Socialism lives on

The rampant corruption in Bulgaria is not the consequence of the pathological greed of politicians and civil servants, writes Dnevnik newspaper. "This corruption is simply the continuation of the party-clan system, the redistribution of power, economic and symbolic resources practiced during late socialism in Bulgaria. The networks have planted the metastases of earlier times in today's democracy and effected a seamless transition, because protective mechanisms like an independent judiciary and free media have not managed to gain a foothold. Now people make the mistake of saying that the politicians are the culprits and of placing the media on the side of the people, and thus on the good side. No one can deny the merit of individual journalists, programmes and media that brought to light the misuse of public resources during the transition and thereafter. Nevertheless the media has been privatised in exactly the same non-transparent way as the economy and the institutions."

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