Ultra-nationalist Ataka party would seek to join the European Peoples' Party (EPP) in the near future, Ataka's leader Volen Siderov told Times of Malta newspaper on May 2 2008. Siderov said that Ataka was not a far-right party but a rather centre-right one.

After the elections for Bulgarian members of European parliament last May, Ataka now has three MEPs. They were part of the ultra-right group - Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty - until it disbanded at the end of 2007 after the withdrawal of some of its members. According to Siderov, Ataka's three MEPs considered themselves to be independent, Times of Malta said. Now Ataka's goal was to make its MEPs members of the EPP.

"We feel closest to the EPP. We have become much more centrist in our beliefs and ideas. We want to get rid of our country's corrupt socialist system, but people who want to stay in power do their utmost to make us look bad," Siderov told the newspaper in an interview.

Ataka has not yet applied for EPP membership because it first wanted to work on convincing and proving that it fit the bill in order to avoid its application being declined, Siderov said.

Ataka, he said, needed the EU to help it clear its name. "Our contribution in the EU is helping the other members get a clearer picture about us and what we stand for," he said.

The party has a reputation of being against ethnic minorities but Siderov argued that Ataka's position was for equality, Times of Malta said. "All Bulgarians should be treated equally, judged by the system in the same way and enjoy the same rights and duties, irrelevant of one's ethnic group. Bulgarian gypsies, for example, do not pay for electricity nor do they pay taxes.

"We believe that rules and laws should be there for everybody. We cannot have groups of people who make absolutely no contribution to society but just take, take, take. We are all for integration but everyone has to make an effort."

He said that it should be compulsory for all children to go to school and, if necessary, parents had to be forced by the system to give their children an education.

Ataka was against Turkey's membership of the EU. "We do not think that Turkey fulfils the conditions to be admitted to the European Union. It is an Islamic state, its culture is different and it is not really a European country geographically. If Turkey joins the EU, then why not Iraq, Iran, Syria and Russia," Siderov told Times of Malta.

Siderov visited Malta on the invitation of Joe Saliba, secretary general of the ruling Nationalist party of Malta.