Babel Sofia invites you to debate on "How to improve the European debate through the Bulgarian blogger community?"

Published on April 3, 2009

inside cafébabel

With the participation of , Vice President of the European Commission in charge of Institutional Relations and Communication

Margot Wallström

In Bulgaria, according to the last report of Reporters without Borders, the « investigative journalism and media pluralism are seriously threatened by organised crime and by different forms of pressure from political and business quarters » (link here; download the Report).

The blogger community in Bulgaria started, as in many other European countries, to experience a fast development (quantity and quality) these last years. However, in the majority of the cases (but there are some exceptions), the most debated topics (national politics, reforms - of the wealth system, of education, economy, and social issues) are driven from a national point of view and haven’t integrate yet a truly European dimension. The debates could be intensive in comparison to other debates’ forms (ie: legislative elections, digital rights in Bulgaria, etc.) but only within a circle of specialists. This is why Café Babel Sofia will try to join together some influent Bulgarian bloggers in order to answer to the following question: how to improve the European debate through the Bulgarian blogger community?

Starting with a short presentation of eudebate2009.eu (the multilingual, European platform, where opinion leaders, politicians and the civil society can exchange and have a voice), the debate will focus on who, in Bulgaria, are blogging about Europe? Could the bloggers bring up the main issues (concerns and expectations) of the Bulgarian civil society and stimulate the European political conscience?

6 April / 5 p.m. / EU Information Centre, 9 Moskovska Street

The working languages will be Bulgarian and English, with a simultaneous translation

Contact: Alexandre Nedeltchev / a.nedeltchev@cafebabel.com