The National Program of the Bulgarian School of Politics “Dimitry Panitza” was officially opened today, 30th October, in hotel RIU Pravetz. Forty young leaders, from the parliamentary represented parties and coalitions at the National Assembly and civic organizations, are currently taking part in the program.
H.E. Piotr Świtalski, the schools of politics network manager and director of ‘Policy Planning’ of the Council of Europe, the director of ‘Programs for Civil Society’ Mr. Lenko Lenkov, chairperson of BSoP board Shasha Bezuhanova, members of the parliament, ambassadors, mayors and council-members took part at the opening ceremony.
“The Bulgarian School of Politics is a leader among the network of schools within the Council of Europe” said ambassador Świtalski during his welcoming speech. He underlined that, thanks to the BSoP, the Tunisia School of Politics was successfully founded and is now running efficiently: an evaluation system for the results of the training is developed and support is enthusiastically looked for among the European Parliament.
In his welcoming speech to the new participants, Lenko Lenkov from foundation “America for Bulgaria” paid special attention to the ethics charter of the school. He stressed, that the knowledge and skills, that the participants are about to acquire, the effort that they are about to put, will be in vain, if the main responsibility of ethical political leadership is to be absent. Foundation “America for Bulgaria” is a main donor of the program.
“The Bulgarian School of Politics played a very significant civilisational role in the formation of the democratic milieu in Bulgaria – it combines theory and understanding of what it means to be socially active” said the BSoP’s chairperson of the board Sasha Bezuhanova.
She also added that there are difficult challenges ahead of our country: Bulgaria is the poorest member of the EU; there are 42% functional illiteracy and 40% grey economy. She wished to the participants in the program to find the right solutions and to be the agents of change.