site.btaDemocrats for Strong Bulgaria: The Biggest Foreign Policy Blunder of Two Decades

Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) said Thursday that the government decision to join President Trump's Board of Peace is "the biggest foreign policy blunder of the past two decades". 

"We at Democrats for Strong Bulgaria are convinced that today’s appearance of outgoing Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov [at the signing of the Board of Peace charter], weeks after he was forced to step down amid the largest anti-corruption protests, is the biggest foreign policy blunder of the last two decades - longer than the period Bulgaria has been a member of the European Union," said MEP Radan Kanev as quoted by the press office of DSB where he is a ranking member. According to him, this appearance is "a direct threat to national security and a humiliation for every Bulgarian citizen".

Kanev emphasized that the Donald Trump Board of Peace "is nothing more than a personal whim of the American President, announced as his personal organization, in which he is the sole lifelong leader, and which is intended to serve his foreign policy adventures".

Radan Kanev stated that Bulgaria’s place is "among the countries that defend the unity of the European Union and oppose threats and all forms of coercion against Member States". In his words, the most recent example of such behavior is "the aggressive threats against Greenland and Denmark - a member state of the EU and NATO, one of the United States’ longest-standing and most reliable allies." Kanev pointed out that this was followed by "arrogant pressure and threats of economic coercion against those European countries that had the courage and dignity to take a common position in support of Denmark." “The place of Bulgaria was among those countries. The place of Bulgaria is in a strong and united European Union that opposes such threats and forms of coercion," the MEP emphasized.

He also highlighted the position of the European Parliament, noting that resolutions against this behavior have been passed unanimously, "including by nationalist and far-right parties, which traditionally flirt with Donald Trump - because you cannot be a European nationalist and allow your ally and neighbor in Europe to be put to such pressure," he said.

He described the behavior of GERB leader Boyko Borisov, MRF - New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski, outgoing Prime Minister Zhelyazkov, and outgoing President Rumen Radev as an "undignified contest over who will cater best to the whims of the American President".

"This is not in the interest of our national interest or our national security," Kanev said, emphasizing that Bulgarian citizens do not want the country to become a "marginal, clientelist state," but a "strong and stable member of a united Europe".