TOP INTERVIEWS Interview with H.E SIMEON SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria February 7th, 2002 Your Excellency what is your vision of the new Bulgaria? It is something, which is in the making. The basic motivation for my presence remains the same as stated back in April and June. It is a tremendous challenge to gradually implement our ideas, and to have our people adhering to it. I made a statement of good will; one thing is to say it, another is to actually implement it. We are very new at this because it has not even been three months. I can see the days left out of the 800 days, which obviously worries me. However, as I mentioned, we are facing a tremendous challenge, and I think a lot of people are realizing that this is not a dream of some sort but a real project that is being implemented. You claim to be bi-partisan. How does this help you to shape your vision of the new Bulgaria? My vision of past, present and future Bulgaria remains the same. But, I would like to see our country as closer as possible to Brussels. I wouldn't say joining the EU because after all, we are Europeans, and we have been here for millennia, it is just a process of reintegration, which is what is expected from the candidates. So our main concern is to accelerate this process. Politically, I find that moderation, toleration, understanding of each other and of course pragmatism are essentials to function. Nobody can prevail himself/herself of having the perfect system and the only one; therefore, we have to be pluralistic. I believe that to respect various trends of political thinking is most positive and civilized though it is not very easy. Our past two generations have been taught one thinking, and then you have the normal reaction of thinking, the opposite. I believe that the middle of the road where there is a majority, and where there are more common grounds is the path to follow instead of sitting on extreme positions of any kind. During your appointment speech you declared that the political systems needed more means to change and more integrity above anything else, could you elaborate on these ideas? I meant exactly what I said. I think that ethics and moral among other values should be taken into consideration because for two generations the notion of ethics was not taught. Business ethics, personal ethics, you name it is a pretty large field to straighten out. In democracy, we have to go by certain principles; you can call it the civil code, the law, or simply ethics, and it is based on respect for one another. Democracy is not about shouting someone, it is not a matter of majority, it is a matter of cohabitation and know-how to tolerate one another and accept other people's opinions. This is the society that we would like to eventually achieve. Our people have an enormous amount of good qualities; I am not chauvinistic but simply someone who has studied this country for a very long time, and its people even longer. They just need a reason to respond to this commitment in the same way; if they see that you have a decent attitude towards them and respect, people will respond to it in 90% of the cases. You promised to raise the living standards of Bulgarians, how is this process coming along? I said that we would try to straighten a lot of things out in 800 days; I am not a politician so I don't promise things. I respect my people far too much to lie to them or to try to induce them into something I am not sure to fulfill; in this sense, I am the most dull and boring politician or statesman because I don't say exciting things. I respect everybody's opinion and I would hate to have to swallow something that I said which I couldn't do. So, our 800 days project will work if we all work together because one person with two hands and a tired head such as mine cannot do anything by himself. Everybody got to be motivated, the whole society must feel mobilized and then things can be achieved, and they can be (…). We are doing a serious business, we are not here to exhibit ourselves or to impress people, the results will tell. People ask me if I am happy with the government, am I happy with my parliamentary group? Who am I to judge people, all I want are results, and I have always been very hard driving with myself, so I expect the same from the people that work with me. You perceive Bulgaria as a double bridge between North and South and East and West. How and when will this vision of Bulgaria be real? It is there. It is just a matter to make the best of it again. We are a small country we don't have huge natural resources, we have wonderful people, a good geopolitical position, so it's a matter of making the best of it. The world is full of opportunities but our goals are clear; joining the EU or NATO are priorities for obvious reasons, but these priorities do not exclude us from looking around and see what interesting possibilities either bilateral or regional could be considered. Someone wrote the other day an amusing article saying that because I have ties with the Middle East we are going to "Arabize" Bulgaria; others have said we can't look towards the East, and that we are looking towards the West. As I mentioned before, we are looking towards Brussels, but it would be rather silly not to think that there are other opportunities along the way. One must keep ones eyes well open and not be dogmatic; I strongly believe in different opinions. Is your royal position an advantage or a disadvantage when having a political mandate? There are advantages and disadvantages in every position but nothing is perfect; even among the political systems, there is none that is perfect to my knowledge. Remember what Churchill said, "Democracy is the least bad of them all". If my previous functions, positions or jobs have given me some experience that can be applied to my present job, it is positive. What final message would you address to our readers? Capitalism is not something sinful or terrible if you understand it in a liberal way. Wild capitalism suddenly seems to be the modus operandi due to a lack of ethics and knowledge. Capitalism means a lot as long as you apply it in a socially equitable and fair way; it is a normal human trend. Bulgarians are much more perceptive, intelligent and educated than what many people tend to think. I recall when I was quite young, a remark which hurt me very much; a politician was talking about Eastern Europe, in those days it was the iron curtain, he said: "In all this underdeveloped countries…" I was only twenty-two, the man who said it was fifty-eight. I said "Mr. Secretary, in your book my country might be underdeveloped but let me tell you that is not under cultured". We are very cultured and very well versed people who suffered a lot and who need very little to react in another way. If we get more jobs you will see the motivation in this country. The very young generations, the ones I call the "Internet generations" are in business. They are just perfect; there is nothing political behind them. But there are a lot of people who have faced very difficult times. Many in my generation feel that life has been wasted. I am a very moderate person but I strongly believe in some values. De Gaulle said that a patriot is a man who loves his country, while a nationalist is chapel like the neighbors. I show my love for my country by wanting to see it as I have seen so many other countries which have been more fortunate and which have had better conditions; there is room for everybody, and in a united Europe there is even more room for everybody. I think that given the right initiatives and ideas a lot can be achieved in Bulgaria, and I hope that we can prove it after the end of the 4 years and of course after the 800 days. Note: WINNE cannot be held responsible for the content of unedited transcriptions.