The Bulgarian Socialist Party holds its 45th congress this weekend, and will use the event for critical analysis of the Government's performance, as well as introspection on the BSP's past and future. VELINA NACHEVA tracks the party's path.

A PARTY of change, a party of the future.

The catchphrase is meant to set the tone for one of the keynote discussions this weekend at the Bulgarian Socialist Party congress, as the 746 delegates ponder the party's future political platform.

Among the left, both within Bulgaria and elsewhere in Europe, the choices being made by the BSP are a matter of keen interest.

The other members of the Bulgarian "New Left", the Political Movement Social Democrats, the United Bloc of Labour, and Petar Agov's Bulgarian Social Democratic Party, will be keeping a keen eye on proceedings.

So will the BSP's ideological allies in the Socialist International and the Party of European Socialism.

BSP leader Sergei Stanishev, voted to the top post after his predecessor Georgi Purvanov was elected president last year, appears determined to position the party as part of a wider international political presence.

On the eve of this weekend's congress, it was announced that at the Socialist International's next summit, the BSP will become a consultative member.

Stanishev said the invitation to join, made by the Council of Socialist International at a meeting in Morocco last Friday, was subject to confirmation at a Socialist International congress in November.

Kristian Vigenin, member of the Executive Bureau of the Supreme Council of the BSP, said 60 parties were applying for membership of Socialist International.

At the November Socialist International congress, the BSP is expected to get strong backing from Germany's Social Democratic Party, currently in power in Berlin under the leadership of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Apart from looking outward to the building of international alliances, the BSP will use this weekend to hold up a mirror to itself, using the occasion to make frank admissions about mistakes made by the party after the beginning of the transition in 1989.

Discussions on a report covering the span of history of the past 100 years, and in particular the more recent past, are expected to take a reproachful stance towards the party's totalitarian past and its failures in government, as well as errors made while out of office.

Political observers believe that in doing so, the BSP is marking a turning point from its socialist path, towards its transformation into a social democratic party. The discussions are also expected to draw the attention of outsiders to the party's transformation.

In an interview with The Sofia Echo, Stanishev said: "The main challenge for society and for supporters of the BSP will be to see a new policy, orientated to people and for the people".

Stanishev said Bulgaria was functioning "extremely weakly" and appeared often to act as the enemy of its own objectives, putting obstacles in its own path through a restrictive licensing regime, excessive bureaucracy, and an ineffective judicial system.

He was sharply critical of the way reform had been carried out in the country.

For the BSP to present itself as an alternative, the party had to be seen to have an alternative vision.

People wanted such an alternative.

"That is the priority for the people, which we will be proving at the congress. People will see that there is a way out of the crisis," he said.

Stanishev himself will lead the commission which this weekend will analyse the transition period of the past 12 years. Several party members, drawn from different schools of thought, will serve on the commission, along with party strategists Alexander Lilov and Chavdar Kyuranov.

The congress will be aired directly on video walls in the bigger towns of the country. A satellite connection will be on-stream to keep colleagues in Europe up to date on the congress.

Meanwhile, party leaders in the BSP Supreme Council have approved reports on an organisational revamp of the party, and on the preparation of new party regulations, along with other documents to be put to delegates for discussion this weekend.

Stanishev said the documents covered three "spheres", the political platform, proposals for projects in government, and organisational and statute reform.

The political platform is entitled "BSP A Party of Change, A Party of The Future" and consists of five main parts.

Specific issues to be discussed include the challenges faced by the European Left, and the transition to a social market economy.

The Supreme Council has adopted a position on "The future of the European Union and the European prospects of Bulgaria". The stance is based on strong criticism of right-wing parties, which the BSP blames for delaying preparations for EU membership.

The BSP has authored a project entitled "Initiative for a New Generation" to promote the involvement of more young people in the BSP structures and in the development of the party policy.

"Policy will be consistent and will not resemble the inefficient reforms made by the Govern-ment," Stanishev said.

The projects to be implemented in Government are in three categories.

Production, employment and incomes fall in the first group.

Education and science as well as demography and health care are also topical issues together with culture.

Order, justice and foreign policy priorities are grouped with youth issues.

"I am not worried that the Marxist platform is leaving BSP," Stanishev said at a briefing Sunday, commenting on the effect of the party's transformation on its extreme left members.

"The ideological movements in the party consist of less than 1 per cent of its complete contents," Stanishev said.

Seven days before its party congress, the BSP demanded that the Minister of Education Vladimir Atanassov resign.

At a sitting of the National Assembly on Friday, the Coalition for Bulgaria said Atanassov lacked the ability to cope with problems in education.

However, the coalition has not yet decided on requesting a vote of no confidence in the Cabinet.

"All institutions and political forces in Bulgaria should work in coordination pursuing the same goal, which is an invitation to join NATO at the Prague Summit in November," Stanishev said last month.

He said that an invitation for NATO membership was particularly important for regional security, economic development and political stability in the country.