1. How would you describe your political/leadership style in three words?
Three words - difficult. I am a nuclear power engineer who moved into politics quite late in my career. So, I hope my style is practical with attention to detail.
It’s important to me to be consistent with a commitment to my core values of honesty, inclusion, collaboration, respect of others and generosity without ever losing touch with reality and the connection with the ordinary people who elected me!
Maybe I am one of the few MEPs who actively enjoyed election campaigns as being the only time I could be in touch with the real concerns and aims of ordinary people like me.
2. What one item would you save from your house or apartment/ house if it was on fire? (Apart from your photo album)
If my house was on fire, aside from people, I would grab a box of old, handwritten, love and friendship letters. The loss of those letters would mean a disappearance of a significant part of my universe.
That collected correspondence has shaped more or less my personality and constantly provides me with the gravity to keep my feet firmly on the ground in this sometimes-high-flying world of European politics.
3. Is there anything you have personally achieved or done that would surprise people?
I think everybody that knows me thinks of me as a calm, balanced person who lives and breathes safety. But very few know that in my youth I used to be a mountain motocross racer who rarely wore a helmet.
4. What is the most humbling thing you have experienced in your career?
I have privately been involved in the organisation of festivals for people with disabilities for many years. I have always been impressed by the extraordinary will and spiritual power of people to cope with their difficulties.
That is why I call them people with specific abilities and not with disabilities. They are the real heroes in a world that so often rewards mediocrity. Personally, I would like to be able to do more so that society facilitates their successful integration and realisation in life.
5. What was the most inspirational and influential book you have read and why?
The book by Simeon Radev, a Bulgarian publicist and diplomat, “Builders of Modern Bulgaria”, written in the distant 1911 and forbidden for re-publishing during the communist regime.
The book is a powerful living testimony to the difficult start of the new Bulgarian state after the liberation from the Ottoman domination, the behind-the-scenes intrigues of the great powers and Russia. However, the most valuable for me are the psychological portraits of the first Bulgarian statesmen.
Many streets, roads and boulevards all over Bulgaria have been named after them. After reading this book, one can understand why. Selfless love and devotion to your mother country can raise even the most ordinary person up to the height of the national heroes.