The leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Sergey Stanishev, is worried that populist parties are increasingly gaining ground around Europe ahead of the EU elections.

Stanishev, who is also the President of the Party of European Socialists (PES) and a former Bulgarian Prime Minister, believes that parties on the right of the political spectrum have not done enough to reform the EU and alleviate the financial crisis over the past several years.

"We can all feel that the EU is not inspiring citizens. Populist parties are gaining more and more support. That is why, we (the Socialists) will go into these elections offering a clear alternative. We are doing everything we can to offer people a choice – a political choice", Stanishev commented, cited by the daily Trud.

"Everybody was saying that this is a systematic crisis of modern capitalism, derived from deregulation of markets. There was a clear plan on how to solve this crisis, through more transparency and regulation. When the right won the elections, all this went down the drain."

Stanishev stressed that the next European Parliament will have to focus on social issues and reducing unemployment, especially among youth.

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