The European Union must pool efforts to promote its internal integration and to build a more competitive economy. Only if Europe is integrated, can it play a role on the global scene. This is the common position the Presidents of Bulgaria and Estonia Rosen Plevneliev and Toomas Ilves agreed on. President Ilves is on a working visit in Bulgaria at the invitation of the Bulgarian Head of State. “The intensive top-level friendly dialogue is proof of our shared common values and future,” the Bulgarian President said.
Both Rosen Plevneliev and Toomas Ilves called on the EU to focus efforts on building the internal EU market and overcoming the consequences of the historical division between Western and Eastern Europe. “This may become a fact only if the “old” and “new” EU member states espouse the priority of connecting their transport and energy infrastructure, which should be supported by EU funds,” the Estonian President said. According to the Bulgarian Head of State, the worthy way in which the EU states can achieve economic growth is by pursuing responsible policies and developing a culture of financial stability.
Presidents Plevneliev and Ilves shared the common opinion that the EU should fulfill the potential of the Cohesion policy as a factor promoting economic growth and development. It was pointed out that this is the basic mechanism for overcoming the differences in the development of the individual EU regions and overcoming the distortions in the functioning of the common market.
Bulgaria and Estonia support the Process of EU enlargement and the European prospects of the Western Balkan countries. “Of course, this is a process that depends on the candidate states’ capabilities to meet the membership criteria and requires political will to conduct the necessary reforms,” President Plevneliev said.
In 2018 Bulgaria and Estonia will take over the presidency of the EU and a favorable condition for strengthening the cooperation is sharing common positions on many of the issues on the EU agenda. The two countries will ensure a new dynamics in coordinating the activities of the joint working groups, which will coordinate the priorities of the Bulgarian and Estonian presidencies.
Bulgaria seeks the support and learns from Estonia’s experience in launching e-government and e-governance, President Plevneliev said. In the Head of State’s words, this is the way to build an efficient administration, to ensure transparent governance and curb corruption. “Estonia’s achievements in the sphere of e-governance prove that. The country has won the trust of the foreign investors and is among the leaders in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of the direct foreign investments per capita,” the Bulgarian Head of State recalled. Toomas Ilves reiterated Estonia’s readiness to help Bulgaria launch e-governance.
President Plevnliev emphasized the necessity to ensure continuity in following the national priorities, irrespective of the reshuffles in the executive branch of government and called on the government to secure the necessary funds and to start implementing a National integrated plan for launching e-government in Bulgaria.
Rosen Plevneliev thanked Toomas Ilves for Estonia’s consistent support for Bulgaria’s entry in the Schengen zone.
The Head of State also emphasized that the two countries will strengthen their partnership in the sphere of cyber security, in close cooperation with the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence in Tallinn.