NEWS

Bulgaria and Hungary are Strengthening their Cooperation in the Sphere of Migration and EU Enlargement

Although Bulgaria and Hungary have an excellent political dialogue, they may achieve a lot more if they strengthen their cooperation on the important issues on the EU agenda, such as the issues of migration and EU enlargement. This is what Vice-president Margarita Popova and Laslo Kover, speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary, said today. Vice-president Margarita Popova is on a working visit to Hungary at the invitation of the Bulgarian Republican Self-government in the country to commemorate the 100th anniversary since the establishment of the first association of Bulgarians in the central-European country.

At the meeting Margarita Popova said that the EU should be more active in developing a common policy on migration also by allocating the necessary funds for that. In the Vice-president’s opinion, it is high time a debate on this issue be held both in the EU member states and in the European institutions, which should discuss not only the humanitarian aspect of the problem, but also the topics related to the adequate protection of the EU borders. “We cannot allow the EU to fail to cope with this very important topic and thus encourage Euroskepticism,” Vice-president Margarita Popova was adamant.

It was further pointed out at the meeting that Bulgaria and Hungary share a common position on the necessity to support EU enlargement more actively. “The Western Balkan countries are our immediate neighbors and we will benefit from building a region of stability, security and prosperity, in which the EU values and rules are guaranteed,” Margarita Popova said. The Vice-president added that the success of the process of EU integration depends on the political will for conducting reforms, as well as on the individual progress each state has made on meeting membership criteria. “Therefore we also hope that a bilateral agreement on good-neighborly relations will be quickly signed with the Republic of Macedonia, which will give an impetus to the process of its European integration,” the Vice-president further said.

Despite the internal changes in Ukraine, the country must continue to be a democratic country and display a tolerant attitude to the national minorities, also with respect to protecting their human rights to use their native language, Margarita Popova and Laslo Kover emphasized. The two unanimously agreed that finding a peaceful solution to the current crisis in Ukraine is the only possible way to ease the tension in the Ukrainian society and in the region.
“We highly appreciate the traditionally tolerant policy pursued by Hungary towards the minority communities. This makes it possible for the Bulgarians in the country not only to be an adequate part of the Hungarian society, but also to preserve their language and national identity,” Margarita Popova said. “It is very important for us that the 13 minority groups in our country feel that Hungary is their homeland,” Laslo Kover, speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary, said for his part.

Vice-president Margarita Popova took part in the official ceremony at which a monument-fountain of the Bulgarian gardener was opened in Budapest. “Although the Bulgarian community in Hungary is not the biggest, it is among the most respected ones due to its diligence, modesty and protection of its national identity,” the Vice-president said in her speech. Representatives of the Hungarian government, of the local authorities and hundreds of Bulgarian compatriots in Hungary attended the ceremony.

Later in the Bulgarian culture center in Budapest Vice-president Margarita Popova and Yanos Ader, president of Hungary, will attend a concert on the occasion of 100 years since the Association of Bulgarians in Hungary was established.