Rossen Plevneliev: ‘We haven’t put socialism in the museum’
The former President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Rossen Plevneliev, has called on Bulgaria to come to terms with its past. At the Second Annual Meeting of the Millennium Club in Sofia he said that Bulgaria’s transition was not over yet, since society was still divided on the balance of socialism.
“I very much want the transition to come to an end and to agree in society that it is,” the former head of state was quoted saying by the Bulgarian-language publication Mediapool. Some believed socialism had provided certainty and calmness, while others saw the dictate of the communist regime and the State Security, Plevneliev said.
“The truth will not come out until the dossiers are processed.” Plevneliev was referring to the former State Security’s documents which are still being examined by the Bulgarian Dossier Commission.
Plevneliev said that many former socialist countries had put socialism in the museum, “but we have not.”
He said 10 800 former State Security collaborators currently worked in Bulgaria’s institutions. “When I buy a book about the 100 most important personalities in Bulgaria, Todor Zhivkov is on the cover,” Plevneliev said, referring to the former communist dictator of Bulgaria.
Plevneliev said tht Bulgaria needed a national strategy which aimed to eradicate poverty, to develop innovation and to have justice and rights for everyone.
