SPEECHES AND STATEMENTS

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak before you. I would like to thank fate for giving me the chance to live under two different systems. Currently I am 50. In the first 25 years of my life I lived under communism and the planned economy, in the next 25 years I am living in democracy and market economy.

 

They say that the past is a bridge to the future. However, to secure the stability of this bridge, we will have to tell the future generations the truth about communism. I recall that when I did my service in the army, every day they used to tell us: “Soldier, Greece, Turkey and NATO are our worst enemies.” Today all of us belong to one family. The relations between Bulgaria and all other Southeast European countries have never been better. Centuries on end the Balkans were the symbol of wars, conflicts, terror acts, fights between neighbors and currently they are an example of a peaceful development.

 

This is a remarkable historical transformation that took place in the past 15 years. One hundred years ago a single shot fired triggered World War One. Centuries on end the Balkans were dramatically politically split by the Great Powers. 25 years ago the greater part of the region was behind the Iron curtain.  15 years ago an ethnic conflict and a horrible war was raging in Yugoslavia. 

 

Today peace is reigning in the Balkans. All countries have taken the same path – toward democracy and European integration.  For the first time the Balkan countries are building new bridges of regional partnership and cooperation – something which is quite untypical of our political history. The willingness for European integration by building democratic countries and economic cooperation brings about a positive change. The engine of European integration is functioning and leads to reforms and tangible results. The people like this positive trend and they expect from the politicians to ensure cohesion, integration and common values so that this positive trend can continue and be strengthened. Today we are removing borders, walls and visa restrictions and we are building highways, railways and bridges instead, so that we can connect people, business circles, regions and cultures. 

 

The Balkans are no longer a region of conflicts and isolation, but a symbol of cooperation. However, the region is still exposed to the influences of external forces. History and geography have their importance. Today we are witnessing an aggressive and nationalist Russia that has its own program for action based on a foreign policy that aims to restore its influence and the post-Soviet political space. 

 

I think that from a historical viewpoint we are entering a new phase, that of the pre and post Crimea Europe. Given that a great power such as Russia is consciously violating the international legal norms, the consequences will be visible and tangible everywhere in a long-term perspective. 

 

Today Kremlin wants to take us back to the time when the Great Powers allocated their spheres of influence. We, the Balkans, understand this fact best because we have been victims of such an attitude more than once, above all in the 19th and 20th centuries. Russia’s new policy of exerting force is a policy typical of the past, which takes us back hundreds of years ago, a policy of the Great Powers and the periphery between them. However, the Ukrainian people should not be a periphery, it has its own country and has the right to alone determine its fate. The people want democracy, a law-governed state and functioning institutions. The solution lies in ensuring more direct democracy. The solution for Ukraine lies in conducting more free elections, not in the Great Powers reaching agreements. The Ukrainians may alone choose the path to a European and democratic development and I cannot imagine that this path will be banned simply on the basis of a geographic feature. It turns out that if you are a neighbor of Putin’s Russia or are in the sphere of its interests, this means that you cannot become an EU member state, although your people are willing to. I cannot understand this approach. The policy of the Great Powers vs the periphery is very dangerous for Europe. The Balkans’ past is one proof in support of this argument. 

 

Instead of a modern democracy, based on values and rules, we saw military force being used in Crimea, we saw occupation, an unlawful referendum and annexation of a territory by force. Russia shook the foundations of European diplomacy and the understanding that in the 21st century a responsible approach should be adopted, with trust, arguments and respect for the law-governed state. Currently Russia’s actions clash with the post World War Two European order based on having the Great Powers observe the rules, on their actions being predictable, on working so as to ensure trust and to make sure that the borders in Europe are never again redrawn unilaterally. 

 

Therefore today decisive actions are necessary, so that we can restore the foundations of modern politics – the law-governed state and international law, not the game played by the Great Powers. 

Let us recall Churchill’s words who in 1938 said the following words on the occasion of the Munich agreement: “They were offered to make a choice between war and disgrace. They chose disgrace and will receive war.” Europe may enter a continuous crisis if it has failed to learn its lesson from the past and if it fails to act decisively. 

