On January 31, 2006 the director of the Diplomatic Institute Dr. Zdravko Popov and Mrs. Juliana Tomova, publisher and editor-in-chief of Bulgarian Diplomatic Review magazine signed an agreement for cooperation. The two parties agree to exchange expertise and information, to organize and participate in conferences, lectures and discussions, as well as to work on joint publishing projects.

Associate Prof. Dr. Zdravko Popov Director of the Diplomatic Institute to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The talk with the Director of the Diplomatic Institute was held on a special day for him, January 31 – his birthday. A number of distinguished personalities were born on the same day, among whom Prime Minister Stefan Stambolov, the composer Franz Shubert, the prophetess Baba Vanga, the Dutch Queen Beatrix.

Diplomacy is possible with principles and criteria of rationality, which provide security

Mr. Popov, do you believe in predestination, in the influence of the stars?
I rather believe in constructiveness, in creativity, than in predetermination. But I understand the human need to “know” their fate, to read or be told what will happen to one. If life events could be foreseen one feels more secure, be it a question of health, family, work or politics. The unforeseeable is unintelligible and often destructive. This scares man because it makes his world insecure and vulnerable.

I will take a lead from your question to set it in a different context – foreign policy. In international relations the principle of predictability is of the utmost importance. The behavior of the subjects of these relations has to be predictable, foreseeable, rational – it has to follow the conventional rules and comply with the agreements made. This is the foundation on which the civilized world rests. Civilization is a sort of contractual order, regulated legally, morally, economically, politically and with respect to values. In its general form, this order can be rationally planned and is rationally predictable. Otherwise, the international world would be an arena of risks and threats. Terror is exactly this kind of phenomenon today – it “predicts” insecurity and instability because it makes problematic and threatens the civilized order. This is why democratic societies made the fight against it a common cause.

Do you have established principles, maxims, fulcrums in your work?
Everyone has a certain set of principles and mainstays, which regulate his or her practical life. I believe in the rational forms of thinking and behavior and I try to stick to them in my personal and professional occupations. I think it is essential to rely on reason and understanding and not on extremism, radicalism or revolutionariness – very attractive and impressive positions at first sight, but viewed in a long-term perspective they are extremely unproductive and unconstructive and instead of solving problems they generate many more problems. My natural inclination is to seek rationality in the things of life, led by the assumption that most of the situations and problems have a reasonable solution and way out. I think diplomacy is possible and efficient namely when it is based on the principles and criteria of rational politics, of the art of reason and pragmatism.

Of course, when all the rational moves of diplomacy are exhausted, forceful moves follow. But it is obvious that no success can be achieved in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy unless a responsible behavior is practiced, the admissible compromises are made, rational arguments are applied in the defense of positions, dialogue is respected. Otherwise, diplomacy would become a battlefield of everyone against everyone.

Now that Bulgaria is a NATO member and will soon be a member of the EU, we should further develop and improve the rational competences and skills of the diplomatic craft. Being members of these regional families, we must defend and pursue simultaneously our national interest and the “family” interest. To harmonize different interests, comply with the “rules of the game” of the alliances which we are a part of, pursue the common international interest and at the same time attain the Bulgarian civil and economic goals – this diplomacy is far from easy.

All this underlies the philosophy of the training policy of the European diplomatic schools. We have used the same underlying principles in the methodology of the professional qualification at the Diplomatic Institute.

Is this what necessitated the setting up of the Diplomatic Institute in Bulgaria?
One of the prime motives was through diverse forms of training to introduce modern standards of diplomatic practice, characteristic of the leading diplomatic services. To prepare the young and middle generation of Bulgarian diplomats for the complex tasks they have to perform at the new international scene. This presupposes a diversified scope of knowledge and a large arsenal of diplomatic skills.

Another important motive was to find a working mechanism for transmitting diplomatic experience. Acquiring the experience of the older generation of diplomats, grasping and using critically the historical international practice can only be done by a training institution.

