Solomon Passy, a former Bulgarian Foreign Minister, has called on Bulgarians to stop "spitting at each other".

Passy said on Friday in an interview on national television that he would not comment on the presentation and preparation of Rumiana Jeleva, as it was the task of the government itself to assess its personnel policy.

Referring to his own political experience, Passy observed: "Over 20 years, while I was launching various Bulgarian candidacies for different international positions, I learned how hard it is to promote a Bulgarian candidature - and the most common problem lies inside Bulgaria."

"At a major international forum you will never see a Turk turn against another Turk, nor a Greek against a Greek, but then one can often see how a Bulgarian stands against his own people," he added.

Passy stated that this practise must change, otherwise "the game is up, because we already have plenty of competition but we are a relatively weak state."

He asked rhetorically why, for example, the British had not questioned the nomination of Baroness Ashton for her European position, or the Germans or Slovaks, their own national nominees.

"Only we, the Bulgarians, did it before the eyes of the world, and this is precisely the big problem that we must we must deal with in the next 20 years, as a problem of national mentality," Passy suggested.

On the question of the future of NATO, the diplomat said that, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, there should be no new changes.

The prime theme and the hottest topic in NATO was the relationship between the western alliance and Russia. There were other considerations and fears, he said, on how to address Russia, but the only correct approach was to treat Russia as a future member of NATO.

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