Transparency - Curse or Karma for the "Trojka"?

By: Sifet Kukuruz, legal expert

The "Trojka" parties achieved power predominantly on the narrative of fighting crime and corruption. During the election campaign, the leaders of the "Trojka" parties officially declared an uncompromising war on crime and corruption, a war to the death. This motto, as a kind of ideological agent, the "Trojka" parties attached to their flags and went before the citizens, and the citizens, eager for a better standard of living and social justice, accepted this narrative without much hesitation.

However, it is already becoming clear today that the platform of fighting crime and corruption is too heavy for the "Trojka" parties and is collapsing on their heads. It has become clear that this narrative, in itself, was and remains high corruption and that it served exclusively for pre-election purposes. As is the case with any deception, the "Trojka" parties very quickly went from great trust to a phase of immense disappointment among citizens who are increasingly beginning to realize that the aforementioned narrative was and remains a means of deception and that citizens were merely exploited to seize power.

The actions of the current government confirm that the "Trojka" skillfully exploited the accumulated dissatisfaction of citizens by promising them an uncompromising fight against crime and corruption and a better standard of living. And it is no secret that there can be no better standard of living without reducing crime and corruption to a socially tolerable level.

The "Trojka" promised citizens laws that would ensure maximum transparency of processes in the public sector and the employment of the most capable and highest quality personnel in public positions. Meritocracy was promised to the citizens, but they were delivered a sophisticated form of nepotism, party employment, and staffing.

Instead of laws that establish the rule of law and social justice, the "Trojka" delivered laws to the citizens that are a "dead letter on paper" and personnel who are a "living example" of crime and corruption.

In their war against crime and corruption, the "Trojka" sent ministers and directors of public enterprises and institutions to the front line, who failed the first test. Some of them ended up in prison, and it is an open secret that investigations are still ongoing against some. Therefore, the leaders of the "Trojka" parties have no choice but to create a new narrative, convincing the public that their personnel, in order to be successful in the fight against crime and corruption, had to become corrupt themselves, that, as in some action movie, for the success of the operation, they first had to enter the world of crime themselves to understand it better from the inside and finally bring it down. However, it seems that the problem arose the moment the "Trojka" personnel became too engrossed in their roles.

Precisely because of such an attitude towards crime and corruption, what was once the "Trojka's" strongest weapon today proves to be a mortal danger to the "Trojka" itself, which, as it is today, can hardly survive the 2026 elections. The narrative of transparency and the fight against crime and corruption has today fallen upon the "Trojka" like a curse and karma.

It should be said that, in addition to insincere and numerous unfulfilled promises, the "Trojka" has been plagued by an "innate flaw" from the beginning, which manifests through the belief that transparency is the same as the rule of law. Namely, the "Trojka" misunderstood the meaning of laws, believing that laws serve only to ensure the transparency of social processes. However, the basic meaning of laws is not to ensure the transparency of processes, but to strengthen social responsibility, and above all, to strengthen responsibility in spending public money.

The extent to which transparency has developed under the current government, to the point where budget funds are now spent illegally and in a completely transparent manner, best confirms the chronic anomaly in the perception of transparency. Thus, the "Trojka" managed to combine the incompatible - transparency and illegality. From the announced good angel, the "Trojka" overnight became an "angel with a flaw".

In the election campaign, the "Trojka" swore by transparency, and after taking power, they declared numerous multi-million dollar contracts secret and hid them from public view. However, although citizens are deprived of the opportunity to see these contracts, they are not deprived of the opportunity to see crime and corruption with the "naked eye".

In the past, the possibility of insight into crime was a privilege of prosecutor's offices, courts, and individuals working in specialized institutions for investigating crime and corruption, who were specially trained and equipped to recognize these socially harmful practices. However, today, in the era of the "Trojka's" rule, citizens have the "privilege" of observing illegality, i.e., crime and corruption, live.

The practice of political action by the "Trojka" parties and their coalition partners after the elections shows that the "Trojka" applied the traditional method in its war against crime and corruption, believing that "like cures like". Thus, the "Trojka", from a proclaimed example of fighting crime and corruption, has become an exemplary case of crime and corruption.

The citizens are next, and 2026 is an opportunity for them to show whether they still believe in the "Trojka's" concept of fighting crime and corruption.

If the situation remains unchanged after the General Elections, then it is entirely justified to question the character of society itself. The election results will provide an answer to the question of whether we are a society that produces corrupt politicians, or a society conducive to crime and corruption, or whether it is a social anomaly of a temporary and short-lived nature.