Bulgaria and Greece are a factor of stability and democratic development of Southeast Europe that cannot be disregarded. This is what President Rosen Plevneliev said at a joint news conference with his Greek counterpart Prokopis Pavlopoulos at 2 Dondukov street. This is President Prokopis Pavlopoulos’ first visit to a Southeast European country. The two presidents shared the opinion that Bulgaria and Greece are an engine and example of developing relations of good-neighborliness, cooperation and friendship in the Balkans.
European integration has no alternative for the Western Balkan countries. It is a factor of positive change in the region and the process of EU enlargement should continue, the heads of state of Bulgaria and Greece said. Both Rosen Plevneliev and Prokopis Pavlopoulos highlighted that developing relations of good-neighborliness in Southeast Europe is of key importance for achieving progress in the process of European integration and called on for putting an end to manipulating history. The two countries’ support for the NATO policy of “open doors” was confirmed.
The process of improving the connectivity of the electricity and gas transit networks in Southeast Europe will continue and the countries from the region will achieve real diversification of the natural gas supplies, the presidents of Bulgaria and Greece assured. Rosen Plevneliev and Prokopis Pavlopoulos voiced their support for the prompt construction of the gas inter-connector between Bulgaria and Greece, the investment decision for which was signed on 10 December 2015 in Sofia. This inter-connector will link Bulgaria to the South gas corridor and the liquefied gas terminals in the Mediterranean sea. The better energy connectivity will create conditions for the establishment of a regional energy market and a regional energy bourse, the Bulgarian President said.
Greece is among Bulgaria’s leading economic partners and the Head of State assured that our country will continue to promote the trade and economic cooperation. Tomorrow the two heads of state will take part in a working meeting with representatives of the business circles in the two countries. The bilateral trade is worth 3 billion euros per year and Greece is among the big investors in Bulgaria with a total amount of investments of 3,6 billion euros. Tourism marks a positive growth and more than one million Greeks visited Bulgaria in 2014 and almost the same number of Bulgarians visited Greece. Rosen Plevneliev called on for speeding up opening new border checkpoints which will give a further impetus to the economic and cultural exchange.
The two presidents confirmed Bulgaria’s and Greece’s readiness to pool efforts to cope with the unprecedented migration pressure to the EU and called on for all member states to adopt a united approach and observe the European rules. “Bulgaria and Greece were among the first EU member states to face the migration pressure and despite their limited budgets they invested a lot of funds to provide more opportunities for accepting and accommodating immigrants. Of course, we also expect support from the EU,” President Plevneliev said. Our country also actively participated in the negotiations on the EU financial framework and additional funds are expected to be allocated for coping with the migration crisis in 2016, it further emerged from Rosen Plevneliev’s words.
The Head of State reiterated that if the EU member states act together, they can solve any problem. “However, if they continue to violate the regulations of Dublin and Schengen and to transfer the refuges and shift the responsibility from one half-open border to another, this will be a recipe for a catastrophe,” the Bulgarian President added. Rosen Plevneliev said that Bulgaria protects the external EU borders in worthy manner, in compliance with the EU requirements. “I cannot understand why Bulgaria’s Schengen accession is delayed. We think that Bulgaria has met all membership criteria,” President Pavlopoulos said.
Greece will support our country for its successful chairmanship of the Southeast European Cooperation Process and of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Prokopis Pavlopoulos emphasized at the news conference. The Greek president also confirmed his support for transforming the Regional Secretariat for Parliamentary Cooperation into a Permanent Secretariat of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly with Sofia as seat.
Within the framework of his state visit to Bulgaria, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos will hold meetings with Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and with National Assembly Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva.