site.btaAfter End of Mandate as PES President, Sergei Stanishev to Help Bulgarian Left Be Big Again

Approached by Bulgarian journalists here on Saturday, former Party of European Socialists (PES) president Sergei Stanishev said that now that his term in office has just ended, he will do what he can to support the Left to be strong, adequate, European, and modern. Asked if he would fight for the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), he said he will help the Left under the slogan "let us make the BSP and the Left big again, let us be a factor that sets the country's agenda, and not just a party accompanying some coalition or someone who is better or bigger than us". "That is a humiliating position for the BSP", he added.

Before heading PES for 11 years, Stanishev was leader of the BSP for 13 years. In the last regular government, the BSP was coalition partner of Continue the Change, Democratic Bulgaria, and There Is Such a People.

Stanishev went on to say that if the BSP is big and strong enough and so is the Left, there will be a place for anyone.

He noted that he is not a representative of the internal party opposition. In his words, there are many concerned people in the BSP. "We need to realize that today what is on the line is the very existence of the BSP as a political force on which something depends. That is a common responsibility," he commented.

In his 11 years at PES' helm, Stanishev followed the principles of respect and dialogue with every party and, based on that, of consensus and policies reflecting the values of democracy, justice, solidarity, and equality. Unfortunately, in the BSP these principles do not work today, nor is there internal and external dialogue, building of policies that are convincing in such a way that they motivate people not through fear but through positive emotion, he said.

Commenting on the absence of BSP leader Korneliya Ninova from the PES Congress in Berlin, Stanishev said that has been a consistent behaviour over the past years. In his words, that is also among the main reasons for his decision not to run for PES President again. "If you are not backed by a party that is big, that is involved in PES, you can hardly play that role which is expected of the president of a united European social-democratic family," Stanishev said. The last time Ninova attended a big PES event in person was back in 2016, he recalled.

BSP Deputy Chairman Kristian Vigenin commented for BTA that Stanishev has never left the BSP.  In all these years he has always commented, given advice, expressed opinions, therefore he will surely continue doing so, Vigenin noted. Commenting on Stanishev's plan to work for the BSP to be strong, Vigenin said he supports "everyone working for the BSP to be strong".