UN General Assembly
1999

Balkans still lack democratic homogeneity. This has been a source of tensions, which, translated into ethnic hatred, are the favoured tool of any totalitarian regime attempting to cling to power. But I am sure it is wrong to apply a common denominator to the whole region. Today Bulgaria, as well as most of the Balkan States, is a country with a working democracy, a free market economy and the rule of law. An earlier democratic homogenization of South- Eastern Europe can be achieved only if the vision for our countries' integration with the rest of the European States is shared by both the Balkan nations and the people of Western Europe. Efforts and perseverance to this end are the safest guarantee for converting the whole of Europe into a continent of peace, stability and prosperity. This common European vision fully applies to the future Yugoslavia. There is hardly any country that has a higher stake in Yugoslavia's earliest possible integration in the family of democratic Balkan States than Bulgaria. I cannot but share here the concern of the world