SOFIA: Bulgarians, who gave up communism in 1989, feel swindled by
capitalism and remain one of the poorest European Union candidate countries,
despite an improvement in their average living standards.
"Bulgarians
remember a time not so long ago when they could rely on their health and
education systems, and when their holidays were guaranteed," said political
analyst Kolio Kolev, of the Mediana institute in Sofia.
"Thirteen years
after the fall of communism this is no longer the case, and Bulgarians have
become angry, radical and unhappy with their lot," he added.
In a recent
study by the US Pew Research Center, less than eight per cent of Bulgarians said
they were content with their lot - the lowest rate in continental Europe and
equivalent to the rate in Tanzania, Africa's most discontented country.
The study was based on 38,000 individual interviews taken in 44
countries across all five continents.
"The eight per cent who are
satisfied correspond to the percentage of Bulgarians who are well-off," said
political analyst Miroslava Yanova. "However, the causes of this general
discontent are not only economic - Bulgarian society has become demoralised,"
she said.
Ivan Krastev, director of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in
Sofia, said that "according to objective criteria - social status, income,
consumption - nearly 20 per cent of Bulgarians have benefited from the
transition to a market economy."
"However, less than six per cent see
themselves as winners because, in the eyes of the general public, you cannot
succeed by honest means," he added.
"The number of people who have
successfully moved into the market economy - who go on holiday, buy furniture,
apartments and new cars - has doubled since 1999," said Kolev.
"Just
like in the west, qualified people who speak English and know how to use a
computer succeed. The others, old or sick people or gypsies, suffer," he added.
According to Jivko Georgiev of the Gallup institute, less than five per
cent of Bulgarians have seen their standard of living improve since the fall of
communism, while 68 per cent have dropped down the social scale,
Psychiatrist Ruslan Terziyski, quoted in the daily 24 Hours, has seen an
"increase in aggression" in Bulgarian society. He blames a string of
extraordinarily cruel murders "not so much on poverty, but on the murderers'
sudden loss of social status".
According to the Bulgarian Statistical
Institute, 40 per cent of the country's population lives on a monthly income of
less than 100 leva (49 euros). A recent report by German bank Deutschebank has
forecast that in 2003 Bulgaria's gross domestic product (GDP) will only reach 33
per cent of the EU average.
"Nearly 40 per cent of children born after
1989 have never been on holiday. One in five children has rotten teeth because
his parents cannot afford to pay the dentist. The nation's quality of life is
collapsing," said Kolev.
Ilia Iliev, an ethnological scientist at Sofia
University, says that Bulgaria's poverty-hit families have adopted "a new
strategy. People are depriving themselves to give their children a good
education and a good standard of living so that they do not inherit their
parents' poverty.
"Bulgarians are not optimistic for their country, but
they are optimistic for their children," he said.
A recent report by
UNICEF said that 33 per cent of Bulgarian children and adolescents want to live
abroad, and that 78 per cent want a higher standard of living.-AFP
http://www.dawn.com/2002/12/21/int14.htm
Title: Message
Bulgarians
regret giving up communism
By Vessela Sergueva
