site.btaPresident Radev Talks to Journalists about Bulgarian-French Relations, Hope of Negotiated Solution to War in Ukraine

Asked by Bulgarian media if the Notre-Dame reopening ceremony marked the beginning of a new path for diplomacy between Bulgaria and France, President Rumen Radev Saturday said the two countries have always had very good diplomatic contacts and intensive and fruitful dialogue at the top political level, the President's press secretariat said.

Radev and his wife, Desislava Radeva, attended the ceremony at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron.

The President highlighted the recognition of nuclear energy as green energy, and industrial cooperation and investments as significant results of the diplomatic dialogue between Bulgaria and France. Radev cited the French company Latecoere, which has more than 350 employees in Bulgaria and manufactures components for Airbus aircraft. He expressed an expectation that this production will continue to grow and will lead to increased French investments in Bulgaria.

Taking a question, Radev stressed that the visit by US President-elect Donald Trump for the reopening ceremony is an important sign to Europe. The Bulgarian President expects Trump to take concrete steps in the interest of the US-Europe strategic partnership as soon as he forms his administration. 

President Macron's meetings with President-elect Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris raise hope that, albeit very late, diplomacy will finally be recognized as the main means to resolve the war in Ukraine, Radev said when asked about the talks. "What I have been talking about since the beginning of the war in Ukraine is finally starting to happen, after more than one million casualties and a devastated, destroyed country," the President added, stressing that diplomacy is the only way to end the hostilities. "There is no military solution to this conflict and why did it have to come to this - one million people dying in the heart of Europe. The question is who will pay the price," Radev asked.