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NICOLAS SARKOZY AND SILVIE VARTAN ARRIVE IN BULGARIA
Sofia Echo
Magdalena Rahn
13:55 Thu 04 Oct 2007
Official fanfare and a motley crowd waving the tricolore greeted French
president Nicolas Sarkozy on his first official trip to Bulgaria.
His day-long visit began with him being welcomed by President Georgi
Purvanov a little after noon on October 4 in front of Alexander Nevski
Memorial Cathedral in Sofia. The two placed a wreath on monument to the
unknown soldier, accompanied by Franco-Bulgarian singer Sylvie Vartan,
who was influential in spurring the release of the seven Bulgarian
medics and Palestinian doctor from their eight-year imprisonment
in Libya.
Vartan, who was born in Bulgaria and whose father was Bulgarian of
Armenian descent, had created an online petition in which she called
on people to take it onto themselves to help the Bulgarian nurses
in Libya. In December 2006 she sent an open letter of support to the
Bulgarian nurses who were being held in Libyan jail on the accusation
of deliberately infecting 400 children with HIV.
Sarkozy's visit, too, is in relation to his and his wife Cecilia's
decisive role in helping to free the medics. The day's schedule
includes a lecture at Sofia University, a meeting with Prime Minister
Sergei Stanishev, and much speculation about the positive future of
French-Bulgarian economic relations.
Sofia Echo
Magdalena Rahn
13:55 Thu 04 Oct 2007
Official fanfare and a motley crowd waving the tricolore greeted French
president Nicolas Sarkozy on his first official trip to Bulgaria.
His day-long visit began with him being welcomed by President Georgi
Purvanov a little after noon on October 4 in front of Alexander Nevski
Memorial Cathedral in Sofia. The two placed a wreath on monument to the
unknown soldier, accompanied by Franco-Bulgarian singer Sylvie Vartan,
who was influential in spurring the release of the seven Bulgarian
medics and Palestinian doctor from their eight-year imprisonment
in Libya.
Vartan, who was born in Bulgaria and whose father was Bulgarian of
Armenian descent, had created an online petition in which she called
on people to take it onto themselves to help the Bulgarian nurses
in Libya. In December 2006 she sent an open letter of support to the
Bulgarian nurses who were being held in Libyan jail on the accusation
of deliberately infecting 400 children with HIV.
Sarkozy's visit, too, is in relation to his and his wife Cecilia's
decisive role in helping to free the medics. The day's schedule
includes a lecture at Sofia University, a meeting with Prime Minister
Sergei Stanishev, and much speculation about the positive future of
French-Bulgarian economic relations.