/ world today news/ “The assembly cannot solve the big problems of society, the only thing it can do is destroy. This political conjuncture is desperate because it leads to desecration of our national memory.” This is what MEP Petar Vitanov said in the program “The Day Begins” on BNT.
He described the dismantling of the Monument to the Soviet Army as a “barbaric act” that takes away our national dignity and distances us from modern civilizational values.
“The exultation of truncation, the amputation of limbs, the butchery approach to dismantling ranks us civilizationally with the Taliban and the Islamic State, which destroyed Buddha statues in Afghanistan and cultural artifacts in Palmyra. In the civilized world, no one destroys monuments, no matter what era they are from. Apart from the Soviet one, it is also a monument to the Bulgarian army. And Bulgaria has a lot to be proud of at the end of the Second World War,” comments Petar Vitanov.
“We are forgetting our national dignity and our historical memory to bow down now, because of the political conjuncture, somewhere else. Internationally, this trampling on dignity causes our country to be disrespected, even scorned. And every battle with history is doomed. Maybe we don’t like the past, but if we don’t know it, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes,” said the MEP.
Vitanov also commented on the signature for holding a referendum on the national holiday in his capacity as chairman of the March Third Initiative Committee.
“The committee had and has one single goal – to prevent another mess with memory and statehood. We have until December 21st to submit the signatures we have collected. But he ends his existence by fulfilling his goals,” said Petar Vitanov.
According to him, there is a huge charge among the people to fill the political vacuum that the current administration is vacating. “At the moment, the assembly enjoys less trust than the cabinet of Zhan Videnov. The opposition seems to be incapable of being an alternative, therefore, quite naturally, high expectations are related to the president,” the MEP believes.
Asked to comment on the latest developments in the situation with Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen, Vitanov expressed hope for the change in the Netherlands’ position, but also concerns about Hungary and Austria.
“The European institutions are already on our side and have started to put pressure on individual countries. The concerns are related to Hungary – bilateral relations were disrupted and now we are reaping the fruits of the assembly’s decisions. In Austria, there is a retreat from the original position, they are willing to negotiate, but what they are offering is extremely insufficient, because there is no binding deadline to accept us in the land-based Schengen. There, the problem is the biggest, and the funds we lose every year are 150 million euros just along the border with Romania.”
Vitanov expressed doubts about the negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU. He fears that a number of countries, led by Hungary, would not approve the redirection of a huge resource from the cohesion and agricultural funds to Ukraine.
According to him, there is also a change in the attitude towards the war and the possibilities for its outcome.
“We have never contested the role of the aggressor and the victim, but at the moment a military victory for Ukraine seems very difficult to achieve, therefore an attempt is being made to seek a political solution, including freezing the conflict,” commented the MEP.
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