Bulgaria is not just a geopolitical pendulum,but hopefully a country with its own dynamics and drive

Malgorzata Kulbaczewska-Figat interviewed Vladimir Mitev on a number of issues, related to contemporary Bulgarian politics and society. Vladimir explained that Bulgarian political elites liked to attempt to be a bridge, as seen in former prime minister Borssiov good ties with Trump, Merkel, Orban, Erdogan and Putin. With the formation of the government of Kiril Petkov apparently a "collective Borissov with human face" was attempted as the government was composed of four very different parties and had the hidden influence of president Radev in it. However, the Petkov government was an apparent attempt for a formula when "the West" and "the East" are in peace, which was changed after the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. The Petkov government was also an attempt among other things to gain the trust of the Biden administration and the European Commission and to attract foreign investment, but the few much lauded cases of foreign investment projects always had some kind of a catch. Now there is an interim government, formed by president Rumen Radev and in October 2022 new parliamentary elections will be held. There is a lot of talk about Bulgaria's geopolitical dance between "the West" and "Russia". But the theory of Bulgaria as a geopolitical pendulum doesn't help in understanding its internal dynamics. Apparently, after the times of atemporality of Borissov Bulgarian society tries to modernize and to interiorize international/Western standards in its social life. A better way to look at Bulgaria is to try to looks at its politics as a complex balance in which the older elites of transition are in competition and cooperation with newer elites and in which anticorruption is both desired and feared, as it could change the power balances in society. A comparison with Romania, its anti-corruption and level of foreign investment could be helpful in understanding the dilemmas before the Bulgarian political elites.