The President of Bulgaria in the period 1997-2002, Petar Stoyanov, made a retrospective of the first days of his presidential career in the studio of “Na Fokus“ and discussed the key decisions that, in his opinion, determined the future of the country.
He recalled the difficult situation he found himself in as a newly elected president: "It was scary then. We were one step away from civil war. All that was on my mind at the time was how to avoid this situation“.
The President also spoke about the critical role of the BSP at that moment: “I not only explained to the BSP, but I made repeated statements – all Bulgarian media covered them, that the BSP should give up the mandate. I made such a statement in Brussels as well“.
According to Stoyanov, his key goal was to guarantee the stability of the country and its Euro-Atlantic orientation: “During my presidential campaign, I repeated tirelessly: Bulgaria must become a member of NATO and the European Union. A civil war was fatally distancing us from both“.
Regarding foreign policy challenges, he said: „Zhirinovsky harshly attacked me for Bulgaria wanting to join NATO and the European Union. I answered: I love Russia, but I love Bulgaria more.“
Stoyanov emphasized the country's civilizational choice: „By civilizational choice I meant the ability of a society to organize itself in such a way as to produce a free market economy, to have a high standard of living, a wide range of rights and freedoms, justice and freedom to travel anywhere“.
When asked about the country's economic development, Stoyanov noted: „We are the poorest country in the European Union, but our gross domestic product per capita is 25% higher than that of Serbia and 50% higher than Macedonia. This is the result of the right civilizational choice“.
In conclusion, Stoyanov called for citizen activity: „Open your eyes and vote. In a democracy, majorities are sometimes wrong. The role of the leader is to convince people where to go, not to justify himself with "voice of the people, voice of God".