Discovering Europe
Plovdiv: New ventures for Europe’s oldest inhabited city
Roman amphitheatre, Old Town, Plovdiv.
© Reporters
Bulgaria joined the EU in January 2007 but five of its six planning regions* hover in the bottom ten of the EU’s regions ranked by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. Following a change in Bulgaria’s government in July 2009, now led by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov of the Citizens of European Development Party, it is anticipating that much-needed pledged EU funds, in particular for infrastructure, will flow to the country more readily after various EU funding, including some during the pre-accession (PHARE) process, was halted due to a number of difficulties ranging from the procedural to administrative mismanagement in Bulgaria.
According to the President of Sofia’s independently-run Chamber of Commerce**, Georgi Chernov, the country has been less affected by the financial crisis than some other EU countries, largely because Bulgaria has a lot of foreign banks. He predicts, however, that his country’s Gross National Income (GNI) will fall by another two percentage points this year on top of the 6 per cent drop in 2009. The financial crisis has pushed up interest rates and diminished the availability of credit in Bulgaria which could lead to unemployment rising this year, says Chernev. “But in spite of everything, the situation is not too bad compared to that in some other eastern European countries. Bulgaria does not have big debts and we still have more than €8bn of reserves”, says Chernov, which he puts down to 5-6 per cent growth rates in previous years as a result of Bulgaria’s construction boom.
Our various interviewees for this report are now expecting EU funds. During a visit to Bulgaria in mid-November 2009, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, Pawel Samecki, announced that the country would receive €9.5bn (2007-2013) under the EU’s cohesion policy which aids EU regions with a per capita GDP below 90 per cent of the EU average, in particular for building infrastructure. Commissioner Samecki pinpointed Bulgaria’s cities as “engines of growth”. We put the spotlight on one of these, Plovdiv, to the south east of Sofia and Bulgaria’s the second largest city. With the accolade of being Europe’s oldest inhabited city, over its 6,000-8,000 year history, Plovdiv has constantly adapted to change and is now taking on both the challenges and opportunities of EU membership.