 

Currently we are observing a Russian policy of expansion and destabilization in Europe. We should not forget that the Russian leaders regard the Euro-Asian project as a rival of the EU. They offer the EU an alternative – a Euro-Asian union from Lisbon to Vladivostok. A lot of EU populists and skeptics, right-wing extremists and nationalists and all kinds of opponents of the European idea do not mind the Kremlin’s new policy which aims at weakening and even abolishing the EU. It is a completely appropriate time for such actions. Elections for European Parliament are due to be held in a couple of weeks. A strong anti-European group may well be represented in the new parliament. The link between Moscow and the anti-European forces is visible, if we consider who sent observers at the unlawful referendum. Kremlin’s policy of force causes instability at a time when Europe is starting to recover from the six-year crisis. This policy of destabilization comes at a moment of a general loss of public trust in the EU as a result of the economic crisis.

 

We are planning Europe 2020. However, can we imagine the EU in 2020 without Great Britain, with a new Yanokovich in Kiev, with unstable Balkans and Great Powers which quarrel over spheres of interest? We do not need such a Europe. We do not need an EU in which there is no center and a periphery in which everyone is important. We need an EU which can establish itself on the global political scene. We need a new wave of integration in South Europe and Europe as a whole. We need an EU which can impose its will on Russia and ensure that free and democratic elections are held in Ukraine. 

 

The new Russian policy of force is dangerous because Kremlin relies on the West’s failure in Ukraine. Although Russia does not want a cold war, it is willing to have everyone serve its interests. Kremlin does not offer a law-governed state, but a domination of force. Therefore if the crisis in Ukraine develops negatively, the logical question would be: “Will there be a next one and who will it be?”  

 

Why do I think the Balkans can be the next ones? Because the surest way to lastingly destabilize Europe is to have weak and unstable Balkans. Southeastern Europe can be destabilized from inside by using nationalists, oligarchs, corruption, propaganda and energy dependence. Kremlin uses the oligarchs and the media, the lack of a law-governed state and the channels of influence from the time of communism. Although it is true that the communist secret services no longer exist, their agents and networks still exist. 

 

What should be done?

1. Southeastern Europe should be brought into focus. It should be in the limelight, not in the periphery. If we only glance at the map of Europe, we will see that Southeastern Europe is located at the periphery, but if we look at Europe and Asia taken together, we are right in the middle. 

 

2. Collectivity and integration should be ensured by following the example set by Visegrad – highways, railways, connection of the gas-transit networks, a common energy market, energy stock exchange and total connection of the networks in Southeastern Europe are of strategic importance.

 

3. Ensuring an intelligent defense and launching projects for uniting and sharing capabilities – the Balkan countries must not only learn to share their resources in the defense sector, to specialize, to set their priorities, but also to work together. 

 

4. Focus on the channels for exerting influence. In Ukraine we observed endemic corruption, oligarchs, media propaganda and lack of justice, which predetermined the crisis. To me Ukraine is a symbol of “state capture.” A country which has a constitution, law and institutions, which are, however, only façade. In the inside they are subject to dependencies and interests. This slowly developing cancer is slowly spreading toward the Balkans. We need to take measures against these phenomena in each country of the region.   

 

The solutions are simple. We should counteract nationalism with patriotism. We can best fight against isolation and destabilization by implementing the engine of integration.  It is not the oligarchs that should be stimulated, but the small and medium-sized enterprises. The solution that counteracts the energy weapon is the energy union. Free media that tell the truth can be used to counteract the media which act as propaganda machines. We can counteract the captured state by offering transparent and democratic institutions. It is important that we do not send Europe back in the 19th century while we are performing the roles of Great Powers vs periphery, but that we position Europe in the 21st century by launching a new phase of integration to secure a stronger and more open EU on the global scene. Moreover we should strengthen the three EU engines – democracy, integration and market economy. 

 

The great issue today is: will the generation that demolished the Berlin wall build new walls today, 25 years later? Walls that separate the East and the West, the periphery and the center, the Eurozone and the countries outside it, old and new EU member states. I do hope we will enter a new phase of integration and will not build new artificial walls. Not only as President, but also as an engineer, I tell you that any wall will sooner or later be demolished.  

 

Thank you for your attention!

December 2, 2023, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

September 20, 2023, New York

Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit, Egypt, 8th of November