NEWS

The Head of State: The Beginning of a New Process of Building a Democratic and United Europe May be Set in Bulgaria

The fundamental principles on which democratic Europe is built will be reconfirmed at the forthcoming meeting of the Committee of Ministers at the Council of Europe in May 2016 in Sofia. This is what President Rosen Plevneliev told representatives of the Bulgarian media in Strasbourg. The Head of State said that a summit of the Council of Europe member-states will be held in the next two years, at which the decisions on a democratic and peaceful development made in Sofia will be confirmed.

“The new generation of European politicians seems to have forgotten the basic documents that guarantee peace, human development and democracy and currently the latter are in danger once again,” President Plevneliev said. The European debate is on the agenda and Bulgaria is ready to contribute to it, the Head of State further said. Rosen Plevneliev highlighted that as chair of the Committee of Ministers at the Council of Europe and the Southeast European Cooperation Process, Bulgaria bears the historic responsibility for being among the leading states to defend the democratic principles and the adoption of a new approach in the relations in the Balkans and Europe.

In April 2016 our country will also host a meeting of the justice ministers from 47 countries of the Council of Europe, at which measures for maintaining the rule of law and supporting the active civil societies in the region will be discussed. In the same month our capital will also host a conference dedicated to safeguarding the rights of children and the process of deinstitutionalization. “The new 2020 strategy of the Council of Europe dedicated to child care will be announced namely in Sofia,” President Plevneliev said.

In reply to a journalist’s question, the Head of State highlighted that at the meetings he held with Council of Europe representatives he has been assured that the European institutions highly appreciate the sincere approach adopted by the Bulgarian institutions to the problems of the judicial system and are ready to support the process of reforms.