Jan Hunin
is a correspondent of the Dutch newspaper “De Volkskrant” in Warsaw. He was sent to Sofia to do a series of reports about Bulgaria. He is doing research on Bulgarian
media and decides to visit Frognews.bg.
Interview by Ana Kocheva
Q: What are your first impressions of Bulgaria?
A: People seem very pessimistic; they think the transition to democracy
is taking too long. As a correspondent I live in Poland and when I
compare Bulgaria and Poland I see
that despite their shared communist past Bulgaria still has
a very long way to go before reaching an acceptable level of progress. All the
stories I heard here were about corruption and organized crime.
Q: These negative attitudes are provoked by certain historical
circumstances…
A: Yes, this is evident in Poland, where
the government controlled everything until the late 1980s just like here. Poles
and Bulgarians made the same mistake – they dramatically changed the system and
went to extremes, thinking that anything goes, there are no rules and only the
fittest survive. I told a person working for the Open Society Foundation
yesterday that Sofia is a
beautiful, green city compared to Warsaw, which is
a jungle of concrete. He replied, “Ten years ago it was greener and more
beautiful. Now the mafia built everything up – huge offices, apartment
buildings, you name it.”
Q: But this isn’t a post-communist tendency, it is typical of most
European countries.
A: Yes, you’re right. I am Belgian, it Belgium we have quaint
villages and towns and beautiful natural surroundings. After WWII Belgians amassed
great wealth and rapid construction commenced. Now we’re all quite disappointed,
we can see it was a huge mistake. The big cities are ugly, there are huge
buildings everywhere and we can’t tear them down. It would be too expensive. This
is why the government must enforce laws and regulations. You need the
government, insofar as it’s not corrupt. But if the government is not fair, you
have a big problem. There are no effective laws, no justice.
Q: Can you draw a comparison between Polish and Bulgarian media?
A: I don’t work for the
Polish press, but I can say that in Poland everyone is free to write about anything at
all. Nobody goes around attacking journalists in Poland, and journalists can be critical and write
about all kinds of topics. I don’t remember a journalist getting beaten up
because of the articles he wrote. Poland is very progressive in terms of freedom of
the press. I admit that coming to Bulgaria, I feel like traveling back in time.
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КОМЕНТАРИ
ФРОГ-КИНО
Асен Гаргов - Развод Ми Дай
VOICE OF THE FROG
NEWS
POLITICS
ФОТО ТЕМА
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След получаването на "Оскар", Бигълоу нарече моментът - "момент на живота си".
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С роми в първите редици РЗС променя Конституцията
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Във Франция все повече набират сила слуховете, че президентът Саркози и съпругата му Карла Бруни имат извънбрачни връзки
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Дойде Дупкоден!
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Ман Юнайтед разгроми Милан
търсене
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