Bulgarian President Radev’s resignation speech: The full text
This is the full text of the resignation speech delivered by Bulgarian President Roumen Radev in a televised address on January 19:
“Dear Madam Vice President,
Dear Secretaries and Advisors,
Dear Media Representatives,
Dear Compatriots,
Nine years ago you voted for me to work for Bulgaria as President. You did it again in 2021 – an honor and responsibility that I tried to justify in all my actions.
Together we have experienced a number of crises, the oligarchy’s attacks on democracy and the major protests of 2020 and 2025. Circumstances have required me to appoint caretaker governments seven times. To defend the state and public interest within the framework of my powers.
Today, for the last time, I am addressing you as the President of our Bulgaria. First of all, I would like to ask for forgiveness. Time has put your trust to the test, so I thank you for your patience. I acknowledge my mistakes, I am aware of what I failed to accomplish. But it is precisely my belief that we will achieve it that is one of the main motives for my decision.
In these nine years, Bulgaria has completed the process of its European integration, for which all regular and caretaker governments worked hard. We are now members of Schengen and the eurozone – a horizon set by our society back in the late 1990s. The question is:
– Why did achieving these goals not bring stability and satisfaction?
– Why did Bulgarians stop voting?
– Why do people not trust the media and do not rely on justice?
– Why did citizens flood the squares twice?
– Why does a large percentage of people in European Bulgaria feel poor, and an even larger proportion live in insecurity.
I have said more than once that the answer lies in the vicious governance model. It has the external signs of democracy, but in fact it functions according to the mechanisms of the oligarchy:
– Bulgarian politics takes place outside the institutions.
– The puppeteers are not shy in front of the cameras to issue directives to the National Assembly.
– They speak on behalf of the government in the presence of the Prime Minister.
– They seize parties, banks, businesses and media.
– They use power as a club against their political opponents.
In this model, discredited politicians, branded as corrupt on an international level, and their accomplices trade with the national interest in order to earn indulgence. In the name of their political future, some politicians put at stake the peaceful life of Bulgarians in the conditions of a dangerous war near our borders. They even encroach on the civil and ethnic peace, which you and I will preserve, despite their provocations.
In 2020, society erupted. Several parliamentary elections followed and just as many disappointments. The cabinet of the assembly finally erased the difference between corrupt people and fighters against corruption, between legality and lawlessness. The crowning glory of this arbitrariness was the abduction of the Constitution. In its new form, the Basic Law ensured the oligarchy’s continuous control over the executive branch, and the caretaker government is no longer a reliable guarantor of fair elections.
The final rift between Bulgarians and the political class occurred with the refusal of the National Assembly to hold a referendum on the date of the introduction of the single European currency. The people’s elected representatives denied the people their right to choose.
At the end of last year, a new wave of protests swept the government. It gave rise to a broad public consensus against the mafia. A consensus that must be materialized in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Today’s political class betrayed the hopes of Bulgarians in compromises with the oligarchy. Two-thirds of citizens no longer vote. A new social contract is needed.
Our democracy will not survive if we leave it to corrupt people, compromisers and extremists. It depends on the personal commitment of each of us.
Your trust obliges me to protect the statehood, institutions and our future.
At the autumn protests, young Bulgarians clearly stated that they do not want to leave Bulgaria. This is a turning point in the psychology of our people. Therefore, it is time to put an end to reconciliation, indifference and individual salvation. To abandon the divisions that anchor us in the past. It was the unity in the square that showed the way forward.
I want to thank all of you who inspired me with courage over the years. To the people of the yellow cobblestones in the hot summer of 2020. To the students who charged me with their energy in the crowded halls of the universities – Blagoevgrad, Sofia, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Bourgas, Varna, Shoumen, Rousse, Veliko Turnovo, Gabrovo. Everywhere I was with these young people – packed halls with energy and hope for the future of Bulgaria. To the honest people whose handshakes gave me strength. To the thousands of Bulgarians I met every year in the snows of Shipka, to the patriots abroad who carry Bulgaria in their hearts.
Thank you for the professionalism, morality and dedication of my team, to all the people with whom we worked together in the presidency.
I want to thank my wife, who endured all the hardships of these nine years and who was my strongest support in both the good and the most difficult moments.
Tomorrow I will submit my resignation from the post of President of the Republic of Bulgaria. I would like to note that for these 9 years we have shown that a president and vice president can work effectively and in sync, united by a common goal. I am convinced that Iliana Yotova will be a worthy head of state and I want to thank her for her support throughout these nine years.
We are facing a battle for the future of the Fatherland and I believe that we will fight it together with all of you – the worthy, the inspired and the uncompromising.
We are ready, we can and we will succeed!”
(Photo: president.bg)
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