Bulgaria ridiculed for erecting Europe's tallest flagpole

The flag has drawn contempt and praise among Bulgarians. The highest flagpole in the EU.

Last week, a 1,110 square meter flag was hoisted in a forest meadow in the Rhodopes, symbolizing Bulgaria's 111,000 square kilometers. mountains.

Bulgaria takes the flagpole crown from Finland, which has a 100-meter flagpole, although it doesn't come close to the height of some countries outside of Europe, which are almost twice as tall.

«It won't make Bulgarians richer, but it will lift people's spirits,» said Simeon Karakolev, 45, organizer of the historic annual Rozhen Folk Festival, whose foundation is behind the project.

Karakolev raised €. 500,000 ($560,000) donations for the mast, as part of a campaign organized by pro-Russian President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev.

Local media reported that a number of state-owned companies have been approached on behalf of Radev to donate money for the mast to the mountain the meadow where the festival takes place.

The campaign was widely ridiculed on social media, with one meme depicting the president swinging on a pole going viral, while many said the country, plagued by high emigration and a collapsing healthcare system, had more pressing issues than raising funds for a massive flag masts. p>

Political scientist Ognyan Minchev lamented how patriotism has been captured by «leaders who measure national pride by the height of the flag mast… by quasi-nationalists dominated by Russian propaganda.»

Nationalism and populism are on the rise in the Balkan country where many remain ardent Russophiles, despite Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

A recent study by the Open Society Foundation found that Bulgaria is among the EU countries most susceptible to Russian propaganda and disinformation. .

Thousands of people attended the hoisting of the flag and took the opportunity to touch it before it went up. Photo: NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP via Getty Images

Concrete poured for the flagpole's foundation in pristine mountain meadows and alleged violations of its permits have also sparked calls from environmentalists to ban it.

A petition against it has garnered thousands of signatures.

< p>Karakolev called it «undeserved hatred» and thanked the authorities for «not yielding to pressure, since the checks showed that everything was completely legal.»

Radev criticized «dishonest attempts to discredit and break this initiative» when he and Karakolev inaugurated the building with shouts of «Long live Bulgaria!»

Several thousand people of all ages gathered for the celebration, many in national costumes. ceremonies before the three-day annual festival, taking the opportunity to touch the giant flag before it is raised.

“Yes, some people don't like it… (but) there are flags in every country. They are one of the symbols of the nation,” said Retired Colonel Dimitar Mitev, 69, adding that he hoped the initiative would raise patriotism.

Others were less positive.

“ To me it became ill when I saw this rod sticking out of the ground in the middle of the meadows and the surrounding forests. This is human intervention in nature,” Sofia Botusharova, a 38-year-old business consultant from the nearby town of Chepelare, told AFP. be lifted. But when the important moment came, disappointment came, as the lack of wind made him hang listlessly on a pole.