Speaker of Parliament Tsveta Karayancheva speaks with EP President Antonio Tajani in Brussels

Met dank overgenomen van Bulgaars voorzitterschap Europese Unie 1e helft 2018 (Bulgaars voorzitterschap) i, gepubliceerd op dinsdag 20 februari 2018.

Speaker of Parliament Tsveta Karayancheva spoke with EP President Antonio Tajani in Brussels. At the meeting, Tsveta Karayancheva said that the European prospect for the Western Balkans was the main priority of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU. She thanked Antonio Tajani for the support of the European Parliament in ensuring prospects for the countries from the region.

Tsveta Karayancheva invited the EP President to the Interparliamentary forum on the Western Balkans, which would take place in Bulgaria in the autumn. “The main goal of this event will be to take stock of everything achieved during the Bulgarian Presidency and pass the baton to the next rotating presidencies of the Council of the EU”, emphasised the Speaker of Parliament at the meeting.

Tsveta Karayancheva told Antonio Tajani that it was important for Bulgaria that each country who wished to join the EU should make the necessary reforms and have an individual assessment of its progress, not in a group with other countries.

Another topic of the discussion was Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen. “We expect support for Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen because we have already fulfilled all criteria for membership and proved that we protect the EU borders by all Schengen standards”, added Tsveta Karayancheva.

Antonio Tajani said that he definitively supported Bulgaria’s membership in Schengen. The EP President also said that he personally worked very well with the representatives of the Bulgarian Parliament and supported the priorities of our presidency. “I am happy with your country’s decision to make the Western Balkans a priority of its presidency”, he added. I will be honoured to attend the Interparliamentary forum in Sofia in the autumn, said the EP President.

Antonio Tajani praised highly the decision of the Bulgarian Parliament to organise meetings of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group on Europol in March, as well as the discussion of the Committee for Industry and Research.

Tsveta Karayancheva and Antonio Tajani shared the conclusion that politicians from all national parliaments should make ongoing efforts to increase citizens’ trust and voter turnout at the elections in 2019.