site.btaProgressive Bulgaria Leader Radev: Greatest Challenge Is to Overcome Fear

Meeting with residents of Samokov Municipality on Tuesday, Progressive Bulgaria leader Rumen Radev said the greatest challenge is to overcome fear.

He said he had travelled across almost the entire country to see what is happening in mixed population regions and elsewhere. People are afraid to attend the coalition's events for fear of losing their jobs if they or a close relative work in the administration, because "local enforcers will immediately come after them".

According to Radev, in recent years the power-holders have had a vision, but it has not served society. "You can see that in many ways we are moving backwards instead of developing and moving forward," he commented, adding that the audience demonstrates that society is emerging from apathy and breaking the chains of fear.

In his view, the top priority must be to remove the corrupt oligarchic model from political power. "This is extremely important if we are to restore justice and unlock the Bulgarians' entrepreneurial spirit, because we cannot have a real welfare state if public resources are siphoned into party coffers," Radev said. He added that the next parliament must elect a new Supreme Judicial Council, which in turn should appoint a new prosecutor general to begin work on all stalled cases.

The coalition's candidate list for Sofia Region was also presented at the event.