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President Plevneliev in Munich: After the End of the Cold War We Are Entering a New Stage of “Cold Peace”

“The security environment in Europe changed dramatically in 2014. We have entered a new stage of development, which I would call “cold peace.” “It is peace, because no one wants war and no one wants to go back to the period of the Cold War. This peace is, unfortunately, cold, because it uses methods which were typical of the Cold War and even of periods before that, when politics was split between the Great Powers and the marginal nations, a pattern which we hoped had remained in the past, and it involved the use of force to redraw borders and an unprecedented propaganda war.” This is what President Rosen Plevneliev said in his statement made before the participants of the 51st Munich Security Conference. The Head of State took part in the presidential debate together with his counterparts from Ukraine, Lithuania and Finland.

Before the participants in the top-level forum in the capital of Bavaria, the Bulgarian President highlighted three major challenges faced by the European security model, established in the post-Cold War period, challenges, which have arisen from the crisis in Ukraine.

The President said that the period of the Ukraine crisis since the beginning of 2014 has involved a new stage in the development of the relationships - a transition from Cold War to Cold Peace. “In this new stage of Cold Peace the frozen conflicts are given – in Georgia, in Transdniestria, in Nagorno Karabakh. Are we yet to observe one more frozen conflict in Ukraine and is it a solution for the people living there? Are the everyday killings and violence a good solution for the people living in Eastern Ukraine? Is this what we offer them? If we are really concerned about the people in Eastern Ukraine, we should not seek freezing the conflict, but finding a solution, which involves adhering to the agreements from Minsk,” the Head of State was adamant. “I believe that Europe is faced with a real threat and there is ample evidence that a hybrid war is being waged and that a strategy to create frozen conflicts is being implemented. This is yet another piece of evidence showing that unfortunately we have entered a new stage of Cold Peace,” Rosen Plevneliev added.

In the President’s view, the second major challenge security in Europe is facing is related to the inability of the Russian state, society and economy to adjust to the globalization and integration processes. “The future will not come through gas pipelines - it will come through efficiency, sustainable development and
innovation, not by using energy as a weapon. The solution today, despite Russia's resistance, is to keep up the process of integration, keep working on free trade agreements, on liberalizing the electricity and gas markets and setting up energy bourses where energy is traded freely at market prices,” Rosen Plevneliev said.  The President once again called on for connecting the energy networks by speeding up the construction of gas inter-connectors and called on for diversifying and liberalizing the energy supplies.

The President said before the participants in the conference that Russia’s resistance to the European model and values is the third major challenge security is facing. “Russia does not want war, nobody wants war. However, we are observing a clear process of confrontation – of sanctions, of hybrid war and of an unprecedented propaganda war in Europe,” President Rosen Plevneliev further said in Munich.

“25 years ago the Berlin Wall collapsed and Europe started making history. Democracy spread to the East. The former communist states became democratic and free. Europe emerged as the biggest economy in the world and a global leader. However, Europe should wake up because in the past years we have lost our direction and we have sunk deeper into our own problems, we have not been making history, but bureaucratic rules. However, if we stop making history, somebody else will make it instead of us. We should believe that we are living in historical times, and we should remain united in defending our own values,” the Bulgarian President called on from the rostrum of the most prestigious world forum.