New Party of Change Emerges on Bulgaria’s Political Arena

"In the past four months we started to bring about change with clear goals in mind," Petkov noted at the beginning of the presentation. He stated that the number one priority is to stop corruption. Second - unburden the small and medium-sized enterprises so they can thrive. Three - attract high-tech investments. Four - distribute the resulting prosperity fairly.

"You know us. We want to continue the work of the past four months in the next four years," Petkov said, adding that being left-wing or right-wing was irrelevant and that the caretaker government had featured all kinds of ministers. He said that being honest is what matters and that is why the new project is ready to work with anyone as long as they are honest. The guiding criteria for entry into the new political project will reflect that stance. Candidates should have successful careers outside of politics and so be independent figures, they cannot have a history of membership in more than one party or scandals in their past that cannot be explained. Every candidate will be required to sign a contract of honesty, through which they will show that they do not hide money.

During the introduction of the new political project's team it was revealed that some of the participants worked with Kiril Petkov at the Ministry of Economy in the past months. The first to step up to the microphone was Denitsa Simeonova, who has a master's degree in engineering. She is a social entrepreneur and wants to see the business environment in Bulgaria changed. Yana Balamikova, who was part of the interim team at the Ministry of Economy, has experience in the fields of economy and biotechnology. Kalina Konstantinova, who studied in the US and the UK, served as a deputy minister and was part of Kiril Petkov's team....