site.btaVidin Contributes Bridges of Understanding to Europe - BTA Director General

Vidin's contribution to Europe are the bridges of understanding, in the literal and figurative sense, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said at the opening of the local conference within BTA's Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project. The conference is taking place at the BTA National Press Club here on Tuesday.

He pointed out that the project aims to talk about the exchange of knowledge between people in Bulgaria and the Balkans, and people from the rest of the European Union. "We chose the end of January for the conference in Vidin because this is a time of symbolic dates for these bridges of understanding," Valchev emphasised.

He recalled that on January 24, 2007, the National Assembly ratified the agreement between Bulgaria and Romania for the construction of a new bridge over the Danube River. The bridge is called New Europe and was opened in 2013 as part of the European Transport Networks, with financing coming mainly from the EU.

Valchev noted that the Danube bridge is a material expression of the understanding between Bulgaria and Romania, which in modern times finds expression in a Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Good Neighborliness, signed on January 27, 1992, adding that January is also associated with Bulgaria's and Romania's full accession in Shengen in 2025.

He recalled that with the month of January people also associate the free movement across this bridge without border checks, which were abolished from this month this year after the full acceptance of Bulgaria and Romania into the Schengen area and across the land borders. In January - on 26th 2000 - the European Commission proposed that Bulgaria and Romania be removed from the "black" list for Schengen visas.

The bridges of understanding, which have their symbols in Vidin, are not only towards Romania, emphasized the BTA Director General. Yesterday, on January 27, the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during World War II was marked, and this date was declared the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust by a resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN), said Valchev.

He stressed that Vidin's bridges of understanding are not only towards Romania, noting that the city is home to the second largest synagogue in the country, which was built in 1894. It is one of the symbols of Bulgaria as the country which saved its Jewish population, including the Jewish community in Vidin, Valchev said on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau during World War II, which was commemorated on January 27 - International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.

BTA's Director General pointed out that Bulgaria saved nearly 50,000 Jewish lives, despite being in a coalition with Nazi Germany and adopting anti-Semitic laws, which make the rescue even more significant. According to official data on the website of the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Centre, 50,000 Jews lived in Bulgaria before World War II and the country recorded zero victims. The only country in the centre with zero victims recorded is Bulgaria, Valchev stressed. He added however that among the 5,860,000 Jews that died during the Second World War, there were 11,343 Jews from Vardar Macedonia, Southern Thrace and Pirot, deported on German order from these lands with a Bulgarian administration that failed to oppose the deportation.

He emphasized that today the Vidin Synagogue is a cultural centre named after Jules Pasquin, a person who is also a symbol of bridging differences. Born in Vidin, he was Bulgarian by birth and nationality, Jewish by ethnicity, Austrian and German by education, American by citizenship and home, French by school and second home. "This painter and graphic artist from the Paris School, called the Prince of Montparnasse, is a true example of European unity in diversity, which is the motto of the EU," Valchev stated.

He also pointed out that the first symbolic bridge of newly liberated Bulgaria with Europe at the end of the 19th century was the first Bulgarian exarch and later Vidin Metropolitan, Antim I, whose mausoleum is located in the courtyard of the Vidin Metropolitanate.

Through the Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project, BTA aims to raise public awareness and foster open dialogue about cohesion policy, local achievements, and the implementation of the EU's policy priorities. The project kicked off with a conference in Veliki Preslav in November 2024. Until September 2025, BTA will host discussions at its press clubs in the following cities: Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Kazanlak, Kardzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Pleven, Razgrad, Ruse, Samokov, Svishtov, Sliven, Smolyan, Sofia, Stara Zagora, Troyan, Targovishte, Haskovo, Shumen, and Yambol. Cross-border conferences will be held in Belgrade, Bosilegrad, Bucharest, Edirne, Skopje, and Thessaloniki. The project builds on the Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future and Europe in Bulgaria: A Common Future projects, implemented by BTA in 2023 and 2024, respectively.