site.btaMEP Ivo Hristov: Bulgarians No Longer Want to Hear about "Good" and "Bad" Politicians

Bulgarian MEP Ivo Hristov said in a National Radio interview on Saturday that it is crucial to understand that the "fake story" circulated by the "grants-funded media" over the last 30 years, and particularly over the last 15 years, has lost its public appeal. "First, there was the incantation about the 'good Right' against the 'bad Left' in the years of rampant anti-communism. In the past 15 years, with the rise of [ex-prime minister] Boyko Borissov, the media tried to sell the story about the bad, corrupt and unauthentic Right coalescing around Borissov and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. And there was also a good, perfumed, perfect, idealistic and principled Right around Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria and their various predecessors in the Blue sector. Now, the whole right wing is at the table, sitting there in unity, feasting before the eyes of Bulgarian society and leaving no doubt about what it is like," said Hristov, who represents the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament.

According to him, the Bulgarian powerholders have the illusion of all-mightiness and impunity. "They underrate the explosive potential of Bulgarian society, which is extremely oppressed and discontent both with the prices and the standstill," he said.

Discussing Bulgaria's place in Europe, Hristov said: "In the most turbulent times for Europe and the World, Bulgaria has no strategy of its own, no national leadership and direction. We are a drifting ship which the blind waves can take in various directions. I would say that in future global negotiations Bulgaria will be the easiest bargaining chip because it does not know what it is fighting for. With war spreading across many regions, things will come to some sort of negotiations sooner or later, provided we avert the Apocalypse."

In the context of the European elections this coming June, Hristov said: "Europe is turning to the Right, which is taking it away from its founding ideas, the need to ensure peace and prosperity in the continent. In recent years it has been engaged in jointly supplying ammunition to Ukraine and signing free trade agreements with distant partners at the expense of its own manufacturers." He noted that the Bulgarian Socialists were among few members of the European Parliament who have voted against weapon supplies to Ukraine consistently and unbendingly.