Bulgaria's former Prime Minister and leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Sergey Stanishev, spoke for one hour before the 900 delegates of the emergency Party Congress on Sunday.

“We look more like a gang of villains rather than adherents to a cause,” Stanishev declared in his speech, in which he talked about both his term as Prime Minister (2005-2009), and the situation of the BSP, Bulgaria’s largest left-wing party.

“Right now everyone has their own trench, we don’t have joint trenches. I have no intention of entrenching myself on my own. We need to stand for what we have achieved,” the Socialist leader said.

"Comrades, over the last few weeks there were harsh accusations against me - that I am a fake Socialist; that I am a little boy; that I am a bunny that came out of President Georgi Parvanov's sleeve; that I am a puppet simultaneously governed by DPS leader Ahmed Dogan, by the Presidency, by anonymous advisers; that I am not warrior. I have been likened to Todor Zhivkov (Bulgaria's communist dictator - editor's note). I did not manage to make clear to the people even the obvious social achievements that came from the BSP.

"I did not manage to out-speak Boyko Borisov. But this is my confession before you. You decide if I have any reason to be the party leader from here on. No matter what your choice will be, I will never stop working for the BSP," the ex-Prime Minister stated.

In his words, a number of political players outside the BSP meddled into the preparation of the 47th Party Congress, which has been called up after the Socialists lost overwhelmingly the July 2009 Parliamentary Elections to the GERB party. Among those “meddled, Stanishev mentioned current Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, the Blue Coalition leader Ivan Kostov, the national Ataka party leader Volen Siderov, the conservative RZS party leader Yane Yanev.

“They are all targeting the BSP in order to turn into to the scapegoat of the post-communist transition of Bulgaria,” Stanishev said stressing that his term was the time of the greatest economic and social progress that Bulgaria had in the last 20 years.

He added that the 2005-2009 government was a coalition one, and that the three-way coalition with the National Movement for Stability and Prosperity, and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) was the result of an extremely difficult political compromise.

“It is my responsibility that I did not make changes in the Executive Bureau of the BSP after the last Party Congress,” the ex-PM explained.

“It was my fault that I did not foresee the scope of opposition from the Interior Ministry that the creation of the State National Security Agency (DANS) was met with,” Stanishev admitted.

In his words, he did not made former Interior Minister (2005-2008) (and Deputy BSP Chair) Rumen Petkov resign earlier because of his own wrongly conceived sentiment for party unity.

“The motives for the removal of Rumen Petkov are the same as those for the removal of Rumen Ovcharov (Bulgaria’s former Economy Minister in 2005-2007, also Deputy BSP Chair) – the public opinion could not tolerate them,” Stanishev declared.

He also admitted that the election campaign of the BSP in the last elections was based on confrontation, and that the last-minute changes of the electoral legislation were a mistake because they created the impression that the BSP was trying to win unfairly.

“I don’t accept the criticism that our policies were right-wing. There were compromises but as a whole our policies improved the live of the Bulgarians, and improved the living standards of wide social strata,” the former Prime Minister said.

Yet, in his words, the large public funds and resources that the former government managed to accrue were not distributed in the best possible way. In addition, it also failed to crack down on corruption, and to provide for the absorption of EU funds.

At the same time, the BSP failed to communicate with the people, and the party members. “We did not explain what and why were doing it,” the Socialist leader stated.

"We saw the problems, we named them, we made decisions, and everything remained on paper. The reason for that is the lack of team work, of a joint cause, the inability to integrate interests, and to place the joint interest above everything else.

“I am not ashamed of the work I have done, and I am convinced that the good that we did for the country is a lot greater than our mistakes. I was overly trusting to the good will of the ministers, and the understanding that since we are in one and the same team, everyone would work conscientiously. I gave many people second chances, and let party work become less important, and we did not manage to make the party committed to the government. In the last few months, we have seen visible intolerance between the people from the party leadership, and in my view, these problems date back to the beginning of the transition,” the former PM said.

“The worst scenario for Bulgaria is the lack of alternatives. After the rightists were bought with minor positions, the left is now the only alternative to the government,” he declared.

He was positive that the new mission of the BSP should be to be a strong and socially committed opposition. He vowed to stick to the Socialist Party as the viable left-wing political project of Bulgaria, stating that it needed changes in the way it formulated its policies, picked its leadership and experts, increased its accountability, and responsibility.

Stanishev stressed the need of focusing on the building up of local party clubs, boosting the online editions of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, and introducing party membership with electronic cards as well as the adoption of an Ethical Code of the party. He also emphasized the need to decentralize the party funding, i.e. to let local structures take advantage of the state subsidy for the BSP.

Regarding the GERB government, Stanishev stated Bulgaria was being governed by a rightist populist party which constantly spreads lies through its media presence, and still had not created a governance program and an anti-crisis plan.

He said the Parliament had adopted only 18 draft laws including several who were clearly favoring corporate interests and lobby groups such as the Notaries Public Act, the Cultural Heritage Act, and the Hunting Act.

“Their plans will not work out because democracy has an immune system, and no one can muzzle it”, the former Prime Minister said.

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