The name of the new political formation around President Rumen Radev - – “Progressive Bulgaria“, is a request to break out of the institutional stalemate in the country. This was stated by journalist, former MEP and former chief of staff of President Radev Ivo Hristov. He commented on the political messages of the formation, as well as the international situation related to the war in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine.
Regarding the name "Progressive Bulgaria", Hristov commented:
"In my opinion, this is a request to break out of the stalemate in which Bulgaria finds itself. An institutional stalemate. The same motivation has brought people to the streets several times in recent years. I'm not just talking about the recent protests. I don't know why the name was interpreted in a roundabout way by some critical observers, who saw in this a flirtation with the modern notion of progressivism, from which Mr. Zarkov also distanced himself to some extent, making references to historical socialism. Progress is a concept that has existed in the political lexicon since the 19th century. In fact, we owe it the state we live in, the Europe we live in, the social state, the freedoms we enjoy. This is not, how can I say, a discredited word, although efforts have been made in this direction. Let's rehabilitate it in Bulgarian conditions."
In the words of Ivo Hristov "Radev is anything but conservative."
"He is a person who is on the "you" with technology, he downloads applications, practices extreme sports, communicates with young people, so I don't have the impression that he is a conservative person. As for his background - it is a fact that a military man is expected to have hierarchy and some anchoring in tradition, but I do not think that the two things are at odds. This supranational consumer-consumer, which gives birth to neoliberalism all over the world, has been living out its time in recent years; in many countries, we have a backlash from globalization and a return to identity. And there is nothing wrong with that. You could even say that it is anticipatory."
Ivo Hristov commented on the interview of the three ambassadors of France, Great Britain and Germany for the program "Panorama".
"For me personally, the questions were more interesting than the answers, since they were at a depth that the three guests did not want to ascend to. They repeated certain positions that I had heard already during my time as an MEP. The fact that Ukraine is winning, the fact that the Russian economy has 3 days left, and so on. But many years have passed since then. I fear that this persistence in Europe's strategic blindness will cost us dearly. We are very much like that lamb from the Georgian anecdote, which spends its whole life afraid of being eaten by the wolf and ends up being eaten by the shepherd. More or less the same is happening to Europe, since with the arrival of the Trump administration, the game with tariffs began. The two Munich conferences came, at which the revision of Transatlantic relations was clearly announced. Now we also have a war in the Middle East, which is sharply increasing the price of energy carriers. This time it is not about a momentary trend in the market, but about destroyed installations for refining and transporting these raw materials. So the crisis will be permanent, long-term and Europe will be the first to suffer."
Ivo Hristov emphasized that the conflict in Ukraine has no simple explanation.
"This conflict has no simple explanations and the attempt to infantilize the debate and reduce it to a black-and-white reading will not contribute anything to its resolution. When Europe says, we are next to Ukraine, we will be next to Ukraine and continue to be next to Ukraine, it says - "We will pay", but it does not say, "We will fight", it says "We will pay". And in Ukraine they are already hunting the commandant, they are hunting the soldiers on the street. They are running of course, people are running and this is normal, they are not motivated to fight. There are no good and bad people here in this conflict. Everyone is in sin. And the tying of the knot began many years ago, in 2014. And the escalation was the result of actions by all parties to the conflict."
Regarding the geopolitical situation, he commented:
"Boyko Vassilev, BNT: What do you expect? A wave, a ripple or a tsunami?
Ivo Hristov: I think that a tsunami awaits us all here, but I'm not talking about the elections. Because the situation in the world is such that we are on the verge of unpredictable events. In this sense, the Bulgarian boat, the Bulgarian ship must remain stable. I have often given this example that Bulgaria resembles an ocean liner, in whose pool people dip their heads underwater, play inside, pinch themselves, drown. But in fact, a big storm is playing out around us. And we have no interest in rocking the ship. What will happen in the elections themselves, I cannot guess. Here, Mr. Vassilev says that they will strive for 120. Of course, our aspiration is also to have 120 deputies for the same reasons. And I think that people have an interest in choosing, in betting on some alternative. He, like all parties, I mean the systemic ones, are participants in the first or second assembly, are participants in the destruction of the Constitution, which is the reason for our current impasse. All parties denied the people the right to vote in a referendum on whether to change their money. Now we all receive our electricity and heating bills. And we see that the effect is not positive. And this is the least of it, because beyond the predictable and long-forecasted appreciation, comes the question of the future of this European currency in this situation on the hydrocarbon market and all the instability."