Casino...

The story about SDS - Blue coalition continues... I was away for a weekend trip to Paris. Last thing I read before i left was that SDS had expelled Plamen Jorukov because of his try to register SDS alone outside the blue coalition.
On the plane back i read in Standart that the eletoral authorities had registered Jurokov's SDS, and not the blue alliance. But Jurokov was not a member any more, right?
Anyway, today I read in dnes.bg that the administrative court, the highest legal instance have changed the decision and registered the blue alliance for the elections.

The European elections this is. I guess Bruxelles should rejoice over this proven stong interest in the European elections, as interest is waining elsewhere. The parliament has published a site with key issues in the elections, in order for people to know what they vote about. The list is more than vague with points like How should our food be grown? and How should we help balance family and career?.

The first question is no doubt relevant, but... do you sincerely believe that a parliament whith green parties had 51 % majority could turn central European industrial farms into small scale family farms, adopting a regional self sufficience? I don't think so. What concrete politice measures are we actually supposed to discuss?

I also doubt that the European Parliament is the right instance to help me balance career and family. I might idealise the traditional social democratic societies at times, but for sure there should also the limits for the state.

The PR campaign for the EU elections has also been critizised in Financial Times' Brussels Blog and a view from the outfield blog. The latter adds literary beauty to the insights of the former.

The socialist youth launches plan for '09

The socialist youth have launched a campaign called PlanBG09. A .pdf presentation can be downloaded here. There is not much to say about this, in February we can expect all parties to come out with their campaigns ahead of the elections, and most likely they will all focus on the same topic as PlanBG09: How to take Bulgaria through the global financial crisis.

PlanBG09 gives a quite rosy picture of the macroeconomical situation, qouting that the enomployment rates have been halved since 2005, the Bulgarian budget surplus and stable banks. I suspect that smoeone would describe the state of the nation in otehr words, but I am not competent to go into details here.

What I do find interesting is the prioritations for 2009, that are listed:

1. A state against the mafia and corruption (Държавата срещу мутрите и корупцията)
2. Active healthcare and social policy (Активна здравна и социална защита)
3. Investments in education, science and culture (Инвестиции в образование, наука и култура)
4. Modern roads and infrastructure (Модерни пътища и инфраструктура)
5. Support for the Bulgarian agricultural sector (Подкрепа за българското земеделие)
6. More support for the nature (Повече защита за природата)

Sounds familiar? It seems like the socialist youth are spotting the same problems as the protesters. Or... that they try to look like the protesters.

What might suggest the second conclusion is that the documents try to please mothers, enviromentalists, students and farmers... the same groups that were protesting.

It seems that corruption, the role of the state and the environment will be at the center of the Bulgarian political discussion, which are great news for everyone, Bulgarians, protesters and Europeans.

Source: M