“I believe I can bring back the energy, morale and trust in the BSP. We need to change the way we conduct policies and talk to the people.“ This was stated by the Deputy Chairman of the BSP and candidate for chairman of the party Kristian Vigenin at his meeting with the socialists from Sofia. Among the guests were the Speaker of the National Assembly Natalia Kiselova, the President Georgi Parvanov /2002-2012/, Georgi Pirinski, the former MEP Atanas Paparizov, MPs, coalition partners from “BSP-United Left“ and like-minded people.
“We have no right to enter into new internal conflicts. Our energy must be directed towards strengthening the party. I will make every effort to make this happen. The BSP needs each and every one of us, with united efforts we can make it strong and significant“, Kristian Vigenin emotionally addressed the hall. He considers it particularly important that BSP politicians know how to listen to people and draw the right conclusions: “Let's not have any illusions that we can deceive the socialists and our voters. People feel when you are not sincere with them. If we learn to listen to the socialists and respond to their expectations, the left will not have only 7% support.“
“The world is changing, we must follow the times. It is important to clearly and understandably set our program goals. What we write, we must implement with our actions. Until now, there has often been a discrepancy between words and deeds. Let's bring them together!“ – emphasized the candidate for chairman.
Additional attention, according to Vigenin, should be paid to the training of personnel in the BSP, because its elected representatives should not learn in a hurry using the “trial – error” method. The candidate for chairman presented another idea of his own &ndquo; to create a network of young scientists and doctoral students, as well as to restore ties with cultural and academic circles. Vigenin believes that the party should attract experts to participate in the development of policies that the BSP pursues.
Kristian Vigenin placed special emphasis on the development of the coalition “BSP – United Left: “When we were preparing the platform “100 solutions for accelerated development of Bulgaria“ together, I understood how valuable it is to discuss with like-minded people, I appreciated the expertise that each of the parties has. Special thanks to Velizar Enchev for being here, among us. I believe that one day we will bring back Bulgarian Spring and Movement 21 to the coalition, we will attract more left-wing parties such as the Party of Bulgarian Social Democrats, with whom we are together in the Socialist International and the PES.“
At the beginning of the meeting, Kristian Vigenin shared memories related to the guests of the event – how he fought for just causes with Natalia Kiselova since his youth; how he worked in Georgi Parvanov's campaign, after which he became president; how he was late for school because he listened to Georgi Pirinski's speeches at the Round Table. He remembered the lessons in social activism from his Russian language teacher at the German High School, Mrs. Stoeva, who had also come to support him. He thanked his teacher at the UNWE, Prof. Dinko Dinkov, for teaching him to value his time. Kristian Vigenin also recalled the joint work with Atanas Paparizov, with whom he was among the first MEPs in Bulgaria, as well as the long common journey with the chairman of the regional organization in Poduyane, Vesselin Gazhev.
Political scientist Alexander Ivanov from the Studentski district had sent a reasoned analysis of why Kristian Vigenin is the right chairman of the BSP at this moment. Mariela Modeva praised him for the idea of restoring the BSP's connection with academic and cultural circles. Alexander Paunov from the Communist Party of Bulgaria shared the message of Prof. Andrey Pantev about the factors that generate corruption. Georgi Pirinski challenged Vigenin to reflect on the reasons for the decline in trust in the BSP and the need to clear up all doubts about ties with the oligarchy.
To questions from the participants, Vigenin replied that he would support the boycott of supermarkets, that he does not accept the sale of the reactors for the Belene NPP, that the first thing he would do as chairman is to focus on the work on the budget and the government's management program to ensure that the views of the BSP will find a place there. When asked what he would like to see as a result in the coming months, he expressed hope for serious progress in dealing with the water shortage, to see real results from the investment program for municipalities, to set a target for the introduction of a non-taxable minimum from next year and to begin work on revising the status of hospitals as commercial companies. “These problems affect many people and if there is progress, they will feel it immediately“, he pointed out.
The meeting in Sofia was the final in a series of pre-congress talks by Vigenin with socialists across the country, which began in Yambol and continued in packed halls in Gotse Delchev, Blagoevgrad, Plovdiv, Burgas, Pazardzhik, Veliko Tarnovo and Kyustendil.