Antoinette Nikova wrote that the messages sent by the United States to Bulgaria and Serbia in April and November were equally straightforward. The only difference is that in Bulgaria, they have had a great impact. And there has been a change of power.
Antoinette Nikolova is a long-term TV reporter covering EU affairs. He works for EURACTIV Bulgaria and recently founded the Balkan Free Media Initiative. An independent monitoring agency responsible for monitoring the media environment in the Balkans for inaccuracies, prejudice and censorship.
Earlier this month, several U.S. lawmakers published a letter criticizing Serbia’s growing corruption and the decline of media freedom, and calling on President Joe Biden to impose an asset freeze on certain Serbs without hesitation.
The reaction of Serbian President Alexander Vucic was strange. He said He is not worried about the freezing of assets in the United States because, in his words, he has no assets abroad. Does he admit that he may be the target of US sanctions?
In neighboring Bulgaria, according to an order signed by President Biden, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department Sanctions three Bulgarians for corruption, And their network, including 64 entities.
“The government believes that corruption will reduce the rule of law, weaken the economy and economic growth, undermine the democratic system, perpetuate conflict, and deprive innocent civilians of their basic human rights”, The U.S. Treasury Department said.
This move is part of the largest global action taken by Magnitsky in a day. It targets Bulgarian oligarchs, one of whom is a media tycoon who once controlled up to 80% of Bulgaria’s media market.
This slap in the face clearly disturbed Vucic and his ruling party.
In their letter Regarding Serbia, the U.S. Senator pointed out that the majority state-owned “Telekom Srbija” and the privately-owned RTV Pink have flourished due to “mutually beneficial relations with the government.”
At the same time, as Reporters Without Borders discovered in its latest report, “Journalists are being attacked by more and more ruling elites and pro-government media almost every day.”
This looks like deja vu. On the eve of the Bulgarian parliamentary elections on April 4, two U.S. senators wrote: “Bulgaria has the lowest score in Transparency International’s 2019 Corruption Perception Index and Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index.
These rankings highlight the breadth of challenges facing Bulgaria. They warned that “the Bulgarian government must protect these values.”
Well, after April 4, the Bulgarian government of Boyko Borissov fell.
if letter The bilateral relationship between the United States and Bulgaria was signed by two senators, and the one on Serbia was signed by seven senators. Other than that, their styles are very similar.
“We believe that the government should act quickly to counter Serbia’s existing corruption and further attacks on freedom of the press. Serbia plans to organize presidential and parliamentary elections next spring.”
The senators wrote on November 5: “We ask your government to hold Serbia accountable for the highest standards of free and fair elections, including the pre-election campaign period and the vote counting itself.”
On the same day, the US media revealed that Serbia was not among the countries invited to participate in the summit of democracies held by the US government on December 9.
Vucic’s Serbia was excluded along with Turkey, Belarus, Russia, and only one EU member state, Hungary. According to the US government, these countries do not meet “American democratic standards.”
As Bulgaria did-until the elections bring about change.
