President Radev pointed out that, during the outgoing year, the steps necessary to make 2019 any easier have not been taken. Quite the opposite – 2018 has been a year of corruption scandals and an erosion of democratic rights and institutions, instead of being solved the problems have been put off, people have grown apathetic of the lack of purpose and reform, while arbitrariness has continued to gain ground over law and justice.

The President said that very likely on New Year’s Eve, there will be people who will be discussing their future, there will be some who will be contemplating emigration. There will be those who will sit down to their holiday dinner with an uninvited guest – politics, even though politics is not something to be shaped at table, it is determined and decided by the efforts of millions of public-minded citizens. However, President Radev was adamant that the Bulgarian people are capable of emerging from any crisis and impasse by overcoming selfishness and fear, and by pooling their efforts in the name of justice, lawfulness, sovereignty and an enlightened future. That is what unity is all about. That is where our future as a nation and a state lies, Rumen Radev said in conclusion.