For these 4 years of reforms between 1997 and 2001 Bulgaria managed to win the trust of the EU and practically start negotiations. Subsequently, there was a strong momentum that led to the successful conclusion of negotiations and Bulgaria's membership in the EU and NATO, and then we seemed to lose focus on what exactly we wanted. I think the goal for us has always been for the EU and NATO to be instruments for achieving better security and a better standard of living. Obviously, it was difficult for Bulgaria to meet the criteria and there remained a period of vacuum in which these covered criteria had to be clothed in political trust. This was stated by the former foreign minister Nadezhda Neinski in the program “ More from the day” on BNT, quoted by novini.bg.
„The geopolitical situation has changed sharply in recent years. Bulgaria had cases in which its political behavior was important, as in the war in Ukraine, and our country was able to show presence and be part of important European decisions. Along with this certain anti-corruption legislation, certain efforts by human rights authorities. All this is a build-up and I think that the last months, the transformations in Europe, the big challenges with the war in Ukraine, the need for much greater consolidation in Europe , the new EC, which sets itself very ambitious goals, including in the field of security, the attack of Russia, the election of Trump forced Europe to take delayed decisions in a much more urgent order, to work for its security, to increase its defense spending, and last but not least, what happened in the Middle East”, she pointed out.
According to Neinsky, the change of power in Syria changes not only the entire region, but will affect other conflicts as well. "What happened in Syria surprised everyone. The axis of evil may disintegrate. This is a big defeat for Russia and for Iran because it is now becoming much more vulnerable to Israel and strikes on its nuclear facilities. International support is very important for the transitional government in Syria. It is important to create a stable transitional government that will calm the markets," explained Neinski.
"You remember that at the beginning of December, Russia began to withdraw its diplomats and soldiers from Syria, it was even rumored that it would close its military bases. At the same time, the Syrian president is conducting negotiations with Ankara, and the purpose of these negotiations was to open a channel for the return of the refugees back to Syria. However, these negotiations failed on the Syrian side, which untied Turkey's hands to some extent in supporting the rebels, added Nadezhda Neynski. Bashar Assad's rule was extremely cruel. He served himself with a great deal of repression against the population. This was also the reason for the resettlement of refugees in neighboring countries. Now it is expected that a large part of these people will return to their places of birth. All these conflicts are very interconnected – Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, tensions in the Far East are at high peaks. It's all locked to a very large extent by the ways in which Russia used gas revenues to finance the war. Expectations are that Russia is facing an economic collapse," Neinsky recalled.
The former secretary of state said he thinks Trump's second term will be different. She added that three models for ending the war in Ukraine are being discussed.