Maxim Behar on the Government’s Foreign Policy, Economy and Communication

“Maxim Behar: The Government Must Clearly State Its Priorities” PR expert Maxim Behar, social anthropologist Mina Hristova and sociologist Mira Radeva commented in the NOVA NEWS studio of “Your Day” on the main political topics of the week, namely Bulgaria’s foreign policy, the war in Ukraine, the budget and the economic decisions of the new government. During the conversation, Maxim Behar focused on the government’s communication, the need for a clear economic vision and a more active positio

Host: “Your Day” is back after the commercials. It is time to comment on the political week. Joining me in the studio is social anthropologist Mina Hristova. Hello, thank you for accepting our invitation. We are also joined by Maxim Behar, the well-known PR expert. Thank you as well. We are expecting sociologist Mira Radeva to join us in the studio at any moment.

Host: This is definitely one of the more interesting topics, and I hope we will discuss it in greater detail. Mr. Behar?

Maxim Behar: I do not think it was such a hot political week, unless you are referring purely to the weather. These are normal things. We have had far, far hotter political weeks in previous years.

What is happening in this whole story, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, what happened in Kyiv and, before that, in Paris with his statements is actually a case of total miscommunication and a very poorly managed communication policy by the entire government.

I have been watching this for some time and I am surprised that this is the case, because these are very experienced people. Radev was in power for nine or ten years. He should have extremely experienced people around him who can manage this communication.

I do not know why anyone expects Rumen Radev suddenly to reverse everything he was saying during the election campaign and say: “We stand firmly on the side of the Coalition of the Willing; we stand on the side of Ukraine.”

We all know that Ukraine is the victim. We all know that Russia is the aggressor. We all know that Ukraine must emerge victorious from this war.

But Bulgaria has a foreign policy that the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and this government have decided to pursue, because it was with this concept and, to a large extent, with these messages that they won the elections.

The question is how to play this as smartly and intelligently as possible, so that when the war ends, and it will end, and in my opinion it will end with a Ukrainian victory, we still have the dignity, the face and the pride to look our European allies in the eye.
This is very important. We are part of the European Union and we have to take into account the policies of the major players. We are also part of NATO, in exactly the same way.

Host: Mr. Behar, I am asking the question in this way because you work with major businesses and know many of Bulgaria’s leading businessmen.

Business behaviour has, to a large extent, adopted principles from the art of warfare. There, tactics and strategy are distinguished from one another.

If we assume that the current government’s actions in foreign policy are tactics aimed at the Bulgarian public and at the European public, do you understand what the strategy is that leads to some ultimate objective? Is there an ultimate objective behind all this behaviour?

Maxim Behar: I think what Radev’s new government is doing is quite decent and quite precise.

Yes, they have their own position. We may not approve of that position. We may disagree with it. We may want the entire government to say: “We stand firmly behind Ukraine and we are signing absolutely every possible coalition, agreement and everything else.”

But they have their own vision, their own strategy, and it seems to me that they are implementing it quite precisely. There is miscommunication, but it is not dramatic.

First, Rumen Radev has met with Zelenskyy as many times in less than two months as all five prime ministers before him had not.

Second, Rumen Radev takes part in parliamentary question time. When was the last time we saw the prime minister of a regular government take part in parliamentary question time and report on his actions?

He has a position. We may disagree with it, and we probably do disagree with it, but the way the issues involving Ukraine, Russia, the coalitions, the formations and everything else are being handled seems quite fair to me.

By the way, I do not see such a major difference between the domestic and foreign messages. There is this mantra: he goes to the West, “kisses their hands” and tells them, “We are with you,” and then comes back to Bulgaria and says, “No, we are not with them.”

That is not the case. We have fully completed our process of integration into the European Union. We have the euro as our currency, we are in Schengen and everything else.

The point is that we do not know, first, what is going on in the minds of the people in the government and, second, what is happening behind the scenes of international politics. None of us sitting around this table, unless one of us is a fortune-teller, knows exactly what is happening.

It seems to me that these people are trying to play it in such a way that they are with one side and with the other side as well. And if one day one of the two sides wins, and this is where we are already talking about strategy, they can say: “We were with you. We were on the right side of history.”

Host: Many historical tragedies have begun in exactly this way.

Maxim Behar: We would very much like him to say: “We are with Ukraine at any cost.” But he said: “Look, we are a poor country. We cannot afford to allocate money to Ukraine.” At least he says it plainly.

Host: Mr. Behar, I want to return to your statement that there is a form of miscommunication. It seems to me that it is starting to become part of the architecture of the way not only Radev and his ministers communicate, but also Radev and his MPs. How can this be changed?

