{"id":450832,"date":"2026-04-20T17:12:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T15:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/04\/20\/elezioni-in-bulgaria-lue-da-il-benvenuto-a-radev-ma-restano-i-dubbi-sul-suo-atteggiamento-verso-kiev\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T17:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T15:36:14","slug":"elections-in-bulgaria-the-eu-welcomes-radev-but-doubts-remain-about-his-stance-towards-kyiv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/04\/20\/elections-in-bulgaria-the-eu-welcomes-radev-but-doubts-remain-about-his-stance-towards-kyiv\/","title":{"rendered":"Elections in Bulgaria: the EU welcomes Radev\u2014but doubts remain about his stance towards Kyiv"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 While waiting to put its professed pro-European “commitment” to the test in practice, the European Union<\/strong> has congratulated Rumen Radev<\/strong> on his victory<\/a> yesterday (19 April) in the Bulgarian elections<\/strong>. The round of congratulations was initiated by the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa<\/strong>, who described the victory of the leader of the Progressive Bulgaria coalition as a “clear victory<\/strong>“, emphasising that “it is a pleasure to welcome back to the European Council” the former President of the Republic and now Prime Minister-designate <\/em><\/span>of Sofia. \u201cAs we agreed during our telephone call this morning,\u201d Costa concluded, addressing Radev directly, \u201cI look forward to working with you on our shared agenda for a prosperous, autonomous and secure Europe<\/strong>.\u201d Just a few minutes after the former Portuguese Prime Minister\u2019s remarks, best wishes<\/b><\/a> for success in his work were also received from the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong>, who said she was looking forward to working with Radev \u201cfor the prosperity and security of Bulgaria and Europe<\/strong>.\u201d The German politician also wished to emphasise that Sofia is “a proud member of the European family<\/strong> and plays an important role in tackling our common challenges.”<\/p>\n

Rounding off the “triumvirate” of leaders from the main EU institutions is the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola<\/strong>, who addressed<\/a> Radev to congratulate him and emphasise that the European Parliament is “ready to work together to strengthen Europe and achieve tangible results for its citizens.”<\/p>\n

As for the leaders of the main Member States, neither the French President, Emmanuel Macron<\/strong>, nor the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz<\/strong>, have publicly congratulated Radev.
\n It was the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who offered her “warmest congratulations on the election victory<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Via her X profile, the Prime Minister highlighted the nature of relations between Rome and Sofia, describing them as “deep” and “the result of a historical, economic, and cultural bond that has strengthened over time.” \u201cI am certain,\u201d Meloni remarked, \u201cthat we will be able to further strengthen the partnership between Italy and Bulgaria, both bilaterally and within the broader context of the challenges facing us in Europe and on the international stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind the string of statements marked by institutional courtesy lie the doubts of Brussels and the major European capitals about certain positions expressed by Radev during the election campaign<\/strong>, particularly regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict <\/a><\/span> and Bulgaria\u2019s entry into the Eurozone<\/strong>. Hesitations, which\u2014according to the post-election analysis by the
\nEuropean Council on Foreign Relations<\/a><\/p>\n

think tank (ECFR)\u2014should be put into perspective.<\/span> The ECFR\u2019s argument is based on the conviction that it is highly unlikely that the former President of the Republic of Bulgaria could assume the role of a “new Orb\u00e1n<\/strong>” within the European Council. As explained by the ECFR\u2019s deputy director, Vessela Tcherneva<\/strong>, it was precisely the defeat of the former Hungarian prime minister in the elections on 12 April that deprived Radev of the necessary support \u201cto act as a blocking factor<\/strong>.\u201d Furthermore, Tcherneva emphasised, \u201cwith the looming economic crisis, (Radev, ed.) will not run the risk of seeing EU funds frozen<\/strong>\u201d due to a hostile attitude towards Brussels on the part of Sofia.<\/p>\n

The European think tank\u2019s optimistic interpretation of the Bulgarian election result does not appear to be shared by everyone within the EU. Renew Europe<\/strong>, the group of liberals within the European Parliament, for example, has been highly critical of Radev. The group\u2019s chair, Valerie Hayer<\/strong>, warned of the risk of introducing \u201ca new Trojan horse for Putin in Europe<\/strong>, diverting Bulgaria from its European path and steering it towards Russia, thereby exposing NATO\u2019s southern flank and the EU.\u201d \u201cBulgaria is a major producer of ammunition that helps Ukraine<\/strong>,\u201d added the French MEP, who believes that Radev could jeopardise this supply<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, congratulated the winner of yesterday\u2019s vote. Her sentiments were echoed by the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, and the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. But MEPs from Renew Europe warn: \u201cThere is a risk of a new Putin Trojan horse in Europe\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7899,"featured_media":270206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[26929,33797,28691],"class_list":["post-450832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-inbulgaria","tag-elezioni-in-bulgaria","tag-rumen-radev-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7899"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450833,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450832\/revisions\/450833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}