In 2014 - the year of elections for European Parliament, the EU marks ten years since its first enlargement towards South East Europe. Ten years ago, ten European countries joined the EU during the first wave of enlargement and in 2007 another two countries - Bulgaria and Romania entered the Union during the second enlargement wave. On the eve of the official start of the pre-election campaign for the European elections, in Bulgaria on April 25, Sofia hosts a series of interesting events related to this topic. Two public lectures of French experts regarding the democratic forms of civil participation and the post-modern country are among them. An international conference entitled “Europe and its new citizens: from mobilization to elections” is also to be held in Sofia.

The latter happens for a reason - Sofia is the city with biggest contribution to the active participation of the Bulgarian citizens in various initiatives. The candidature of the city to become European Capital of Culture in 2019 is one of them, said Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova. She is expecting from the forthcoming forum to send clear messages to people aimed at boosting the confidence in European institutions and stronger solidarity among the so-called New Citizens (the citizens of the twelve member states which joined the EU since 2004 during the two enlargement waves).

“The Bulgarian citizens trust the EU and the European institutions, because they feel and see the European solidarity over the past years”, Yordanka Fandakova explains. “They feel the financial effect through the money Bulgaria receives from the cohesion and the structural funds. On the other hand, Bulgaria’s membership in the EU also means freedom, democracy and pluralism. That is why I am deeply worried that the Bulgarian institutions have been smeared over the recent months. The citizens are getting repulsed from politics and they are about to loose all faith in it. These processes are very dangerous for Bulgarian democracy. I believe that the efforts of all democratic institutions and civil structures, especially the people from the academic community, will help us keep our faith and more people will start contributing to the development of the country and the EU as a whole.”

The European citizens are the hottest topic regarding the European enlargement, because the initial structure of the EU envisaged stronger representation of the states and less representation of their citizens, comments for Radio Bulgaria President Plevneliev’s advisor Rumiana Kolarova. She maintains that the members of the European Parliament are elected directly by the people. However, the EP resembles the Presidential institution in certain European countries, rather than a National Assembly. It is of high prestige but has limited power. However, the role of the citizens in the decision-making process at the European Parliament and the other European institutions is gradually increasing, Mrs Kolarova contends. In her view, the New Citizens (the people from the new member states) are not active enough. For example only 17-19% of the Slovenian and the Slovakian citizens cast their vote during the previous elections for European Parliament. The attitude toward the new citizens is challenging in both the old and the new member states. It measures the democratic adjustments of the people living in the old EU countries, the loyalty of their political parties to the fundamental democratic values and the fidelity of their governments towards the principles of solidarity and equality, Rumiana Kolarova specified.

“People should keep up their loyalty to democratic values, even when coming across an unfamiliar group of people demonstrating a different cultural stereotype and behavior. This is all about tolerance, the right to equality and the right to guarantee your freedom without limiting the freedom of other people.”

Currently a civil initiative for legislative amendments entitled European Citizens’ Initiative is on the way. It will be successful if citizens from at least seven member states collect 1 million signatures. However, the initiative is still in its initial phase, says Rumiana Kolarova.

“We should look for a parallel between this initiative and the forms of direct democracy which exist in Bulgaria”, Kolarova goes on to say. “For instance, one good thing is that a component which corresponds to the spirit of the European Citizens’ Initiative was introduced in the Referendum Act in this country. However, we are still far from the moment when we can consider the legislative initiatives of certain civil associations in the EU. This link is much shorter in the national democracies. The lawmakers - a group of MPs initiate repeatedly draft bills as a result of the civil initiative, energy and pressure.”

English version: Kostadin Atanasov