Hristiana Tasseva, Radio Darik, October 14, 2024
The Bridge of Friendship is a blog about Romanian-Bulgarian issues and relations, created 9 years ago by journalist Vladimir Mitev. The idea of this blog was initially born with the aim of creating a place where he could store the articles he writes on cultural, diplomatic, infrastructural or even everyday topics that concern the societies of the two countries. Over time, however, the blog’s purposes have evolved and its role is now to be a space between the two shores, bringing together, albeit online, the perspectives of the two peoples – Romanians and Bulgarians.
Currently, the blog offers articles in 10 languages, including Polish, Croatian, French, German, etc. The topics that can be found in these articles are, for example, film festivals on both sides of the border, reviews of different film or theatre productions, information about transportation problems affecting travel between the two countries, cultural links between Bulgaria and Romania, and their bilateral cooperation in different fields.
Of course, the most important issues of interest to the public in both countries are not overlooked either. More about the blog was told by its creator in an interview with Radio Darik. He shares what the goals and philosophy of the blog are and how such a unifying space for two different peoples is realized.
Vladimir Mitev explained that friendship bridges allow us to integrate experiences and spaces beyond our borders and thus develop a more complex identity. As far as Bulgarian-Macedonian relations are concerned, if North Macedonia starts its path towards EU membership, the conditions for the emergence of a similar Bridge of Friendship media in the Bulgarian-Macedonian space could appear. However, it would not be interested so much in propagating the state ideology of one side or the other, as in presenting Bulgarian existence for Macedonians and Macedonian existence for Bulgarians, forming a dynamic Bulgarian-Macedonian identity.
The relations boosted by the Bulgarian-Romanian blog “Bridge of Friendship” and the knowledge it provides form a kind of bridge between the two societies, journalist Vladimir Mitev said.
“The blog has articles in 10 languages, but its main languages are three – English, Romanian and Bulgarian. It has very diverse topics that are related to politics, economy and culture, as well as bilateral relations, including between people in our region, between Bulgarians and Romanians in particular. One of its goals is to get Bulgarians and Romanians to get to know each other, to create, if possible, more trust and to provoke conversations about Bulgarian-Romanian relations in general.”
Vladimir Mitev explained what makes the Bridge of Frienship an even more inspiring platform.
“It is also interesting that, in some cases, I think it manages to offer in some of its articles a common Bulgarian-Romanian point of view or a variant of such a point of view on certain international issues or on our issues. So, for me it is a way of articulating or expressing an identity that is more complex, that has different elements and these elements – Bulgarian, Romanian or other – communicate with each other and enrich each other without having, as I say, hegemony.”
Hristiana Taseva: What are the goals of your blog, of this Bridge of Friendship? Which is the most important thing you think should be realized through it?
“I think the goals are evolving because I myself am discovering new things as content in it over time. Lately, my thinking about blogging has become rather philosophical. I have a hypothesis or a theory that the friendship bridge is something that our country or our society badly needs. Friendship bridges can be people or organizations that have trust on both riverbanks, figuratively speaking, that are connected. I think this is often missing in our country. We look at our own point of view a lot. We are very nationally centered. We judge our neighbors for not fulfilling our demands, not fulfilling our wishes. And they have their own point of view or their own understanding.”
According to Vladimir Mitev, if we unload a little of our baggage and assimilate some of the knowledge of other peoples in terms of experience and expertise, without refracting it through our national prism, then our potential will grow.
He also commented on what the two nations can learn from each other.
“It very much depends on the people who are learning. But it is interesting for me, for example, that we have many common phenomena or problems with Romanians. I can point out that, as EU members, we have pretty much the same cases to solve, the same plans and reforms to implement. There are administrative solutions which they are implementing and which could also be interesting in our country. I think that Romanians can also be interesting by their attitude towards culture. Anyone who has dealt with Romania a bit more can see that the state here invests more generously in cultural projects.”
Hristiana Taseva: Is there anything we can offer Romanians in terms of broadening their horizons?
“I’m very subjective here about what I’m going to say, but I think Romanians don’t know what I call ambiguity. It is something that maybe Bulgarians themselves would not agree that it exists in our society to such an extent. But I really think that in our society there is an attitude not to say certain things openly and not to take extreme positions, but to look for some kind of undefined positions or some more neutral positions in general in people. I think many Bulgarians in general would not want to take an extreme position on political or other issues. I think it could be useful for Romanians because it could allow them to develop in themselves as people and as a society maybe more complexity by integrating things that maybe some people don’t see positively – like the East, the periphery. Such labels are often seen negatively in Romania. So for me at least, this is a useful thing that Bulgaria can offer. A knowledge that is hard to get and absorb, but it allows you to be more complex, more sophisticated and to read the ambiguity of people who are not openly for or against someone or something.”
Asked if it is a problem that at the European level Bulgaria and Romania are going hand in hand and if one country is stopping the other on its way to full Schengen and eurozone membership, Vladimir Mitev replied thus…
“I do not like that we constantly make such comparisons that make us feel somehow inferior to Romanians. We might think they are something very advanced for some things, there might be some things they do better. We do other things better.
I don’t think Romania has any particular ambition to join the eurozone any time soon. So it’s not at all about anyone standing in anyone’s way and there is no way to stand in anyone’s way.
On Schengen… There is a policy at European level, as far as I can see, to look at Bulgaria and Romania as a package. And the Romanian experts themselves have been writing and talking for a long time that it is not realistic for the two countries to be separated, because if only one of them gets in – it means big costs in securing the borders with the other. Whereas it is more realistic and cost-effective to go in together.”
He also explained what this package of Bulgaria and Romania could actually mean.
“It is fairer, if we can, to form the awareness that there is more to do with the other country – that we can be more interested in it, that we can travel more in it, that we can communicate more with its citizens, because then we will give substance to something that really exists. I mean this Romania-Bulgaria package.
Hristiana Taseva: You talk about international understanding, more openness to other nations, in general that we can broaden our horizons with this approach to other nations. But here’s an example with North Macedonia and this is a very complex problem, a very difficult problem, do you think we can achieve some kind of synchronization and some kind of understanding with them. And if so, how can we do that?
“I don’t know if the Bulgarian and Macedonian society is ready for that, but I think that if the two countries really manage to move forward on the path of EU accession, I mean if Macedonia moves forward on that path, there should be conditions where there could be media similar to the Bridge of Friendship between Bulgaria and Macedonia. And I see such a media not as a media that propagandizes the point of view of the Bulgarian or Macedonian state, but rather as a media that is interested, for example, in what theater performances are being played in Bitola or Skopje, or what rock festivals are taking place in Tetovo. In other words, a media that makes us part of the Macedonian existence, if we are Bulgarians, or if we are Macedonians – of the Bulgarian existence, without necessarily being part of any state ideology.”
Vladimir Mitev summarized that we need intermediary spaces, blogs or platforms where we can enrich our vision of the world and other peoples. And he was firmly convinced that any actions that allow us to have a more sophisticated view of ourselves and the world are a positive thing.
Photo: (source: darikradio.bg)
Subscribe to the channel of the blog “The Bridge of Friendship” in YouTube, where a number of video and audio interviews are published! The blog can also be followed in Facebook and Twitter. Its Telegram channel is here. And here is its Substack account.
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