Czech Ambassador: Bulgaria's Post-Communist Transition Not Over

Bulgaria's post-communist transition has not been completed yet, according to Czech Republic Ambassador in Sofia, Martin Klepetko.

In an interview for Novinite.com marking the end of the Czech Presidency of the EU, Klepetko said that much of Bulgaria's current grave issues stemmed from that fact that some of its institutions were unreformed, inefficient, and functioning as if in the old socialist system.

Klepetko pointed to the flawed privatization and the opportunities to profit by breaking the embargo against the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s as major factors that complicated Bulgaria's post-communist transition in contrast to the similar process in the Czech Republic.

According to the Czech Ambassador, a number of the "big players" in today's Bulgaria became rich through criminal activities in the early years of the transition but no one today would inspect and prove that.

Klepetko stressed the fact that the closing of Bulgaria's nuclear reactors at Kozloduy was probably unnecessary but it was already an accomplished fact, and any talks by Bulgarian politicians about their potential restarting was probably a combination of populism and incompetence.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!