site.btaFormer Romanian Prime Minister Nastase on Romanian-Bulgarian Relations

A book by former Romanian prime minister Adrian Nastase on Romanian-Bulgarian relations was presented in Bucharest on Wednesday. Among the special guests at the event were Bulgaria's Ambassador to Romania Radko Vlaykov and Nikolay Vassilev, an economist and former deputy prime minister of Bulgaria, the diplomatic mission of Bulgaria in the Romanian capital told BTA.

"The first thing I thought when I picked up the book was that it should be immediately translated into Bulgarian and presented in Bulgaria. This is the right moment for this type of memoir because it marks the beginning of our intensified cooperation," Vlaykov said.

He also shared how, after the end of the communist regime in Bulgaria and Romania, people with a European mindset from both countries started to communicate with each other and thus the bilateral relations changed.

"Overall, I am very satisfied because there is visible progress in our relations. But we have to be very sincere and say that sometimes we work at the speed of the past. We need to change the dynamics of our relationship. It is very important that politicians understand this. For example, our connectivity. It is not possible to have only two bridges on the 490 km border between Bulgaria and Romania on the Danube. (...) The contract [for the second bridge between Bulgaria and Romania at Vidin-Calafat] was signed in 2001 and we opened the bridge in 2013 - 12 years later. This is not European speed," he noted.