November 11, 2009



At the beginning of the plenary meeting of November 11, 2009, the Vice-President of the National Assembly, Dr Lachezar Ivanov, presented the message of Jerzy Busek, President of the European Parliament sent to Bulgaria on the occasion of the anniversary of the beginning of the democratic changes.

The message reads:

"Dear Bulgarian friends,


It is a great honor and pleasure for me to congratulate you on the occasion of a very important day for the Bulgarian nation - November 10, 20 years after the fall of communism.

Before 1989 we lived in a Europe with walls, in a divided Europe. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Iron Curtain led to the unification of Europe. There is no freedom without solidarity. This is as true today as it was during the 80's, when I participated in the Solidarity Movement.

Communism in Bulgaria destroyed the historic heritage of the country and tried to rewrite its history, buried the country's economy, deprived the nation of its identity and its citizens of the freedom of speech, and it was done in the same way as in other countries under the same regime. I know it, because I had experienced it in my country. Then, back in 1980, my generation began the fight for freedom in Gdansk. Similar to the people in Sofia, to the dissident, independent Bulgarian organization for the protection of human rights, the Glasnost club and the one for protection of the environment named “Ecoglasnost” ", we all were thinking that we were small in number and because of that doomed to failure. But gradually we realized that we are many, and felt our destiny, in the fateful 1989, 20 years ago, to demolish the walls that were a prison for 100 million of us. "

20 years have past, Bulgaria is a member of the European Union and NATO, together with the largest powers in Europe. Transition to democracy was not easy, but today the Bulgarian nation is confident, strong and free to express itself and act freely. Today - twenty years later – we are looking at the future. Free, democratic and proud. We've changed the spirit of Europe. Our nations were imprisoned, but now we are back to our common European family of free nations. "