site.btaMillennium Club Bulgaria Launches "End of Transition" Campaign

Sofia, May 28 (BTA) - Millennium Club Bulgaria, an association of young Bulgarians with academic or professional careers abroad, is launching a campaign titled "End of Transition". At a BTA-hosted news conference on Monday, its members explained that the campaign is designed to promote refocusing of Bulgarian society from the 1944-1989 period to the country's present and future problems, as well as to attract political scientists and historians to make a neutral interpretation of Bulgaria's modern history.

The aim is to draw attention to one nation-wide objective and generate public dialogue. The public is waiting for the end of transition but no one discusses how that can be achieved, they commented.

The association is planning a scientific conference under the title "Bulgaria 1944-1989: What Actually Happened?". The event will be held in London on September 9, with the participation of international experts in the sphere of transition periods in East European countries. The forum will be preceded by accompanying discussions of the club's network across the world. The first is planned for June 2 in London. A final conference, "The End of Transition is Today. What Next?", is planned for November 10. The organisers have invited politicians, historians, public figures, the media and young people. The aim is to discuss Bulgaria's priorities over the next 25 years.

The campaign has six goals. One is related to an objective professional evaluation of the 1944-1989 period. The second is that children should not be judged for the actions of their forebears, just for their own. Left parties should avoid nostalgic reminiscences about the period and right parties should avoid witch hunts, the club says. The young people think the time politicians and journalists devote to polemics about socialism and its consequences is lost at the expense of pressing problems in education, healthcare, the judicial system and the demographic crisis. The return of Bulgarian emigrants from abroad is another principle of the campaign, based on an effective strategy.