Bulgarian Socialist Party's Request to Use Buzludzha Monument Rejected

The government today rejected the request from Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) to use free of charge the Buzludzha monument for 10 years, the government's press office said, quoted by bTV.

The proposal was made by the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works at today's meeting of the Council of Ministers.

According to the press release, BSP did not take steps to finalise the procedure approved in 2011, whereby the properties would have been transferred free of charge to the party. Legal changes from February 2017 impede the completion of that procedure now.

The BSP's reaction was not delayed. ''The party will not give up the monument'', said Кornelia Ninova.

Buzludzha is a landmark site for Bulgaria's left-wing because the foundations of the Socialist Movement in Bulgaria were laid there in 1891.

The concrete, UFO-like structure, resides on top of Mount Buzludzha. It was unveiled in 1981 on the occasion of the 1300th anniversary of the founding of the Bulgarian state. Next to the pie-shaped structure stands a 70-meter concrete pillar. On the inside of the monument one can see gilded mosaics depicting Bulgarian and Soviet communist leaders like Dimitar Blagoev, Georgi Dimitrov, Todor Zhivkov, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin and Leonid Brezhnev. Buried in the ground beneath the monument is a capsule containing a message for the future.