Ramon Perez-Maura is a journalist, Assistant Editor of ABC, the Spanish daily in which he has done his entire professional career. At present he writes leaders and analysis on international topics. He also writes for the weekly supplement "Blanco y Negro Cultural" and contributes to the Polish daily "Gazeta Wyborcza" and the Spanish radio network COPE. He is secretary general of the European Dailies Alliance which includes "Le Figaro", "The Daily Telegraph", ABC and "Die Welt". Previously he was Foreign Editor and before that Middle East Correspondent based in Cairo. He is a frequent contributor to various Spanish publications -Polнtica Exterior, Nueva Revista, Veintiuno- and his articles have appeared in others in Argentina, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, France, Peru and the United States ("The Wall Street Journal"). He is a member of the board at "Estudios de Polнtica Extrerior S.A.". He has published two books: "Del Imperio a la Uniуn Europea: La huella de Otto de Habsburgo en el siglo XX" Rialp. Madrid, 1997 and "El Rey posible. Simeуn de Bulgaria" Belacqva. Madrid, 2002 -translated and published in Bulgaria in the same year. He has also written the foreword to various other books. He is a member of the scientific committee of the Real Instituto Elcano de Estudios Internacionales y Estratйgicos. He has given lectures in eight universities in Spain and abroad. He has received a scholarship from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and is a graduate in Journalism from the Universidad de Navarra and an Old Gregorian (1982). He is a widower and the father of two children.
Mr Perez-Maura answered questions of Novintie.com Editor-in-Chief Milena Hristova
Q: What is the key objective of your visit to Bulgaria?
A: I am in Bulgaria as a guest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is running a program for foreign journalists to come and see the progress Bulgaria is doing on its way to EU integration. I am scheduled to meet government officials and opposition party leaders to get an idea of the changes in the country over the last three years.
Q: How do you see Bulgaria changed from your previous visits?
A: It is now a year and a half since my last visit and Sofia shows clear signs of bigger financial affluence of the population. There are many shops and coffee shops in the center of Sofia, a big number of new hotels are being opened in town.
I understand that the situation is not the same around the country and there are some significant inequalities. This is one of the big challenges the government faces and a complicated chapter that has to be closed before EU enlargement is completed.
Q: Do you believe Bulgaria will wrap up pre-accession negotiations in 2004 and join EU in 2007?
A: I have no doubt that Bulgaria will succeed in this. I fully agree with the opinion here that Bulgaria can not be forced to move with the slowest running mate, that being Romania. Still Bulgaria should be aware that promoting the candidacy of Croatia is a very good option in front of it. It would be easier to admit Bulgaria, when accompanied by somebody else, than alone.
Q: Almost two years after the publishing of the Bulgarian edition of your biography of Prime Minister Saxe-Coburg, what would you like to add to it?
A: There is not much I could add. I wrote a book about a Bulgarian, whose life was little known for most Bulgarians before he came back here. It is the Bulgarians and the Bulgarian journalists who must go along from there. It would have made no sense for me as a foreigner and a journalist, living abroad, to try to follow up on what I have written.
I do think the prime minister is an outstanding character, always capable of surprising everyone with the moves and initiatives he takes. I have the impression now that after some substantial criticism over the last years, quite often unfounded, he is proving how right he was in many areas. A year and a half ago the word was out that the government was going to fall soon, now the only thing that is falling apart is the main opposition party, the Union of Democratic Forces.
Q: How would you explain the fall in trust that the prime minister has among Bulgarians? It seems like he enjoys more popularity abroad than in his own country...
A: This is a consequence of the government trying to pursue serious policies and not seeking any populist measures to earn easily popularity. One of the peculiarities of the prime minister is that he is a very unusual politician and has never pursued a political career in the classical terms. I am sure he is doing whatever he thinks is best for the country and has never tried to obtain any benefit from his presence here.
Q: How do Bulgarian journalists shape his approval rating?
A: The difficult thing for many to understand is that he does not seek publicity and does not want to be in the media. He has a different approach, perfectly honest and legitimate, and the press must come to some kind of understanding with that.
Q: What is the image of Bulgaria in Spain?
A: Bulgaria has a much better image today than it had a few years ago. The two countries are in the opposite extremes of Europe, yet both are entries to Europe for people who come from other parts of the world. Bulgaria was in many ways a very unknown country. This changed from the moment Bulgaria became a EU candidate and with the election of the prime minister, a very well known figure in Spain. The fact that a former king was elected to run a government created a big interest in many countries.
Q: ABC reported earlier in the week that a Bulgarian arms trafficker has sold submachine guns to the Islamic terrorist that executed the March 11 terror acts in Madrid? How would you comment it?
A: I was very surprised by some reactions in Bulgaria to the reports, published in ABC and some other newspapers in Spain.
All that the Spanish police knows is that a Bulgarian arms dealer sold guns to the terrorist who were killed at the beginning of April.
The fact that anyone could perceive this as an attack on Bulgaria is something that astonishes me. A newspaper points out what a criminal from a country does and that does not mean this is an attack on the country or that the country is linked to the terrorist attacks.
The police is uncomfortable with the fact that we had uncovered the nationality of the arms dealer as this would be a clear clue that he was being tracked.
Still I am amazed that such an uproar can be produced by the fact that a Bulgarian is among those being investigated for this.
A high-ranking official almost described ABC as a paper against Bulgaria. I would recommend him to go back and read some of the things that Bulgarians have published about Bulgaria over the last twelve years.
Q: What was the impact of March 11 terror attacks on the political situation in Spain? How would you comment the first decisions that the newly elected government took, particularly its decision to withdraw forces from Iraq?
A: No one argues that the terrorist attacks have influenced the outcome of the elections. The new government's decision to withdraw Spain's troops from Iraq has put Spain in a very difficult position.
The Socialist party ‘s pledge to withdraw from Iraq was made a year before the elections. Any electoral pledge should be looked upon again under the light of such a tremendous terrorist attack.
It is important how your enemy perceives your act. It is important whether the terrorists who carried out the attack think that Spain is reacting with appeasement. Certainly the impression is that Spain is going into a policy of appeasement.
The government had said it would pull out of Iraq if by June 30 the UN had not come up with a formula to lead the operations. The new prime minister however ordered the troops out 24 hours after he was sworn in, not keeping with his pledge.
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