For me, this was expected, because at the moment in the BSP, any different opinion is not tolerated. And unfortunately, BSP today is not what it was many years ago. When the party – according to one sociologist – was “complicated and large”. It became simple in structure, and small.“
This is how the former prime minister of Bulgaria and former leader of the BSP Sergey Stanishev commented to Euronews Bulgaria why he was not included in the party's list for the European Parliament.
"I say this with great pain as a member of the BSP. There is a huge expectation among center-left voters to offer a real alternative to what we see - in the “assembly” and in all these exercises which we have witnessed in recent years. And she is not offered. Because the BSP, unfortunately, was simply thrown into competing with nationalist, conservative and traditionalist parties on their turf. And I've been saying it for years, that's why it's logical that I'm not a candidate from this BSP, for Ninova", added the former leader of the socialists.
It was not by chance that an absurd term was invented – “conservative left”, he pointed out.
„This alienates a mass of people who are looking for a sensible, responsible, national centre-left alternative. Which is social democratic in its essence. Today, such a thing is not observed at all in the political arena”, Stanishev is convinced.
He denied the possibility of running for BSP chairman again.
"For me, the experiment itself with the direct election of a party leader turned out to be quite a failure. It is not by chance that the major social democratic parties in Europe do not apply this mechanism because they are convinced that the party leader should be chosen by a conscious political body, such as the Congress.
Regarding the European Parliament elections and the functioning of the European Union in general, Sergey Stanishev said that there are more critics than those who proclaim themselves anti-European.
"I know very well how things happen from the inside, I know the defects of the functioning of the European Union... The EU is not one country, like the USA, Russia, China, which can mobilize resources, political will, and achieve results. We are 27 countries. And every decision is made very difficult because everyone says “I do not cede sovereignty”.