Vigenin: Europe must have its own plan for peace in Ukraine

“Bulgaria has an interest in the war in Ukraine stopping. Bulgaria has an interest in the Black Sea once again being a sea for trade, not a sea of military conflict. We have an interest in avoiding any possibility of a new escalation of the conflict, which would inevitably affect us, since we are on the eastern flank.” This was stated by the Bulgarian MEP from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament Kristian Vigenin in an interview for the Euronews Primetime programme on Euronews Bulgaria.

Bulgaria’s position on the war in Ukraine

Commenting on the positions expressed by the Prime Minister in an interview with the same outlet a few days earlier, Vigenin said: “For the first time, Bulgaria’s voice was heard, and this time it was the voice of reason. Radev is trying to tell things as they are and is not a slave to the ideologised terminology that has been repeated since 2022 with no result whatsoever.” The MEP stressed that the Prime Minister’s position is neither pro-Russian nor pro-Ukrainian, but an attempt to analyse the situation through the prism of common sense. “There is a high degree of unity of action, perhaps for the first time in a long while, between the messages Radev is sending and the messages that came from Iliana Iotova from the UN rostrum. They are not defending Russia, they are not attacking Ukraine,” Vigenin pointed out. He believes the criticism of Radev for these positions is unfounded: “He has not put Bulgaria in isolation, he has not called into question Bulgarian or common European policy. He is questioning the decisions taken so far and saying: let us think about what more we can do.”   

A European plan for peace and dialogue with Moscow

The MEP stressed that Europe must seek a conversation about peace. “When something does not work, should you keep doing the same thing every time? You have to try something different,” he said. Vigenin is convinced that the European Union must look for opportunities to communicate with Moscow: “Even in the EU, without admitting it publicly, we know very well that there are at the very least conversations, albeit behind closed doors, not so much about whether channels of communication with Moscow should now be opened, but about who should lead that communication.”

North Macedonia and the path to EU membership

On North Macedonia, Vigenin shared his impression that those who believe the commitments made must be fulfilled, and that the country must finally make the changes to its Constitution, are seen there as traitors. “As someone who wants North Macedonia to be part of the EU, I believe the betrayal is not on the part of those who want the country to step firmly onto the path to membership. Had they fulfilled their commitments, North Macedonia, together with Montenegro, would now literally be on the threshold of membership. Instead, for four years it has been blocking itself and blaming Bulgaria for it,” he commented. “The authorities in North Macedonia must make an effort to win Bulgarian citizens over to their side as well, because attitudes are quite negative at the moment,” the MEP believes.

Tsar Samuel and our shared history

On the return of Tsar Samuel’s remains to Bulgaria, Vigenin recalled that North Macedonia does, after all, acknowledge that Samuel was a Bulgarian tsar. “As far as medieval history is concerned, I think there is some understanding that the roots of the modern Macedonian state can hardly be sought there. Not only do we not question their statehood, we were the first to recognise North Macedonia. But this does not mean that we accept our history being stolen, or what we call shared history being presented as the history of the modern Macedonian state,” he argued.