The leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party Kornelia Ninova was a special guest on the third day of the second course of the National Program “Governing Skills”.

“It’s a pleasure and a challenge to be here, especially when I was on the other side. In 2006 I graduated from the Bulgarian School of Politics. The school taught me a normal conversation with all opponents. This is one format that is extremely useful”, Kornelia Ninova told the current trainees in the National Program.

The Chair of BSP spoke about the distrust and apathy as a common enemy to all parties and politicians. As an example, she gave the last local elections, after which it became clear that 7 million Bulgarians would be represented by the chosen by only 2-3 million local governors. “This is a problem for all of us and it is due to all of us, the politicians from all parties. You are now tasked with clearing parties of distrust and apathy, not with words but with action”, Ninova said. She also drew attention to the environment, urging young political and civic leaders to work to safeguard the purity of air, land and food.

The trainees’ meeting with the BSP leader continued for almost an hour and a half. Kornelia Ninova didn’t leave before answering all questions, which were many. The trainees were interested whether it was difficult to be a woman in politics, why was the BSP so long in opposition, how to work with NGOs in the legislative and executive branches?

Earlier during the day, the sophomores from the National Program gained knowledge and skills in conducting political debates. This was done with the assistance of Miroslav Mavrov from the Debate Association and the communication expert Daniela Simeonova.

The political analyst Antoni Todorov and Ivan Velkov, a member of the Board of Directors of the Dispute Resolution Center, spoke to the trainees about successful negotiation techniques.