site.btaThe President's New Year's Address: The Pain and Lessons of the Past Year and Hopes for Change in the New Year

ESD 00:10:01 01-01-2021
LN1955ES.102 00:10
102 - POLITICS - PRESIDENT - NEW YEAR'S EVE - ADDRESS

The President's New Year's Address: The Pain and
Lessons of the Past Year, the Anti-Corruption
Protests and Hopes for Change in the New Year


Sofia, January 1 (BTA) - In his New Year address to the nation, broadcast in the last minutes of 2020, President Rumen Radev spoke about the pain and lessons of the past year and the hopes of the new year. The protests against corruption and the political establishment figured prominently in the address and he spoke of an "anti-mafia consensus among millions of honest Bulgarians" and "the brotherhood of honest people in the squares".

He said that Bulgaria and the world are seeing off a difficult year marked by a pandemic that claimed the lives of friends and relatives. "We went through a painful adaptation to a new way of life - of working, studying and communicating," the head of State said, adding that his thoughts are with the Bulgarians who are meeting the new year alone, deprived, saddened and disillusioned, the thousands of doctors, nurses and nurses' aids, who bore the brunt of this crisis.

"In 2020, life reminded everyone how much freedom, solidarity and humaneness cost," said the President. The past year was also the year of Bulgarian awakening. Thousands declared their will to put an end to the lies, lawlessness and corruption. The anti-mafia consensus united millions of honest Bulgarians here and abroad, and the failure to deal with the pandemic, the ruin of small businesses, poverty and widespread lawlessness only confirmed the urgent need for radical change, Radev noted.

The President said that Bulgarians will go to the voting polls twice in 2021. These elections must be organized in a manner than guarantees the health and voting rights of each Bulgarian, and any excuses for postponing machine and remote voting would be unacceptable, he said adding that the society is already organizing itself against the rigging of the elections.

The President stressed the need for leadership "that can take this country out of the deep health, social and economic crisis and start dismantling the vicious governance model, strengthen statehood and rule of law, put an end to the theft, advance education, health care, science and culture as true priorities".

Radev wished the Bulgarian people a year in which they will have the courage, inspiration and determination needed for making this change for which millions of people long. MY/LN