The European Commission is Bulgaria’s loyal partner within the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism and objectively shows the problems we are facing. This is what President Rosen Plevneliev told the representatives of the Bulgarian media in Brussels after he took part in the conference of the Center for European Policy Studies as a keynote speaker on the topic of “The rule of law in the EU.”
The Head of State reiterated that Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, once again voiced his ambition to lift the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism by the end of the term of office of the current EC. “However, this depends only on us. We should carry out the reform in the judiciary, which should not be postponed, and not because of the European Commission, but because this is what the Bulgarian citizens expect us to do,” the President emphasized. Such a monitoring mechanism for observing the rule of law can be implemented for any EU member state in the future, President Plevneliev further pointed out and added that the efficient law administration and the democratic values cannot be taken for granted.
The Head of State was adamant that our country has considerably improved its work with the EU funds in the past years. According to the assessment made by the European Court of Auditors, Bulgaria is not on the list of EU countries with the highest rates of EU funds fraud
and in the 2007-2013 period our country had managed its EU funds much better compared to a number of EU countries. “The audit report on Bulgaria showed that the violation of the EU funds absorption rules amount to up to 3 percent, compared to a rate of 10 to 15 percent in some other countries. This gives us reasons to say that that our tolerance for corruption has diminished and that the degree of transparency of EU funds management has increased,” the President said.
Bulgaria has succeeded in building an efficient administration, which is working so as to utilize the EU funds, the Head of State further said and voiced his expectation that for the fiscal framework 2007-2013 more than 85 percent of funds earmarked for our country will be absorbed. The President emphasized that although there is still room for improvement, Bulgaria has achieved a lot and relies on the partnership of the EC to remove the omissions.
The trust of the European Commission and Bulgaria’s ambition to establish partnership were confirmed at the meetings the Head of State held with Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, and the President of the European Council Donald Tusk in Brussels. “This was unanimously confirmed not only with respect to the South Stream gas pipeline, but also with respect to the management of the EU funds and by adopting a correct position Bulgaria proved that it is ready to uphold European values and rules,” the President said.
In reply to a question, the Head of State was adamant that the objective assessment of the crisis in Ukraine should not lead to a split in the Bulgarian society. “We should be aware who obeys and who violates the international law. Peace is possible only when human rights are safeguarded and rules are obeyed,” the President said. In his opinion, peace in Europe will be endangered only if a country conquers and annexes foreign territories with weapons. “My position is not against someone, but in support of the rule of law and in support of obeying the rules,” the Head of State further said.
The President recalled that Bulgaria has already suffered serious negative consequences from the disputes between Russia and Ukraine on the transit of natural gas and this makes it necessary that our country seeks energy diversification. “We can achieve it not only through the European Energy Union, but also through pooling efforts to build gas inter-connectors with our neighbors, to liberalize the market and create opportunities for alternative supplies,” Rosen Plevneliev said. The Head of State reiterated that the Strategy for establishing a European Energy Union has pinpointed the region of Southeast Europe as a priority region in terms of diversification, “which means that the Bulgarian institutions have performed well and have defended the national interest.”