Ex Bulgarian Foreign Minister: Borisov Must Thank Me for Every Ribbon He Cut

Solomon Passy is the founder and President of the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria, former Bulgarian Foreign Minister (in the government of Simeon Saxe-Coburg (2001-2005). Photo by BGNES

Former Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, must have kissed my right hand every time he cut a ribbon for an infrastructure project, says ex Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Solomon Passy.

Passy referred to the fact he was the one to sign on April 25, 2005, the pact for Bulgaria's EU accession, as the majority of the country's infrastructure projects are being funded by Brussels.

Solomon Passy is the founder and President of the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria, former Bulgarian Foreign Minister (in the government of Simeon Saxe-Coburg in 2001-2005), and Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2004.

He made the statement in the second largest city of Plovdiv, at the official launch of the election campaign of the coalition Center: Freedom and Dignity between the National Movement for Stability and Prosperity, NMSP, led by Hristina Hristova, and the National Party Freedom and Dignity, NPFD, led by Korman Islmailov.

NMSP ruled the country in 2001-2005 and was part of the so-called Three-Way Coalition (2005-2009). The party failed to enter the Bulgarian Parliament after the 2009 general elections.

Kasim Dal, the self-proclaimed top "dissident" from the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms party, DPS, and Korman Ismailov, a former head of the youth organization of DPS, founded in December 2012 the new party – National Party Freedom and Dignity, NPFD.

"We want to break the vicious circle of using the ethnic card by DPS and the nationalist Ataka, feeding from each other, and make sure each minority in Bulgaria feels safe, protected and with equal rights. For this reason our coalition has as members Bulgarians, ethnic Turks, Jews, Greeks, and Catholics," said Passy.

He is leading the Center: Freedom and Dignity ticket in Plovdiv where he will face Borisov, whose Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, resigned on February 21.