The systematic planning of the professional development of the diplomatic staff also requires a proper diplomatic school. Not every officer can be trained in a foreign school, and it is not necessary either. Bulgaria has to train its diplomats in a Bulgarian school. Then through tuition the diplomatic service may introduce its own standards of professional career, general and particular requirements for the practice of diplomatic work by the different categories of officials, and of course criteria for efficiency assessment.

There was also a need to create conditions for the introduction of common diplomatic knowledge and skills for this part of the state administration in the other ministries and services which is involved in the foreign policy of the country, in the tasks of the Bulgarian international policy. Especially with regard to European integration, each department pursues a kind of sector diplomacy, e.g. in the sphere of agriculture, economy, environment or regional development. This calls for the application of common standards of diplomacy regardless of the specificity of the particular sector – common diplomatic information, negotiation skills, protocol practices, etc. The state administration outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) was quick to realize the necessity and usefulness of diplomatic training and employees from different departments are studying at the Diplomatic Institute.

What training programs have you planned for 2006?
We have planned nearly 15 programs. I will outline them very briefly.

The Basic Diplomatic Course is designed for young MFA officials who don\'t have diplomatic rank yet. As of 2006 this course will be a four-month intensive course and the requirements towards it are growing. In the three years since the establishment of the Diplomatic Institute this course has become rather sophisticated.

The Specialized Diplomatic Course for mid-career diplomats is a set of ten short-term modules, evenly distributed over one calendar year.

The Consular Diplomacy Course is a one-month intensive course designed for employees of MFA, the interior, justice, finance and defense ministries. The course covers a broad range of issues – from the Shengen legislation, through the refugee and illegal trafficking problems, to visa documents.

The Diplomacy Course for State Administration Officials is also a one-month intensive course. Last year we trained 41 employees of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. This year we are preparing a course for the ministries of economy, regional development, and of the environment. Its program focuses on diplomacy within the EU.

The Military Diplomacy Course will be new in 2006. At the moment we are working on its syllabus with consultants from George Marshall Center in Garmisch Partenkirchen. It will be realized in conjunction with the Military Academy. It is also a one-month intensive course.

We are preparing a new educational product in Police Attache Diplomacy , which we shall offer to the Ministry of the Interior jointly with the MI Academy. We have agreements with German and Swiss institutions for the drawing of its syllabus and provision of lecturers.

We are preparing courses in Commercial Diplomacy (seeking the experience of Ireland, Austria, Italy); Energy Diplomacy (we will request the assistance of the Russian, Dutch and Norwegian diplomatic schools); in Bulgarian Language and Culture for diplomats in the foreign missions in Sofia; instruction of Bulgarians for applying for a job in the EU structures (in conjunction with Belgian partners); in diplomacy for persons accompanying diplomats on their assignments; in European Law , etc.

I should not omit the course for training of foreign diplomats . A diplomatic school is prestigious and competitive if it supports and develops such a program. Last year we taught young officials from Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo. This year we are planning to train diplomats from Afghanistan, Iraq, Mongolia, Armenia. We are in the process of coordinating programs and financing for diplomats from the foreign ministry of other countries too.

I would like to emphasize specially the so-called Winter School in Diplomacy , which started in February 2006. This is a joint project of the Diplomatic Institute and the Bavarian Hanns Seidel Foundation, supported by the Central European Initiative. It is a one-week training module for junior diplomats from Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, Turkey, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The idea is to make it a permanent seminar, held every year at the same time and to invite young diplomats from EU bordering countries. This year the topic is “The Security Policy in the Countries of South East Europe and the Black Sea Region”. Lecturers are experts from Germany, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Turkey, Croatia and Bulgaria. We have selected Bansko as the venue for the winter school.

The training policy of the Institute also includes foreign language training of the Bulgarian diplomats. From September to June every year we offer language qualification in seven languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Italian. Depending on the demands of the diplomatic service, we are ready to organize courses in other languages, too.