Bulgaria's Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotha: It is Time to Leave a Mark After so Many Years of Isolation

''We have to leave a mark after so many years of isolation'', Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotha said in an EURACTIV interview on the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, quoted by BGNES. 

Simeon Borissov Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (or Sakskoburggotski), born 16 June 1937, is the last reigning Bulgarian monarch, who served as prime minister of Bulgaria from 2001 to 2005. During his reign as Simeon II, King (or Tsar) of Bulgaria, from 1943 to 1946, he was a minor, the royal authority being exercised on his behalf by a regency. In 1946 the monarchy was abolished as a consequence of a referendum and Simeon was forced into exile. He returned to his home country in 1996 and formed the political party National Movement for Stability and Progress (NDSV) and became Prime Minister from July 2001 until August 2005. In the next elections he, as a leader of NDSV, took part in a coalition government with the ex-communist party BSP, when Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007. In 2009, after NDSV failed to win any seats in the Parliament, he left politics.

''The presidency is indeed a historic moment and a chance, of course.I think it was in 2009 when I said we should be preparing for (the presidency in) 2018. Then the interlocutors looked at me as though I was from another planet because I was speaking for eight or nine years ahead. But now we are here, the presidency was brought forward (six months ahead) because of Brexit, and it is a very important moment. My personal opinion is that we must be well prepared and at all times carry out the presidency in a meaningful way. But my personal opinion is that this will be the first and last presidency of Bulgaria. The second is in 2032 or so, and by then there will probably be more EU members and it is unclear whether this...