Radan Kanev Visits AUBG

On Thursday, Feb. 15, Radan Kanev, a member of the European Parliament, gave a speech at AUBG’s Panitza Library on the topics of the European Union Enlargement and the recent EU agenda. Model European Union (MEU) Blagoevgrad organized the meeting as a preparation for their annual European Union simulation that is going to take place in the period 19-21 April.

Radan Kanev is a Bulgarian lawyer who has been part of political life for more than 20 years. Before he joined the European People's Party Group in Brussels, Kanev was part of the 43rd Bulgarian Government. 

“I am quite moved by your invitation, mostly because some of the brightest minds I ever knew either studied at the American University in Bulgaria or are still teaching here,” Kanev said in the opening remarks of his speech.

Kanev underlined the strategic importance of Western Balkan countries possibly becoming EU members. “It [the EU expansion in the Western Balkans] is going to happen pretty soon, and we are all convinced it is going to be a very positive thing, but it will not be easy. It will be extremely difficult,” Kanev said.

He said that candidate Member States share the same concept for the future of the union – they want to live in freedom and prosperity in respect of human rights. However, they also have similar problems regarding their possible membership – the European Commission. 

“We [the Member States] sell a very sweet image of the EU, which is true, but it is only part of the truth. When we discuss enlargement, I am afraid that you will not need to discuss peace and prosperity because we do not argue about peace and prosperity,” stated Kanev. He also added that the EU reality is more painful and that the biggest troubles the EU is facing are mainly economic and political. He even gave examples of such issues with the recent farmers’ protests and the climate policy of the EU.

Kanev stated that compromises are needed in order to have an effective political union and opened the floor to questions from the audience. Euroscepticism, European Elections, and the declining power of leadership in the free world were some of the most crucial themes discussed between Kanev and the faculty and students of AUBG.

During his final remarks regarding the upcoming European Elections, Kanev said: “We need to start discussing the complex issues of our world in the long term and try to explain that we need to understand, discuss, and make hard decisions on these issues to be successful as a society.” 

He ended his speech with a message directed to all the people in the audience, stating that our need as a society is to try as hard as we can to deal with complex political issues effectively and make sure that people with higher education speak responsibly when it comes to such topics. 

“As S. S. McClure said: ‘The very vitality of democracy depends on the ability of societies to understand complex issues.’ If we consider human rights, then I think that our democracy is not very vital,” Kanev said.

Edited by: Niya Manditsch and David Mitov