Interview with Alexander Kolov, author of Свой и различен / Bulgaria Between Two Worlds
With the publication of the Bulgarian edition of his book Свой и различен, originally published in French as La Bulgarie entre deux mondes (Bulgaria Between Two Worlds), Alexandre Kolov reflects on his relationship with Bulgaria, the country’s transformation over the past two decades, and the challenges that could shape Bulgaria’s future.
Born and raised in France but of Bulgarian descent, Alexandre discovered Bulgaria as an outsider before gradually becoming part of the country himself. His book explores Bulgarian identity, institutions, trust, economic development, geopolitics, artificial intelligence and the country’s long-term potential.
In this interview, he explains why he believes Bulgaria can become one of the most attractive and prosperous countries in the Balkans.
Why did you decide to write a book about Bulgaria?
For some time, I had been thinking about how I could share my vision of Bulgaria in a meaningful way. The idea of writing a book eventually came quite naturally.
Digital media are excellent for spreading ideas quickly, but when you want to leave a message that can remain over time, I still believe that a book has something unique about it.
A book gives ideas a more permanent form. It also forces you to go much further than a social media post, a video or a reaction to current events.
I wanted to step back, put things into perspective and offer a broader reflection on a country to which I have become deeply attached.
You are Franco-Bulgarian, but you did not grow up in Bulgaria. How has that influenced your perspective on the country?
I officially became Bulgarian relatively late, when I was almost 30, and largely because of circumstances. I have a Bulgarian surname, but I was born in France. My father was also born in France, to a Bulgarian immigrant father and an Italian immigrant mother.
So there was nothing obvious about the fact that Bulgaria would eventually become such an important part of my life. Life simply brought me here.
When I first truly discovered Bulgaria, I discovered it as one discovers a foreign country. I did not speak Bulgarian, I knew very little about the country’s modern history, and I had almost none of its cultural codes.
Over time, I came back regularly. I lived here during different periods of my life. I worked here. Eventually, I also became a Bulgarian citizen. But even today, part of me remains an outsider because I did not grow up here and I still do not possess every cultural code. That is precisely what I find interesting about my position. I am both inside and outside at the same time.
I am close enough to understand and feel many things, but distant enough to sometimes look at Bulgaria with a degree of perspective.
The Bulgarian title of your book is Свой и различен. What does it mean?
A rough translation would be “one of us, yet different” or “belonging, yet different”.
The title can obviously apply to me.
I am Bulgarian, but in a particular way. I belong to the country while still keeping a certain cultural distance. But I also think the title applies to Bulgaria itself. Bulgaria is deeply European, yet it has also been shaped by other cultural and historical influences.
It fully belongs to Europe without being a copy of Western European societies.
That distinctiveness is, in my view, one of Bulgaria’s strengths.
You first discovered Bulgaria in the early 2000s. What has changed the most since then?
A great deal.
The most visible transformation is obviously infrastructure. Bulgaria has modernised significantly, even though there is still work to be done. Living standards have also improved considerably.
When I first arrived in 2003, the streets were still full of old Ladas, Moskvitches, Trabants and Skodas. Today, they have largely been replaced by recent German cars and the same vehicles you see in other European capitals.
But the changes are not only material.
Mentalities have also evolved. Bulgarians have become far more Westernised in their habits, consumption patterns, professional expectations and often in the way they think. Younger generations have grown up in a completely different environment from that of their parents.
Another dramatic change is the level of English. In 2003, it could be relatively difficult to communicate in English in everyday situations. Today, a large share of the population, especially younger and urban Bulgarians, speaks English very well.
Over the past twenty years, Bulgaria has moved much closer to the rest of Europe.
Yet you argue that Bulgaria has many strengths but struggles to turn them into a collective trajectory. Why?
This is obviously only my interpretation, but I believe Bulgaria’s history, and particularly the communist period, deeply affected the relationship between people, trust and collective action.
There is sometimes a tendency to see the other person more as a potential competitor than as a potential partner.
Almost as if every economic or social relationship had to be a zero-sum game: if one person wins, the other must lose.
This can create a situation similar to the logic of the prisoner’s dilemma in game theory.
Each person mistrusts the other, assumes that the other side may eventually try to take advantage, and therefore chooses a defensive strategy.
The problem is that by trying to avoid being the loser, both sides may end up choosing an outcome that is worse for everyone.
At the level of a country, the accumulation of millions of individual defensive strategies can lead to a poor collective result.
This is why trust is, in my view, one of Bulgaria’s most important long-term challenges.
What are the three most important priorities for Bulgaria today?
The first is rebuilding a sense of collective purpose. For a relatively small country, this is essential. It is extremely difficult to become influential and prosperous if everyone acts only individually. A country needs to be able to align private interests around a limited number of shared national priorities.
The second issue is healthcare. Bulgaria currently operates through a somewhat unclear mix of public and private healthcare. This model needs to become more coherent and more efficient. In my view, access to quality healthcare should never depend primarily on income or personal connections.
