site.btaRosen Plevneliev: "My Term's Assessment Will Take a Long Time"

Rosen Plevneliev: "My Term's Assessment  Will Take a Long Time"

Veliko Turnovo, Northern Bulgaria, October 3 (BTA) - President Rosen Plevneliev said that his term would take a long time to assess and that one does not make history on demand.

Plevneliev was asked to comment on Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's statement earlier on Monday that while the President received high marks from all Western countries, "he largely worsened our relations with Russia".

He said: "Throughout my term I did what I had promised to do. I told the Bulgarians that to me Europe is not foreign policy, it is my family, and I behaved accordingly. I said that for me the direction is westward from Sofia. For me, European development was a matter of a national ideal taught by [Vassil] Levski, Bulgaria's awakeners and revolutionaries - that we are equal to the other European nations."

Plevneliev recalled that he did not stop any of his predecessors' initiatives but built on them. "I did not say anything unkind about another Bulgarian President, not because I could not or had no arguments but because I do not want to." He said the nation expects the presidential institution to rise above the daily political bickering, and that its performance will be evaluated in good time.

"The opinion of the Prime Minister and the politicians is important but President Plevneliev is not a convenient excuse for the absence of a campaign of political debate," Plevneliev said, adding he does not shun responsibility. The President also said that Friday he will make an address in connection with the beginning of the election campaign and will appeal to all presidential candidates to outline the [topical] problems for the State, society, Europe and the world.

Commenting on the situation surrounding the election of a UN Secretary-General, Plevneliev said that as head of State he will not allow a clash of two great Bulgarian women. He was referring to the fact that last Wednesday the Bulgarian Government decided to nominate European Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva to replace Irina Bokova in the race for the top post in the United Nations. Plevneliev recalled his participation in the successful re-election of Irina Bokova as UNESCO Director General and in the nomination and election of Kristalina Georgieva as European Commission Vice President.

He stressed that Bulgaria carries serious responsibility as it has to offer a solution for the whole region. "The idea to put forward Kristalina Georgieva is related to the hope that the bloc of East European countries will consolidate around her and all indications that this would happen are present," the President said.

Plevneliev was in Veliko Turnovo for the official launch of a new undergraduate programme, Software Engineering, at the Sts. Cyril and Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo.