site.btaFrench Institute Marks 35th Anniversary of Meeting of Bulgarian Dissidents with Francois Mitterrand in Sofia

A conference-discussion on "Past and future of dissent: 35 years after the breakfast with President Francois Mitterrand" was held at the French Institute in Sofia on Thursday.

Among the participants were Michel Eltchaninoff, professor and doctor of philosophy, editor-in-chief of the French monthly Philosophie Magazine and author of books on contemporary ideologies, and Koprinka Chervenkova, who attended the breakfast with President Mitterrand 35 years ago.

The most important thing today is to listen to the dissidents because what was said 30-40 years ago needs to be repeated today, especially in the context of war, Eltchaninoff said.

Koprinka Chervenkova said she remembered how the French president approached them during breakfast saying, "tell me." She added that the most radical statement then was that of Bulgaria's first democratically elected president-to-be Zhelyu Zhelev, who told about the ideas of the NGO that the dissidents had then. Chervenkova explained that the only foreign mission interested in NGOs at the time was the French embassy. According to her, the dissidents are forgotten nowadays.

The moderator of the discussion was Luc Levy, Director of the French Institute in Bulgaria. He told that 35 years ago French President Mitterrand made a key visit to Bulgaria. The breakfast was attended by 12 Bulgarian intellectuals and the meeting is considered an important moment in the process of democratization of the European continent and fundamental in the relations between France and Bulgaria.