This week we’re back in Plovdiv. The weather is bright, the sun is up, and we finally caught up with our backlog, allowing us to focus on what is next: building the idea that politics, at its core, is not meant to be a theater of dominance but a discipline rooted in humility. Real leadership begins not with the arrogance of authority, but with the willingness to listen, learn, and grow. The greatest political systems are not built on the idea that one person—or even one generation—can claim perfect understanding, but on the recognition that wisdom is collective and unfolding.

While we contemplate this, below are the consequential developments from the days behind us—grouped into Policy, Society, and Technology.

Policy

1 – US Foreign Aid Cuts and Multilateral Doubts

The Trump Administration proceeds with the 2025 decision to shut down USAID and cancel over 80 per cent of US foreign aid contracts, raising questions about support for multilateral humanitarian institutions.

Why it matters: It’s time for NGOs to take their consequential future into their own hands and understand the importance of monetizing assets. Relying on unpredictable foreign government funds, regardless of the source, is a recipe for long-term dependence and mission failure. Bulgarian civil society must rapidly transition to self-sustaining models, treating their social mission as an economic platform that attracts private capital and ensures autonomy.

2 – IMF Warns of Europe’s Mediocre Growth Path

IMF’s latest Regional Economic Outlook highlights that Europe is settling into a slow, mediocre medium-term path, urging decisive policy action to close structural gaps and boost productivity.

Why it matters: The problem is not the IMF statement but the lack of vision in Europe. The IMF identifies four core areas for EU reform, including reducing internal trade barriers and creating deeper capital markets, which together could boost the EU’s GDP level by nine per cent over 10-15 years. Bulgaria, with the lowest public debt in the EU (around 24 per cent of GDP) and one of the lowest average salaries (a reported 15 400 euro in 2024), is fundamentally unburdened compared to its peers. Can Bulgaria be that vision to take us out of the Mediocre path? Yes—by unilaterally adopting the IMF’s proposals for reform acceleration, cutting red tape, and leveraging its low-debt position to attract growth-focused capital that other, highly indebted nations cannot.

3 – Brussels Wants to Accelerate Crackdown on Cheap Chinese Parcels

The EU is pushing to impose a bloc-wide handling fee on small packages ordered online from platforms such as Shein and Temu much earlier than scheduled, in a bid to crack down on billions of cheap Chinese imports each year.

Why it matters: This is an opportunity for rethinking both logistics and the location of additive consumerism.