[autom.vertaling] De strijden van Bulgarije voor markteconomieerkenning (en)
Bulgarian foreign minister Solomon Passy, who was Tuesday in Brussels for a EU pre-accession conference, stated that his number one priority is that the European Council in Copenhagen recognises the Bulgarian economy as functioning market one.
"We will do everything it takes for it", Passy declared stressing that the Council Conclusions should absolutely contain this wording towards Bulgaria. "We can be as persuasive as necessary", he added, knowing that as an imminent NATO member, Bulgaria could put quiet a pressure on the European Union.
The foreign minister also explained the economic and social advantages that Bulgaria would have if the EU would accept this status. Romania and Bulgaria are now the only candidate countries whose status of functioning market economy hasn't been recognised yet.
Target accession date for 2007
The Copenhagen European Council should give Bulgaria a clear date of accession, together with an update road map and an additional financial assistance. Bulgaria considers that it can conclude the negotiations with the EU in the course of 2003 so the country could join the Union by January 2007.
Romania also set its date for the 1 January 2003, but it could only conclude negotiations in mid 2004.
New Bulgarian position on Koslodui power plant
The pre accession conference held Tuesday in Brussels with Bulgaria continued the negotiations on the energy chapter. The country presented a new position concerning the Koslodui nuclear power plant.
The EU already asked Bulgaria to close down Koslodui reactors 1 to 4 which cannot be modernised. The first two reactors are set for closure in 2004, for the other two Bulgaria accepts a cessed of activity in 2006 only if further scientific analysis is conducted first.
Concerns over nuclear power
"I know that some governments in Europe have some concerns about the nuclear safety, but I want that the Bulgarian public opinion to be correctly informed," Solomon Passy explained.
This new position from the Bulgarian side was accepted by the European Commission and the Council, Solomon Passy considered that this would give Bulgaria a chance to open the bottleneck in which the country has been into for the past ten years.