in power for 35 years, to resign on 10 November 1989. He was replaced by Mr Mladenov. The PC renounces the total power granted to it by the Communist Constitution and changes its name to the Socialist Party (PSB). The opposition is organized into a coalition of non-communist parties under the name Union of Democratic Forces (UFD). A National Assembly, legislative and constituent, is freely elected in June.

President Jeliou Jelev succeeds Mr Mladenov on 1 August 1990. Under his presidency, the Turkish language is reintroduced into schools, a new constitution fixing a parliamentary regime is adopted by Parliament (9 July 1991). In January 1992, President Jelev was re-elected by universal suffrage, but the transition to the market economy was not without difficulty and accompanied by strong corruption. This difficult transition puts more than half of the population into poverty.

The phagocycling of power through the “national network”

In a hidden way, three interest groups, forming the “national network”, quickly invested power in Bulgaria: “the red bourgeoisie” (the communist bureaucracy), the “old bourgeoisie” Economic reigns until the Second World War) and the former members of the State Security, assisted by the mafia.

Thanks to its monopoly on economic information and to its important commercial and political contacts, the Communist nomenklatura was able to remain in place. The laws of lustration, aimed at punishing the former communists, were delayed for a long time and were never followed by any real effect.

The representatives of the “repressed by the actions of the people” (victims of nationalizations, trials of the People’s Court and various confiscations of property) had legitimacy for them, but no experience or skills to regain their social position. They had to deal with the former communist Nomenklatura and with the former representatives of the secret services.

In the early years of the transition, intellectuals occupied important political positions: ministers, deputies, ambassadors … Since they were unable to establish a liberal system, they were ousted by former members of the special services, Which constituted a new force holding political power.

Without consideration for the development of Bulgaria, these groups have sought to enrich themselves by all means. The real will for economic reform and transparency came only towards the end of Jan Videnov’s government in autumn 1996.

After years of difficulty the Bulgarian people once again have hopes. It wants to develop and become a partner worthy of the EU.