President Rumen Radev announces that he is stepping down

In an extraordinary address to the Bulgarian people, President Rumen Radev announced that he was addressing the nation for the last time as President of Bulgaria. He expressed his gratitude for the trust placed in him in two presidential elections, but emphasized that the political circumstances require the need for a “new social contract.”

At the beginning of his nearly ten-minute address, Rumen Radev asked the Bulgarian people for forgiveness, noting that during his nine-year term he had made mistakes, without specifying them.

“I would like, first and foremost, to ask for forgiveness. Time has put your trust to the test. For that, I thank you for your patience. I acknowledge my own mistakes! I am aware of what I failed to accomplish. But my belief that we will achieve it is one of the main motives behind this decision.

Over the past nine years, Bulgaria has completed the process of its European integration, for which all regular and caretaker governments worked diligently. We are now members of the Schengen Area and the Eurozone — a horizon set by our society back in the late 1990s.

The question here is why the achievement of these goals did not bring stability and satisfaction. Why did Bulgarians stop voting? Why do they not trust the media and do not rely on the judiciary?”, Rumen Radev said.

He recalled that citizens had taken to the streets twice because of a flawed model of governance, functioning like an oligarchy outside the institutions.

According to Radev, politicians have put the peaceful lives of Bulgarians at risk during a war unfolding nearby, and the assemblage (the coalition of GERB and We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria) had erased the line between corrupt actors and those fighting corruption.

Rumen Radev believes that the caretaker government is no longer a guarantor of fair elections, and that the final rupture with the people occurred when the MPs denied citizens the right to choose by refusing to hold a referendum on the introduction of the euro.

A new social contract is necessary because two-thirds of Bulgarians no longer wish to vote, Rumen Radev said in his final address as president. He pledged to defend democratic institutions and the young Bulgarians who, during the protests in the autumn of 2025, declared that they no longer want to leave the country.

“Unity in the square shows the way forward”, Rumen Radev added, announcing that on January 20 he will submit his resignation as head of state to the Constitutional Court. He also made a clear signal of his intention to enter politics ahead of the snap parliamentary elections in the spring.

Vice President Iliana Iotova will be a worthy president, Rumen Radev said, adding: “A battle for the future of the Fatherland lies ahead, and I believe we will fight it together with all of you — the worthy, the inspired, and the unyielding. We are ready, we can do it, and we will succeed!”, said Rumen Radev.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov