site.bta Public Figures Warn that Recent Steps in Bulgaria's Foreign Policy Go against the National Interests

Public Figures Warn that Recent Steps in Bulgaria's Foreign Policy Go against the National Interests

Sofia, August 31 (BTA) - In an open letter to the President, the Parliament leader and the Prime Minister, 13 public figures including former government ministers and analysts, warn that steps which Bulgaria has recently made in its foreign policy and which they see as going counter the national interests and the model of development based on Bulgaria's membership of the EU and NATO.

The letter is prompted by "imbalanced initiatives" Bulgaria has undertaken in its relations with Turkey and Russia amid the migration crisis and the Ukraine crisis, and new ideas for resuscitating the projects for a new N-plant in Belene and for the South Stream gas pipeline.

The letter says that there is a covert campaign in the Bulgarian news media and in the public space against Bulgaria's commitment to EU and NATO membership. This campaign is masked as a concern for the Bulgarian national interests; the actions of the Bulgarian government are presented as something whose only alternative is a catastrophe for this country. "Creating panic is a well-known trick during election campaigns. But in the present crisis, it undermines the confidence in Bulgaria and creates tangible security threats," the letter says.

According to the authors, Turkey "is clearly extorting the EU using the migrant-for-visas issue". "Having the Bulgarian Prime Minister committed to the cause of the extortionist is a most dangerous step with no precedent in the latest history of Bulgarian diplomacy," the message reads.

It goes on to say that Bulgaria needs relations of goodneighbourliness and partnership with Turkey, especially considering the large number of Bulgarian people who also have Turkish citizenship and live in Turkey, but in "the present moment of delicate relations among Turkey, the EU and NATO, Bulgaria should act straight-backed, with clear and honest diplomacy, with no imbalanced moves, without bending under pressure, without interfering in internal Turkish matters and without giving reasons for hostile attitudes against itself among the present Turkish opposition".

The open letter also says that the only protection of the national interests against the risks coming from the militarization of Crimea and the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, is active policy within NATO. "It is an illusion that opportunities exist for mediation and bilateral arrangements with both Russia and Turkey."

The letter calls "inadmissible flirtation" the talk of resuscitating the Belene N-plant and the South Stream projects and describes them as having "a proven huge adverse impact". "The lack of consistency in its energy policy puts Bulgaria under a risk of new financial, political and material losses. It also damages the country's reputation as a reliable and predictable partner which pursues its national interests within the framework of the common energy policy of the EU," the letter says.

Among the 13 signatories of the letter are former government ministers Vladimir Kissyov, Hristo Ivanov and Traicho Traikov, former Bulgarian Ambassador in Moscow Ilian Vassilev, economic and political analysts Krassen Stanchev, Dimiter Bechev, Borislav Mavrov and Alex Alexiev.