Maxim Behar: The Government Must Have a Good Communication Strategy
Maxim Behar and sociologist Associate Professor Alexey Pamporov discuss the newly appointed "Zhelyazkov" cabinet on the show "Good Morning, Europe" on Euronews Bulgaria, hosted by Diana Radeva.
Host (Diana Radeva): Hello again! This is the show "Good Morning, Europe" on Euronews Bulgaria. This week, Bulgaria has a regular cabinet, which is news because it hasn't happened in a long time. What will be the horizon of action for the new regular government? What will its goals be? Can it last longer and even be full-term? In the next few minutes, my guests are sociologist Associate Professor Alexey Pamporov and PR expert Dr. Maxim Behar. Hello and welcome to both of you!
Maxim Behar: Good morning!
Host: A government has been successfully elected. In your opinion, how stable will it now be in this situation it finds itself in? Will it be able to get any work done?
Maxim: A government was successfully appointed, of course, chosen by the parliament, assembled from several political forces. There are two answers to this question – it will either survive until the end of its term or will fall apart in the first few months. Personally, I think it will survive until the end of the term because we have no other options. Imagine living in an apartment building that caught fire. Would you argue with the neighbor and remind him how he got drunk three weeks ago or how he was rude to you while the building was on fire? And this is the only possible option at the moment, and thank God it happened. I'm not commenting on the people – I know there's a lot of hate, and everyone will find something to pick on. I remember how the previous Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov told me that on the morning of the day he agreed to become Prime Minister, he called his wife and warned her from then on not to believe anything written about him. And every minister, including the Prime Minister, of course, will have many contradictory opinions. Hopefully, they will sit down and do their job properly because it is a very difficult international period, but at the same time, internal matters need to be put in order.
Host: Has everything been calculated in relation to Mr. Peevski and his future on the political scene? Because there's been a lot of talks these days about SMSes, photos of chats with Kiki, Niki, etc. – generally, we see only part of the picture. I guess there will be more comments from the other side – from Kiril Petkov and Nikolay Denkov, and maybe there will be more chats. How does this currently reflect on people's expectations for things to calm down, Mr. Behar?
Maxim: It doesn't affect it at all, in my opinion, because these are past stories. It was a public secret that previous governments worked with Delyan Peevski, who, in my opinion, is overexposed. Such responsibilities, power, and influence are assigned to him, which are probably not assigned to a king in a monarchy. This has no significance. Let them dig out chats – these are personal matters. The more important thing is, indeed, the internal view we are discussing at the moment – internally, who will be accountable for what? The more important thing is that the people in Bulgaria will face quite difficult times if the budget is tightened. There really shouldn't be any budget deficit, not even 3%. In a budget, there shouldn't be any deficit at all. There should be a budget surplus instead. If we go back to the years of King Simeon II, while he was Prime Minister and the subsequent government – the so-called "Triple Coalition," composed of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), and the National Movement for Stability and Progress (NDSV), there wasn't a single level of a budget deficit there. There was a budget surplus.
Host: And the times were different.
Maxim: True, but the economists were different, with different understandings, and of course, they could impose it because they had a majority in parliament. Now, the chemistry between the different political forces is much more delicate. For Bulgaria to enter the Eurozone and attract foreign investments, this is the most important view at the moment – the view from the outside.
Host: Will the BSP in this government be able to implement any social policy, which presumably should be a priority of any left-wing party?
Maxim: No, definitely not.
Host: Then why are they there? Why are people from the left inside?
Maxim: There are two options for the BSP being there. Either these people want to be in power, to show themselves, and they think that by being in power, they would have their advantage or could gather more votes – that is one option. The other option is that they think it is a critical responsibility for Bulgaria to come out of the stalemate it has been in for the past few years.
Host: Do you think things will calm down, and where do we go from here, Mr. Behar? I quote the Financial Times: "BSP is a pro-Russian party, There is Such People (ITN) is a populist party," about the new government. Expectations are not so high from the outside.
Maxim: I can comment on the communication aspect of the question or how things are presented, but not so much in-depth, especially regarding the judicial system. I believe that if the government wants to send good messages and do its job, it must have excellent communication with all people who currently have expectations, no matter at what level. We can summarize social policy in one sentence: The best social policy is to give jobs and opportunities to many people to work a lot and earn, where there are opportunities to work. There needs to be a halving of state officials because Bulgaria has over 550,000 and 600,000 state officials, and that's way too many. I don't believe it will happen within one mandate, but the whole system must be absolutely demolished if not restructured.
Host: We've been saying this since Nikolai Vassilev was minister.
Maxim: Yes, Niki Vassilev did a very good job back then, by the way, as Minister of State Administration. But after that, things escalated a lot. The government should communicate. There has to be at least one minister on TV every night or every other night to explain what happened, why a conservative financial policy is necessary, and why tightening the belt is needed - not just as an image or metaphor, but the possibility for everyone to sit down and start working to be able to have more or even survive in such a situation. If there is no good communication policy, including explanations for the failed election of the chief prosecutor and various measures that need to be made in the judicial system. No one in Bulgaria knows what needs to change except maybe a thousand people. Therefore, if the government focuses on its communication policy, first in Bulgaria and second outside Bulgaria, to be able to explain that here it is possible to invest and that here the investments of the companies will be protected by the judicial system, and no one will be able to steal their companies, then maybe this government will gain a lot of points in its first few months even. There is one communicator in this government, and I hope he can use his skills to explain to the voters and the people in Bulgaria what they expect from him. He is the Prime minister, Rosen Zhelyazkov. Hopefully, he will really succeed in improving, making his presentation even better, and being able to communicate publicly.
Host: Thank you both. The conversation is just beginning. Let's see how they manage from here.
Maxim: And we will follow what happens.
Watch the full interview here.