Sir,

The 17th National Conference of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), held on July 15 2007, has elected a new chairman - Plamen Yuroukov (43), an “old” businessman and a newcomer in politics.

A Sofia University philosophy graduate, in 1998 Yuroukov founded a journal Philosophy Forum. Yuroukov is also chairman of the Bulgarian Aikido Association - a possible link to a dialogue with the GERB party, especially given that its unofficial leader, Boiko Borissov, is a famous name in karate.

At long last, ecce homo - here is the man, a new political face (and mind?) we have been waiting to emerge, because of our disappointment with the old names such as Petar Stoyanov, Ivan Kostov, Nadezhda Mihailova and Stefan Sofianski, the major dividers of the UDF into separate parties.

Now, da capo with a new capo - in the beginning with a new boss. However, if he is behaving, like the above mentioned names, and thus becoming capo di tutti capi (in Italian, boss of all bosses; in Bulgarian, commander of all commanders), the UDF will undergo its next fiasco.

There are many people, however disappointed they have been, who are willing to promote the renewal of the UDF, to stand as strongly again as it did in the 1990s. A great challenge now, therefore, is how these people will be motivated to reunite on the basis of confidence and togetherness of the UDF’s romantic years. Escaping from any leader-to-leader machism is an obligatory step in achieving that goal.

Yuroukov should be warned of people’s sensitivity to any lies, corruption and arrogance of our leaders.* Because we could again decode any available pizzini (in Italian, cryptic handwritten notes) - via which was, for example, exposed and later, on April 11 2006, arrested Bernardo Provenzano, de facto capo di tutti capi of Sicilian Mafia (Cosa Nostra), also know as “Bennie the Tractor”, his Bulgarian version being “Vanyo (Kostov) the commander”. Accordingly, it would be better for the new UDF leader to stand as “Plamen the Philosopher”, alike intellectual nicknames. And to please keep in mind that neither the capture of Bernardo Provenzano is the end of the Mafia, nor  Petar Stoyanov’s “Dovizhdane” (goodbye) the end of UDF’s destruction. With trustworthiness, the UDF could (soon) be as united and strong as it was in the 1990s.
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* Every morning, the leader of Indians in Bolivia says to his men: “Don’t steal and don’t lie!” And they reply: “You too!”