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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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EU and new populism
Case of SlovakiaSlovakia is a former communist country in Central Europe that split from Czechoslovak federation in 1993. Contrary to most expectations in the West during the first five years of independence it tolerated a homegrown populist regime, akin to what we witnessed in Serbia but without bloody wars of secession, after all Slovakia unlike Serbia was just too weak to threaten anyone except the regime's political opposition and its own minorities. The country is traditionally home of a significant Hungarian ethnic minority. Speaking about political opposition, it brought down, with the direct and indirect aid of the European Union (EU) the populist regime in 1998. Up to now the country has been named as one of the best success stories in post-communist political and economic development.1998 and 2006 may not look like two very distant dates in our records, but for the EU they represent two completely different ages; Euro-optimism still largely dominating the discourse of 1998; Euro-pessimism largely dominating political discourse in 2006. 1998 was a time when the heroes still promoted European common identity, economic growth, market liberalization, and openness; 2006 is a time when the modern-day heroes speak about 'economic patriotism', about 'protecting national identity', about imposing new barriers, about dreadful 'Polish plumber' and other threats for jobs and social welfare. EU 'heroes' in Slovakia in 1998 therefore had to be quite different from the heroes that came to power in 2006. The government between 1998 and 2006 was good at promoting EU enlargement, but at a certain cost. The cost was that thousands of jobs moved from West to Slovakia. After all you can't be a market liberal and not take advantage of the huge labor costs disparities between the two parts of the continent. Those who favor market liberalization cannot renounce their own belief system. The only way to change their policy is to change the politicians. This is precisely what happened in Slovakia during the last election, seemingly under loud EU applause.
The other name of populismThe political impulses and suggestions coming from Brussels are quite too powerful to be ignored among the new EU members, especially by those hoping to get substantial economic assistance from Brussels. The current EU impulses downgrade the influence of market liberals and upgrade the influence of anti-market populists. A powerful and cold western wind is felt across Eastern Europe. National populism isn't anymore a taboo topic making whole nations feeling ashamed to speak of. It has become instead a mainstream politics. The reason for this isn't, as many say, the loss of EU leverage over the new members once they joined the Union. On the contrary, it seems the real reason for this very dangerous trend is the current EU old states' strategy emphasizing on national mobilization instead of common efforts.In the name of democracy, understood narrowly as national democracy, the whole European project seems to be already derailed for good. Few really see that only a handful of European countries can really oppose national democracy to European democratic project because they really have a democratic past to offer as an alternative. Most European countries, including almost all post-communist countries, have no such glorious democratic past, for them the real alternative to the European democracy isn't a national democracy but a national un-democracy. Of course un-democracy shouldn't be always associated with a full-blown fascism; it may take milder forms as ethnic discrimination.
Roads aheadSlovakia has replaced its market liberals again with xenophobic nationalists. Afraid for the jobs fleeing eastward, the EU has blessed a coalition that seems offering nothing else but ethnic hatreds, promoting nothing else but psychology of a besieged fortress, and offering its people nothing else but national identity understood very narrowly as blood connection. Generally speaking, feeling the blessing or at least the noninterference from above and from far away, forces of past in Central Europe are ready again to test their 'final solutions' against minorities. They already attack their victims and the voices of protest are surprisingly weak given the black European record on this topic up to the World War II including.A brief 'window of opportunity' for building a European identity and European democracy, a system that will depend upon the sovereignty of European people bypassing the national governments has been unfortunately missed. Without such ennobling project most European nations have no other options on the table than returning to the past. For most of them the past offers only countless examples of ethnic hatreds, border disputes, constant mutual suspicion and poisoned international relations. We all have seen this movie. Not once but several times. It's time to offer all Europeans something better. And this includes making some economic and political sacrifices.
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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Slovakia.
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