Collapse of Key Sectors: Geopolitics, Agriculture and Infrastructure in Bulgaria – Ivelin Mihaylov

Ivelin Mihaylov analyzes the role of the president in international diplomacy, the catastrophic state of Bulgarian agriculture, and the deliberate infrastructure decline that is leading to the depopulation of the country.

Geopolitical Theater and Foreign Policy

The Bulgarian political scene deliberately maintains an artificial division among society along the lines of being for or against Europe. This political theater has the main goal of diverting citizens' attention from the real internal catastrophe and the collapse of state structures. The actions and statements of President Rumen Radev are fully synchronized with European requirements, with his presence at Place de la Concorde in Paris for France's national holiday being a clear sign of this support. The head of state is being prepared in advance for the role of a possible mediator in future peace negotiations between Europe and Russia, which also explains his carefully balanced positions.

Such foreign policy moves are part of a larger international diplomacy in which Bulgaria strictly follows predetermined directives. Visits by foreign leaders, such as the visits of the Belarusian president to Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, prove that global processes are coordinated in advance. The ruling parties in the country are aware of this dynamic but deliberately create false conflicts in order to maintain their political image among voters.

Collapse in Agriculture and the Food Industry

Bulgarian livestock farming is experiencing an unprecedented decline, with the number of sheep falling drastically from 9 million in the 1980s to fewer than 300 thousand today. Domestic legislation deliberately destroys small and medium-sized producers, making the country extremely dependent on massive imports of milk and limiting competition to one main player controlling 70% of the market. At the same time, independent farmers are deprived of basic working conditions, being denied access to irrigation, while farms connected to those in power irrigate completely illegally without consequences.

There are no adequate legal frameworks similar to those in Italy that would allow farmers to process their own products, such as mozzarella, and offer them directly to end consumers. If the state supported small producers, this would lead to a significant revival of the food industry and attract a huge number of tourists seeking authentic culinary experiences.

Infrastructure Destruction and Transport Collapse

The country's transport system has been brought to complete collapse, and the few remaining trains cannot even handle the standard summer passenger flow to the seaside. This leads to paradoxical situations in which Bulgarian State Railways stops selling standing tickets, while highways toward neighboring Greece are overcrowded with Bulgarian tourists. Huge railway hubs such as the one in Gorna Oryahovitsa are completely deserted, despite having provided reliable transport connectivity in the past through 16 active tracks. In the years before the democratic changes, railway stations had electric carts that efficiently served Bulgarian postal services and freight transport, while today the entire system has been deliberately dismantled.

The authorities are quietly preparing the gradual transfer of key infrastructure, including national roads and the entire water supply system, into the hands of private interests. The appointment of highly compromised figures to the management of water supply structures creates a very real danger of future water restrictions in major cities such as Pleven and even the capital Sofia. Institutions are taking no measures to build wastewater treatment plants along the Black Sea coast, despite the hundreds of millions spent on guardrails and other secondary projects.

Demographic Replacement and Lack of Planning

The lack of a clear national strategy for industrial zoning leads to systematic and permanent depopulation of entire regions in Bulgaria. People and businesses have no idea in what direction individual regions will develop – whether they will become agricultural areas, tourism centers, or sites for energy projects. This uncertainty deliberately frees up huge territories that are being prepared in advance for the construction of large-scale solar and wind farms, as well as data centers.

To serve these corporate interests, a targeted import of cheap labor from countries such as Nepal, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan is planned. Foreign workers are preferred because they do not know local laws and have no ability to complain to the media about poor working conditions. This process is accompanied by the introduction of digital wallets, which will isolate ordinary citizens as "broilers" in large cities, taking away their ability to live independently in smaller settlements.

Tourism Problems and Media Double Standards

While institutions discuss attracting tourists from distant destinations such as Japan, who are mainly seeking cultural experiences and spend an average of 5,000 dollars per visit, the actual actions of the state hinder the development of the sector. The largest cultural and historical site in Eastern Europe does not receive the necessary support, despite its enormous potential for attracting high-income visitors.

Main problems in the public environment:

• Healthcare: Patients are forced to pay additional fees for absolutely all medical services.
• Education and justice: There are no reforms whatsoever to guarantee the normal development of society and the security of citizens.
• Media manipulation: Television channels deliberately distort information according to the interests of their owners.

There is an obvious double standard in the media coverage of criminal incidents. When in the past a report was filed about a drunk driver with 2.5 promille in a municipality attempting to introduce order, national outlets attacked the initiative as an attempt to create a "state within a state." At present, however, the same media outlets present a citizen's arrest of a driver with over 3.5 promille as a completely normal and proper action, demonstrating a complete lack of objectivity.