Serbian pro-government publication "ISAK Fund" seriously attacks the former president, and now the leader of "Progressive Bulgaria" Rumen Radev, quoted by BGNES.
The publication points out that the winner of the early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria and the future Prime Minister of the country, Rumen Radev, regularly stabs Serbia in the back. While he was president, Bulgaria blocked Serbia on its path to the European Union five times. The authorities in Sofia do not respect the rights of the "Serbian minority in the country", are just some of the accusations against the ex-president.
At the beginning of the article, which is titled "5 Bulgarian knives in our backs in less than 10 years", the author Daniela Lukovic asks "whether as Prime Minister Radev will continue to put a foot in Serbia's path to the EU"?
"When Serbia needs to be put a foot in - here is Radev, the former president and soon prime minister of Bulgaria. This former military pilot has been in the political life of Bulgaria since 2017, and during this time Sofia has blocked Serbia from the European Union five times, explaining that it is doing so because it is dissatisfied with the situation of the Bulgarian minority in Serbia, the publication writes.
The author also asks the question of whether the country should "beware of a Bulgarian stab in the back and what Radev's victory in the elections means for Serbia".
This question is answered by Marko Savkovic, senior advisor at the "ISAC Fund". "A complete, systematic blockade is unlikely. It is more realistic for periodic pressure to appear, and around the rights of the Bulgarian minority. Radev announced this even earlier, while he was president. I believe that for Bulgaria, as a country that recently entered the Eurozone, it is in its interest to present itself as a constructive member. Even when it was blocked, Bulgaria was not a leader. Today, when we talk about progress, we are talking about problems of a different nature: sanctions against Russia for some, the rule of law for others, Kosovo for others," Savkovic explained.
At the end of the publication, information is provided from the platform for the protection of the rights of the Bulgarian minority with remarks regarding: introducing the Bulgarian language into the education system, information and official use, changes to the electoral law for the purpose of greater participation of the Bulgarian minority in political life, conducting religious services in the mother tongue and returning monasteries and churches to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
"Additional burden in relations between Bulgaria and Serbia is created by the fact that the current legal decisions in Bulgaria do not provide for the existence of national minorities and that all citizens are defined as Bulgarians of different ethnic origin, which is why Serbs in Bulgaria are not guaranteed these rights," the publication also writes.