NEWS

In 1989 we thought that it would take only a couple of years for us to become a “normal state” – then we practically failed to realize that the institutions in a democratic state should not only be installed, but should also work efficiently. This is what President Rosen Plevneliev said, who attended an international conference How to Deal with the Past While Looking at the Future together with his Hungarian counterpart Janos Ader.

 

The two talked in the presidential panel of the forum, which is part of the campaign “25 Years Free Bulgaria.” The Bulgarian and Hungarian presidents presented the experience the two countries have gained on the road to democracy. In the Bulgarian Head of State’s words, after the democratic changes the Bulgarian public did not realize that the evolution of democracy is not an automatic and straightforward process. “Today people are tired of the “transition” because it seems unfair, not very efficient and above all infinite,” the President said. He presumed that probably the complexity of the first and most urgent task of the transition period has been underestimated – namely “to make the public believe in democracy, to teach the political elites that the country can be governed only by adhering to democratic rules and to make the political parties be fervent supporters of the democratic governance”. 

 

“The valuable lesson freedom has taught us, which we should never forget, dates back to 1989: the lesson taught by the thousands of people that took to the streets in Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Sofia, who put an end to a regime and demanded democracy,” President Plevneliev said. The Head of State pointed out that today the citizens should assign meaning to democracy and its institutions every day.”

 

Rosen Plevneliev said that after the democratic changes in Bulgaria and Romania the inviolability of the unreformed judiciary has rather been enhanced and a smooth transformation of the old communist elite which preserved its positions in power and in the economy started. “The opening of the former communist-era State Security dossiers which was delayed by 20 years in Bulgaria, failed to make up for the wasted time,” President Plevneliev said and pointed out that the State Security networks had meanwhile become political and economic and are still active. “This is an indisputable failure for Bulgaria,” the Head of State commented.

 

President Plevneliev voiced his hope that Serbia, Macedonia, the Western Balkan countries, which have taken the path of European integration should learn from the Bulgarian mistakes and follow the example set by Hungary and Germany. “These countries placed communism and its secret services in the museum and the history textbooks in a worthy manner. They did that on time, way back in the 1990’s. Moreover in an objective, worthy, principled manner,” President Plevneliev said.

 

The Head of State pointed out that the greatest difference between the communist regimes, which determined the way they became democratic, was the attitude to Russia and the Soviet Union. On the one hand, there are countries such as Bulgaria, Slovakia and Serbia, which have historical relations with Russia and where the modernization performed, initiated, partly financed, paid and also imposed by the Soviet Union resulted in seeking a “third path” in the transition period, different from the prompt and unequivocal reaction of other countries toward Euro-Atlantic orientation and integration. Rosen Plevneliev provided the opposite example with countries such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the Baltic countries, which chose the road to European integration and currently the incomes, institutions, the rule of law and social justice are more developed and on a higher level there.

 

The President also highlighted the different ways in which the communist regimes dominated in the societies. “In Bulgaria the regime had destroyed or exerted a total control over all institutions of modern citizenship, while in countries such as Hungary and Poland different degrees of autonomy had been preserved and also the church and private property, even the army were relatively autonomous,” the President said. He recalled that in less than a year the Bulgarian communists killed more senior officers than had died in all wars that Bulgaria had fought in since it was liberated. “A total of about 30,000 were killed in the first years of the regime – this is one of the largest numbers compared to the victims in our friendly countries from Central and Eastern Europe,” Rosen Plevneliev said.

 

Regarding the personal experience he talked about dating back to the beginning of the democratic changes, the Head of State emphasized that he considers 10 November not a concrete, but a symbolic date and one which marks the beginning of the transition period. “One aim has been achieved. We are speaking about the transition and the personal experiences related to it. And whether these experiences happened on 10, 11, 12 or 18 November does not matter much for me. Yet I do apologize to those who decided and understood that I was referring to this concrete date. However, something else is more important. The transition began for me with a fond memory I have about the two posters made from wall-paper and my friend in front of the National Assembly. This is my 10 November and my personal experience I was asked about,” President Plevneliev said.

The Head of State called on for focusing the public debate on the personal experiences of millions of Bulgarians during communism and the years of transition. “Thus it will not only be clearer, but more comprehensible to all what precisely happened then,” the President added. 

 

By effecting the democratic changes, the Hungarian people pursued three aims – freedom, independence and a high standard of living, which had to gradually approximate that in Western Europe, Hungarian President Janos Ader said at the conference. The Hungarian Head of State emphasized that 25 years after the collapse of the communist regime the Hungarian people can freely voice their opinion, can form political parties and live in an independent country. However the desired standard of living, compared to that in Western Europe, has not been achieved yet. 

 

President Ader also talked about the measures taken by the Hungarian public to thwart the attempts made by the former communist regime to exert an impact on the democratic changes in the country. “Not only in Bulgaria, but also in Hungary negotiations were held at the “round table,” which were quite lengthy and which were supposed to specify the basic things that should be done in the post-communist period. The aim of the communist parties was to mine this process, to lay traps using the repressive apparatus of State Security and to recruit people for subversive activity in the reformist movements. Both in Bulgaria and Hungary these attempts were in many cases successful,” the President of Hungary said. Janos Ader emphasized that currently it is unacceptable to appoint representatives of the repressive apparatus of the communist regime in the state administration and special judges are in charge of not allowing this to happen.

 

Studying the policy of repression during communism is part of the educational program in Hungary, President Janos Ader further said in the statement he made at the conference.  

 

President Rumen Radev met in Bern with the head of state of the Swiss Confederation, Viola Amherd

The long-standing friendship between Bulgaria and Hungary, mutual respect and trust, as well as our spiritual connection are the solid foundation for the upward development of relations between the two countries. In the veins of both nations flows the blood of our ancestors with their striving for freedom, justice, independence and perfection.

Bulgaria will continue to be a predictable and reliable partner for the transmission and supply of energy resources, said President Rumen Radev in his talks with his Hungarian counterpart Tamas Sulyok and with Prime Minister Viktor Orban during his official visit to Budapest

The Bulgarian head of state was received by the head of the Roman Catholic Church on the occasion of the Day of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, of the Bulgarian alphabet, education and culture and of Slavic literature - May 24