The third priority is artificial intelligence. I believe Bulgaria should invest heavily in AI because it will be one of the defining technologies of the next fifty years.
Artificial intelligence can be particularly important for smaller countries because it changes the relationship between size and power.
Historically, economic and geopolitical power depended heavily on scale: population, market size, industrial capacity and military capacity.
AI may partially change this equation.
It allows a relatively small number of highly skilled people to multiply their productivity, knowledge and problem-solving capacity.
Bulgaria has a strong tradition in mathematics, science and technical education.
If it can combine this human capital with AI tools, it could become highly competitive in sectors that were previously dominated almost exclusively by large countries such as the United States, China or Russia.
Why do you believe Bulgaria occupies a strategic position?
Because Bulgaria sits at the crossroads of several cultural and geopolitical worlds.
It belongs to the European Union and the Western political space, while also maintaining historical, cultural and human links with the Balkans, the Slavic world and regions further east.
The ability to understand several worlds can become an advantage. Bulgaria also has a very large diaspora.
Bulgarians live and work across Europe and throughout the world.
If the country became better at mobilising this network, the Bulgarian diaspora could become a powerful source of influence, knowledge transfer, investment and international visibility.
Some of the criticism in the book may not be well received in Bulgaria. Does that concern you?
Probably, and that is perfectly normal.
I did not want to write a romanticised portrait of Bulgaria.
My objective was to describe things as I perceive them.
But one point is essential: I do not claim to possess the truth. The book represents my perception.
Other people can look at exactly the same facts and reach different conclusions. That is part of any healthy debate.
I also do not think I have written anything deliberately offensive.
Like every country, Bulgaria has strengths and weaknesses.
Pointing them out is not a moral judgement.
I have no special legitimacy to tell Bulgarians what they should be.
I am simply sharing a perspective built from my own experience.
What qualities do Bulgarians underestimate about themselves?
I think Bulgarians underestimate their collective potential.
Bulgaria has historically produced people with strong education in mathematics, science and technical disciplines, but also in the humanities.
I believe that this combination will become increasingly important in the age of artificial intelligence.
AI will not simply replace certain skills.
It will dramatically amplify the abilities of people who know how to think, understand complexity, create and connect different fields of knowledge.
The raw material already exists.
What is missing, in my opinion, is a sufficiently shared vision that encourages talented people to work together rather than against one another.
What could Bulgaria look like in 2040 if the country successfully transforms itself?
I imagine a country that has become a leader in a small number of carefully chosen sectors and is able, as a result, to offer its citizens comfortable incomes and an exceptional quality of life.
A modern country, fully integrated into the global economy, while still preserving its traditions, culture and identity.
I also imagine Bulgarian cities and villages transformed by the energy transition, with greener public spaces, renovated buildings, cleaner transport and a much more harmonious urban environment.
Bulgaria already possesses many of the ingredients required for a very high quality of life: mountains, the Black Sea, a varied climate, good food, diverse landscapes and cities that remain relatively human in scale.
If Bulgaria can combine these advantages with economic prosperity, modern infrastructure, effective institutions and greater social trust, it could become a country where many Europeans would dream of living.
In a sense, it could become a kind of “Switzerland of the Balkans” — but in its own distinctive way.
What would you like Bulgarian readers to think when they finish the book?
I would like them to feel that they live in a country with enormous potential.
And, more importantly, that this potential is not predetermined.
Bulgaria can succeed in transforming it, or it can fail to do so.
But ultimately, that will depend first and foremost on Bulgarians themselves.
I would like readers to close the book with more desire to act than reasons to complain.
Finally, do you feel more French or more Bulgarian today?
To be completely honest, I feel fundamentally European.
I lived in the United States, a country I had long idealised and where I once dreamed of building my life.
Paradoxically, it was while living there that I realised how deeply European I actually was.
I love Europe, its diversity, its cultures, its languages and its differences.
I am French and Bulgarian by nationality, but I also have Italian roots through my grandmother.
I am married to a French woman whose father is Polish.
Our family is therefore, in its own small way, a fairly good summary of Europe.
I deeply value the possibility of travelling, working and living freely across the European Union.
That said, my primary culture remains undeniably French.
French is my mother tongue and the language in which I think most naturally.
Most of my literary, political and philosophical references are French.
France is also the country I understand best.
But saying that I am only French would be inaccurate.
My life has allowed me to connect with several different cultures and, consciously or unconsciously, each of them has added something to the way I think.
Perhaps that is ultimately what being European means.
About the book
Свой и различен is the Bulgarian edition of Alexandre Kolov’s essay La Bulgarie entre deux mondes (Bulgaria Between Two Worlds).
The book explores Bulgaria through a Franco-Bulgarian perspective, combining personal experience with reflections on Bulgarian society, history, institutions, economic development, healthcare, education, demographic challenges, artificial intelligence, national identity, diaspora, sovereignty and Bulgaria’s future within Europe.
It asks a central question: how can Bulgaria transform its existing strengths into a coherent long-term national trajectory?
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