"Bulgaria is already fully integrated into Europe. The next thing that is extremely important is that for the first time in our country there is a centrist political movement that is not afraid to be in power, is not afraid to stand for a slightly different identity and to have its own political appearance at all - something that Bulgaria has not demonstrated clearly enough on the European stage so far." This was said in the program "Bulgaria, Europe and the World in Focus" with host Tsonya Sabcheva on Radio FOCUS, the director of the sociological agency "Myara" Parvan Simeonov.
"Until now, our country has often simply said "yes". Now, since it is already part of all key European formats, Bulgaria can afford to be itself," added Simeonov.
"By this I mean the presence of a ruling political movement with a centrist profile, which sometimes positions itself slightly to the right of center. This largely corresponds to the attitudes of Bulgarian society. Unlike countries such as Romania, Poland, the Baltic countries or the Czech Republic, where public sentiment is significantly more critical of Russia, in Bulgaria there are still historical and cultural attitudes that are rather favorable to Moscow," he added.
In this sense, we are not simply witnessing a new political situation, but a new historical stage. It can be said that a new political elite is also taking shape, since a large part of the old one is already absent from the political scene. The transition parties, as I have already mentioned, probably need to rethink their future, and some of them - even their own existence. Therefore, now is the time to step back and look at the broadest possible picture.
"The assessment of the government will ultimately be given by the people. At the moment, however, I can assure you as a researcher that for another month, those in power enjoy very comfortable levels of public support," said Parvan Simeonov.
He explained that these are indicators that allow us to say that if elections were held tomorrow, there is a real possibility that Rumen Radev's party could receive over 50% of the votes.
"Any conscientious researcher knows that after an election victory there is usually a period of several months during which public opinion gradually adjusts to the winner. We are still in such a period. In addition, we are entering the summer season, when political activity traditionally decreases. After it, the period in which public attention will be focused on the presidential elections is coming," he added.
"Realistically speaking, we are now in the shadow of first the summer, and then the upcoming presidential campaign. Therefore, the first real signals about the public assessment of this administration will probably come in the winter, when people will most noticeably feel the possible need to tighten their belts," the sociologist concluded.