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What are the similarities and differences in the fates of Greece and Bulgaria after 2007, when Bulgaria joined the European Union?

So far, Bulgaria has not had such a huge problem with borrowing. It is important to understand that Bulgaria is the last tax haven in Europe. And that without being an offshore zone. If this cannot be understood in Bulgaria, then it will be very bad for the country. In Bulgaria, there are foreign companies and huge amounts paid as taxes, because it is a tax haven. If the percentage of loans increases to the level of the gross domestic product, then the state will be obliged to increase the profit tax. In that case, why should a company work in Bulgaria? It would prefer to work elsewhere. It is because if the tax on profit increases, this will lead to an increase in other indicators, including salaries, prices and so on. From this perspective, Bulgaria is not in the same position as Greece. Greece must carry out very deep reforms in public administration. I like it that no public official in Bulgaria is permanent. In Greece, you have to overcome this thing, which is a very strong tradition. The public sector should be cut. I am very happy when I see that, administratively, Bulgaria is at least 10 years ahead of Greece. Bulgarians accept advice from people whose opinion they respect. That is why I say that Bulgaria does not have the same problems as Greece. And it will not have them if it remains hospitable to foreign capital and companies. If it heads to the euro zone... I am sorry, but things there will not be so bright in the future. It will be foggy. The longer the euro does not replace your national currency, the better for you.

Outside the economic sphere, which are the bridges that connect Bulgarians and Greeks?

We should start with our history. We have been very closely related as nations and we have not had any problems. We need to consider the contribution of the Karakachans in southern Bulgaria and of the Bulgarians in northern Greece. We are members of the European community, we must sit at the same table, abandon the myths, those of mass consumption, and sit down and talk. Then we will have no problems and we will see that we are the same. Politics divides us but we are the same beyond it.

Do you have a hobby and what is it?

I write poetry, but not poetry that caresses the ear. My poetry causes itching of the brain and makes you think. The theme of my poetry is the Balkan countries, their economy, history, society. I do not deal with anything else. All my research activity was associated with the Balkan states, and so is my poetry. This is my love. I am an inhabitant of the Balkans, I am neither Greek nor Bulgarian.

I am a keen angler but this depends on the weather and conditions.

What is your favourite place in Bulgaria and Greece?

In Greece, I like the sea, sun and food. In Bulgaria, I like nature too and the mentality, not only in Bulgaria, but also in Romania, and Macedonia, and Albania. I feel good throughout the Balkans. I like our mentality. It is rough, it is not so cultivated, but something distinguishes us from other people. I will allow myself to be a snob a little.

In conclusion, what is it that will unite us in the Balkans and lead us to a better future?

It is to change our culture. And if we cannot change culture, then we have to dig a huge hole to hide in it. Not the Balkan mentality, which I have mentioned, it helps us. We must abandon the agricultural way of thinking and turn to a more modern way of thinking. The time of labour co-operatives is over as well as the life in an isolated community, distrusting everything new which scares us because it is unknown. Labour co-operatives are the outdated way of living in the Balkan Peninsula that united the workforce in the countryside. This way of living exists even now in our culture. Once relatives, parents and children lived in a closed community, the houses were together in a closed square, behind a common fence. The time of isolation and separation is over, in the modern world there is no place for such isolation, especially as a way of thinking.