And perhaps the more important question is whether you see it as a communication mistake or, on the contrary, as a deliberate system designed to allow flexibility in the Prime Minister’s decisions?

Maxim Behar: No, I do not think this is a mistake. Of course, sometimes the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. Not to mention the pockets, you may not know what is in your left pocket or your right pocket. But Radev’s team are not amateurs, with very few exceptions. They have all been in politics for a long time.

They are simply adjusting to one another at the moment and beginning to work together. And it seems to me that after the first 100 days, I hope I am not wrong, they will come out with some kind of vision and say: “We have three and a half or four years left until the end of our term. We want to achieve this, this, this and this.”
The problem is that at the moment the whole world is such a mishmash, including in business, that nobody can predict what will happen.

We have three wars almost on our borders. One is in the Middle East, another is connected with Iran, and the third is in Ukraine. We are highly dependent on these wars, not only because of fuel and not only because of exports.

The whole world is extremely confused. There are highly conflicting messages, especially from Washington, but also from Moscow and from other countries on which we depend to some extent.

That is why it seems to me that once the first 100 days have passed, these people will sit down and say: “We want to do this under the best possible conditions.”

They can do it if they want to. But the most important thing is the economy. We are sitting here discussing Ukraine, Russia and all these things, but what is happening in Sofia, on Dondukov Boulevard, the economic thinking and the economic vision are the most important things.

There must be drastic changes in the economy. I am somewhat more market-oriented, even extremely market-oriented. Moni Passy sometimes tells me that I am a “market Taliban.”

Host: A fundamentalist.

Maxim Behar: But I believe that what happened with the retail chains — that they were going to lower prices, introduce some kind of baskets, whether they did or did not — was dust in the eyes of many people who ultimately ended up disappointed.
It seems to me that the market, to a very large extent, should determine prices, market relations and the development of businesses.

Maxim Behar: Since you are someone who hosts an economic programme and this topic is very close to you, I will tell you that things are extremely simple. Two things must be done by the government literally within a month or two.

First, a sharp reduction in all kinds of regulations and restrictions. A sharp reduction in all kinds of licensing regimes. Of course, where it makes sense for them to exist, they should remain.

And second, an extremely strong promotion of Bulgaria on the investment markets. There should be roadshows. People should go out there. Various ministers and deputy ministers have no reason to sit here. They have no work to do in Bulgaria.

They should go to Germany, go to France, go to America, go wherever they need to go and say: “Come to Bulgaria. You will have the best investment conditions.”

There are, and this is a fact, a huge number of niches here. There are businesses that you can start from scratch in Bulgaria, while in a country such as the Czech Republic this is almost impossible.

Host: All right, Mr. Behar, but we have been talking about this for a long time. Everyone knows what needs to be done in the economy.

At the same time, we are seeing almost the opposite actions. The budget of Rumen Radev’s government overlaps by around 85% with the budget of the Zhelyazkov government, which was brought down following the public dissatisfaction surrounding the budget presented at the end of last year.

How do you explain the lack of this kind of decisive courage?

Maxim Behar: The Zhelyazkov government was brought down, as Mira also said, more by the “yellow cobblestones” and by emotions.

There were accumulated emotions and a general feeling that: “Everyone is already fed up with seeing the same government for such a long time.”

Host: Mr. Behar, I will give you the floor for a final comment.

Maxim Behar: Look, Rumen Radev’s government has everything that governments have been dreaming of for the past 30 years. It has a full majority in Parliament.

It has a good, competent government, or at least people who have been through politics. They are not people entering politics for the first time. There are three legs on which this government stands: foreign policy, economic policy and social policy.

It seems to me that at the end of the first 100 days, 120 days or whatever period they choose, they should come out and state very clearly and precisely, in ten points, what they are going to do in these three policy areas.

They do not even need to address foreign policy in such detail, because to a large extent it does not depend solely on us. Tomorrow something could happen, God forbid, in Romania, Moldova, Cyprus or anywhere else, and we would have to react. But we need ten clear points on economic policy. And on social policy as well. What do we do with the non-productive parts of the population? These are pensioners, students and sick people. There needs to be a very clear ten-point concept.

Once we have that, we can meet again in this studio, with the same team, and discuss it point by point. But for now, we are somewhat blindfolded.

Host: Maxim Behar, Mina Hristova and Mira Radeva were our guests. We will be back in the studio after the commercials.

 You can watch the whole interview here: https://www.maximbehar.com/en/video/445/maxim-behar-on-the-governments-foreign-policy-economy-and-communication