site.btaBulgarian Ex-PM Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Receives Highest Romanian State Honour

At a ceremony at the Romanian Embassy in Sofia on Thursday, Romanian Ambassador Brandusa Predescu presented former Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha with the Grand Cross of the National Order of the Star of Romania.

In late November 2024, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis conferred his country's highest state honour on Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in token of a "high appreciation of his extraordinary contribution to the support of Romania's actions at the European level and for his personal commitment to the advancement and strengthening of bilateral Romanian-Bulgarian relations."

The ex-PM thanked for the honour, saying that he shares the credit with a team of motivated and competent people. "Even on my first day as Prime Minister of Bulgaria, I was approached with a proposal to work together, and I was convinced that that was the right way," Saxe-Coburg-Gotha pointed out, adding that Romania projected a far more favourable image in the West, whereas he for his part had definite opportunities using his contacts in certain countries.

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha said he was surprised by the honour decreed by President Iohannis, but "this shows that he has good memory and that we did make really great efforts and did a lot of work together." 

Last November, the Romanian head of State signed a series of decrees, conferring orders on Bulgarian caretaker Culture Minister Nayden Todorov, translator from Romanian and Sofia University Lecturer Lora Nenkovska, Euroregion Danubius Association Director Lili Gancheva, Romania's Honorary Consul in Burgas Evgenia Popescu, caretaker Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov, and the Chief of Defence, Admiral Emil Eftimov.