Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg, hailed for his connection to the Bulgarian people, lifts the spirits of a patient at Saint Ekaterina Clinic, Bulgaria’s leading medical facility.

Since assuming office, Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg and President Parvanov have forged a close working relationship.

When one studies the life of Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg the rise and fall of communism looms like enormous bookends, awkwardly-encasing the years between his early youth and middle age. Upon his father’s death in 1943 Saxe-Coburg assumed the Bulgarian throne at the age six and, shortly after World War Two ended, was sent into exile by the communists. Last June saw the former Czar turn Bulgaria’s political landscape upside down as he was unanimously elected as the nation’s eighth Prime Minister since the collapse of communism in 1989.

"At the time of my father’s death I went from being a happy child to an adult," says Saxe-Coburg who prides himself on his ability to remember details. The Prime Minister tells a story about his first trip back to Bulgaria in 1996 when, being driven through the streets of Sofia, he was able to give directions to various landmarks around the city, despite having been away for half a century.

Most of his years in exile were spent in Madrid, arriving in 1951 when "there were still a lot of buildings bearing bullet holes from the Spanish Civil War," Saxe-Coburg remembers.

During his exile, Saxe-Coburg worked as a financial consultant. He claims to have bought a 1959 Chevrolet "with those strange wings" in order to catch the eye of the Spanish woman, Margarita, to whom he has now been married for 40 years. "I suggested that she come with me for a ride in the car, and that’s how we started seeing each other," says Saxe-Coburg. "There is the official, authentic version of how I met my wife."

When he was sworn into his first ever elective office last June one American newspaper account aptly described the Prime Minister as "cosmopolitan and still handsome at age 63, with a neat gray beard and a taste for elegant suits." He seems an unlikely figure to appeal to a country where the average yearly income is about $1600 per year and hardball politics have been the norm for almost thirteen years.

When Saxe-Coburg began his National Movement for Simeon II thousands of Bulgarian’s lined the streets of Sofia, many chanting "King, save us!" This level of support, although great for the election last June, poses the problem of having raised the expectations of people to unrealistic heights.

While the Prime Minister and his government were still settling into office, learning how to coordinate their decision-making efforts and making use of the levers of power, the Bulgarian press, various opposition forces and even a few members of the National Movement began to criticize the pace of change.

The Prime Minister’s reputation for working 16-hour days and heeding different points of view proves that his entrance into the Bulgarian political arena is certainly not a novelty act. High on his agenda are major economic and social reforms, fighting corruption, and working to secure Bulgaria’s entry into NATO.

This week, in his first official visit to Washington, in meetings with President Bush and various congressional leaders, the Prime Minster has an opportunity to press forward on Bulgaria’s entry into NATO and, in doing so, creates a pivotal moment for his young government.

"It doesn’t necessarily mean that just because I travel to Washington that everything regarding NATO enlargement is going to change," says the Prime Minister, noting as well that both sides have "a number of expectations" that will first have to be met. Saxe-Coburg is confident, however, of the fact that Bulgaria has "gone along with what has been requested from us, both militarily and administratively."

Demonstrating his breadth of knowledge concerning complex geopolitical subjects such as the enlargement of NATO, Saxe-Coburg believes that Bulgaria will shore up the eastern flank of the alliance. The Prime Minister outlines Turkey’s predicament, being geographically isolated from the main body of NATO. "Bulgaria is important even though it has no oil or gas," says the Prime Minister, "but it certainly is strategically located given its proximity to the oil and gas fields in the Caucuses and beyond."

Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg appreciates what membership in NATO would mean to his country in terms of security and stability. "I don’t see NATO anymore as a defensive alliance, an organization directly against something. Now it serves as more of a perimeter of stability."

NATO exists "for a good reason," says Saxe-Coburg. "I don’t think there will be any major trouble in the Balkans but, in general, if things continue to develop economically and the big nations of the world stay out of recession Bulgaria will be well situated. I think that for us to be included in the alliance would translate into an increase in investment."

Long discouraged by mainstream politicians the Bulgarian people recognize, in Simeon Saxe-Coburg, a sense of hope.

"It is neither moral nor politically justified that most people in Bulgaria live in poverty while some politicians live in unexplained affluence; that tens of thousands of our sons and daughters are leaving the country," said Simeon Saxe-Coburg when he stood for office.

Despite having become an official political party on April 6 the Prime Minister and his supporters still see their organization more in the spirit of a political "movement" and have chosen to retain the name National Movement SimeonII (NMSII).

As such, one should not however think the NMSII a top-down, personality-driven political organization. "The NMSII parliamentary group consists of highly qualified specialists and experts, everyone being a leader in his or her field," said Plamen Panayotov, Majority Leader of the Parliament. "Many of them held leading positions at international companies in Europe and the U.S.A. The main challenge in front of us was the formation of a united and effective governing team out of these strong individuals."