Thanks to its strategic geographical location, Bulgaria is a valuable ally and partner to any of the world's superpowers as, in fact, it has always been. Being a young democracy, the changes in Bulgaria's geopolitical situation are not so much the result of our own political actions, as of some global reshuffles on the world and European political maps.
Over the past few years, the main influences on Bulgaria's political position have found a material expression in the enlargement of the EU, the focus of the US foreign policy on the terrorism combat and the reassessment of the Russia's attitude towards the latest global political developments.

If asked what are the political super-powers that we should cling to, the majority of the Bulgarians will answer that first and foremost the Bulgarian politicians should be concerned with our own national prosperity rather than catering for the superpowers' interests. Traditionally, the Bulgarian society is divided into Russophiles and Americanophiles.
If asked which of the world's superpowers should serve as a model for social and political development of Bulgaria, the Bulgarians are unanimous that we should try to catch up with Germany or, at least, with the United Kingdom, USA, France or Russia.

But to reach the living standards in the aforementioned superpowers, we should take the maximum advantage of our strategic geographic and geopolitical location, which we can do by drawing the maximum benefit from the transit of goods or raw materials through our territory. To do this, however, we should drastically improve our road infrastructure.

Given the poor condition of our roads, we can hardly expect any dramatic improvement of the economic situation in Bulgaria.
Tourism is another sector where Bulgaria could reap good profit. However, the systematic destruction of natural resources and construction boom may lead to an outflow of solvent tourists.

The proverbial Balkan mentality gives grounds to think that until we live with the idea that "it is not so important to be well, provided thee neighbor is in need" Bulgaria will never prosper. The same mentality is rather widespread in other Balkan countries - Serbia, Macedonia and Romania. Russia is another country that is close to us in terms of mindset, our respondents think.

All in all, we could conclude that the geopolitical position of Bulgaria will not remain strategic only because of the place it takes on the world map. The powers that be, along with the business community and the entire nation must put in consistent and serious efforts to contribute to the country's development. In this endeavour we must rely first and foremost on our own resources and achievements.

The quoted data have been collected during a sociological survey carried out by AFIS polling agency and commissioned by Standart. The respondents are 1000 Bulgarian citizens over 18 living in Sofia, district centers and villages. The conclusions are representative of public opinion in Bulgaria.

Lora Bozhinova
AFIS Polling Agency
http://www.standartnews.com/