site.btaPM Zhelyazkov: Our Government Welcomes Criticism – Political Pragmatism Means Political Stability

Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov stated that the incumbent Government welcomes all criticism, as political pragmatism is of key importance to it. And political pragmatism, he said, means only one thing – political stability. He was speaking during the opening ceremony of the new academic year at the University of National and World Economy (UNWE). 

According to the Prime Minister, this is not a call for support, but a call for understanding – that political stability and predictability are the only environment in which the economy can function normally and in which the essential public debate ahead can take place.

That debate, he said, will focus on how the State redistributes national income: how our tax and social security system should look in the next 10 to 20 years, how the State will meet expectations for delivering public services, and what its role should be as a universal redistributor of national wealth.

“This debate is still ahead,” he added, “but it must be held in a calm environment. It cannot be piecemeal; it cannot be conducted solely within the mandate of a single parliament or government. Just as we reached a consensus three decades ago on what our system would look like, so too must we approach this discussion pragmatically, with confidence in the potential and capacity we have as a nation and a people.”

The Prime Minister noted that "we are living in a particularly challenging world, where many of the international relationships and societal structures we have long taken for granted are being reshaped".

“The world remains seemingly divided along a vertical West–East axis,” Zhelyazkov said. “This axis not only reflects ideological differences but also creates objective conditions that shape the development of the global economy, and of the economies to which we belong.”

In this highly polarised and competitive global environment, Bulgaria absorbs external political and economic pressures into its own domestic context. That, he noted, is why issues that ought to find pragmatic consensus – such as the introduction of the euro – become heavily politicised.

“The debate isn’t about whether we’re ‘for’ or ‘against’ the euro,” the Prime Minister said. “It’s about our integration into the system of European states represented by the European Union. Bulgaria’s entry into the eurozone is becoming inevitable – with all the benefits and all the challenges that come with it". 

“In twenty years, we’ve achieved real convergence to a level where the introduction of the single currency is more of an incentive for the economy than an obstacle,” Zhelyazkov added.

He warned that a growing sense of global anxiety is spilling over into Bulgaria’s political sphere, affecting the economy, the investment climate, and public trust.

“In a democratic society, trust is the most important cohesive force,” he stressed.

Attacks on trust – the undemocratic use of artificial intelligence, the spread of misleading news that is difficult to verify, and the lack of reliable fact-checkers – are leading to a deeply “intoxicated” information environment in democracies, Zhelyazkov said.

In such a saturated media landscape, it becomes extremely difficult to distinguish between real news, fake news, fantasy, and outright lies, he added. This creates fertile ground for manipulation, which is why the role of the academic community is to act as a fact-checker for the public – a guardian of collective reason, preventing the public from being misled, he said. 

Addressing the UNWE students and guests, Zhelyazkov reflected on the start of the academic year.