The Republic of Bulgaria

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Bulgaria views the cooperation in South-East Europe and the Black Sea region as a priority goal of its foreign policy. As a member of the EU and NATO, Bulgaria strives to maintain a balanced policy vis-à-vis its immediate neighbours. It participates in a number of regional initiatives which are conducive to strengthening of relations between individual countries and the enhancement of inter-regional cooperation with the Danube region, Central Asia and the Middle East on matters like transport, energy, environmental protection and others.

The South-East European Cooperation Process
The South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) is a forum of diplomatic and political dialogue. Its beginnings were laid at the Sofia Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the countries of South-Eastern Europe (6-7 July 1996), when it was decided to develop cooperation among the participating states in the following four areas:
- enhancing stability, security and good-neighbourhood;
- economic development;
- humanitarian, social and cultural matters;
- justice, fight against organised crime, illicit drug and arms trafficking, terrorism.
 
Participants in SEECP are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Croatia and Montenegro which became the 11th full member at the SEECP Summit in May 2007 in Zagreb.

SEECP cooperation is carried out in the following formats:
- Annual summits of the state/government leaders of the SEE countries;
- Annual meetings of the ministers of foreign affairs;
- Annual meetings of the speakers of national parliaments;
- Meetings of sector ministers on matters within their respective competences;
- Sittings of the Committee of Political Directors.

At the Bucharest Summit (11-13 February 2009) the heads of state or government of the member-states signed a Charter for good-neighbourly relations, stability, security and cooperation in SEE, which became the founding document of the South-East European Cooperation Process. This marked a significant step forward in its consolidation and procedural functioning.  

Bulgaria is the current SEECP Chairman-In-Office. The Bulgarian chairmanship has set itself ambitious goals and an equally ambitious programme – the consolidation of  stability and security in the region, successful conclusion of the process of transformation of the regional initiatives related to terminating the existence the Stability Pact of SEE and its replacement by a Regional Cooperation Council,  enforcing the principle of “regional ownership”, developing infrastructure, energy, economy, including public-private partnerships,  deepening of cooperation in the field of justice and home affairs, etc.

Moldova will take over the chairmanship from Bulgaria in May 2008.

The transformation of regional cooperation in SEE is under way now and the topical question is the need of reorganisation and coherency of the numerous cooperation initiatives in the region, with a view of achieving synergy of their activities and avoiding duplication.

A part of this process of transformation of SEE regional cooperation is also the transformation of the SEE Stability Pact, which is believed to have successfully delivered its task to stabilise the region, and the creation of the new structure – the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), which will inherit the Pact’s assets. At the same time, the leading political format of the SEE Cooperation Process shall be preserved in the future in view of becoming a platform for European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

On March 30, 207, Dr. Erhard Busek, the special coordinator of the Stability Pact, officially announced that Sofia was selected to host the Secretariat of SEE parliamentary cooperation. Sofia was chosen in a strong competition with Belgrade and Skopje. The choice of Sofia as the host city was also confirmed by the яspeakers of the parliaments of the SEECP countries at their annual meeting in Zagreb on April 16-17, 207.

At the SEECP Summit in Zagreb, Bulgaria officially took over the SEECP one-year rotation chairmanship. Moldova was chosen to be the successive Chairman-In-Office of the Process.

The main decisions related to the transformation of SEE regional cooperation were adopted under the Croatian chairmanship of the Process, during the final meetings in Zagreb – at the SEECP Summit of 11 May 2007 and the foreign ministers’ meetings, as well as during the Regional Round-Table of the SEE Stability Pact of 10 May 2007. The SEECP heads of state and government signed a protocol to the SEECP Charter for good-neighbourly relations, stability, security and cooperation in South-East Europe, with an amended Annex to the Charter. The decisions of the SEECP foreign ministers were approved regarding the appointment of the first Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council – the Croatian diplomat Hido Biscevic,  and the headquartering of the RCP Secretariat in Sarajevo. The founding document of the RCC statute was endorsed, envisaging its official launch for February 2008. The Zagreb declaration “The New European South-East” of the state and government leaders of the SEECP participating states was adopted, as well as the Zagreb Final Document on Enhancing the South-East European Cooperation Process.” 


Stability Pact for South-East Europe

The Stability Pact for South-East Europe was officially established with the  Founding Document adopted in Cologne on 10 June 1999, at the Conference of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the countries from the EU, G-8, South-East Europe and representatives of the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, NATO, the World Bank, IMF, EIB, EBRD and other international organisations and initiatives.

The European Union embarked on the implementation of the Stability Pact with the understanding that it was conceived as a major project designed to “foster lasting peace, prosperity and stability in South- East Europe.” 

The Stability Pact partners are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, the EU member-states and the European Commission, Canada, Japan, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, the United States, international organisations ( UN, OSCE, the Council of Europe, UNHCR, NATO, OECD); international financial institutions (World Bank, International Monetary Fund, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Council of Europe Development Bank); regional  initiatives (BSEC, CEI, South-East Europe Cooperation Process, South-East Europe Cooperation Initiative).

The new realities six years after the start of the Stability Pact led to a review of the initiatives and the working groups within the Pact’s framework in view of fostering its efficiency.  The 2005 Sofia Regional Table launched the idea of “regional ownership”, i.e. a greater involvement of the region in making decisions about its own future.  A Wise-Men Group was formed under the leadership of Ambassador Alpo Rusi with the task of drafting proposals for the transformation of the Stability Pact. The report of the Group was submitted at the Regional Table in Belgrade (29-30 May, 2006) A road map was approved during the meeting with a view of incorporating regional ownership into the structure of SEE regional cooperation. In this context, a decision was taken to create a Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) by early 2008. The priority areas of regional cooperation were outlined (economic and social  development; infrastructure; justice and home affairs; security cooperation; building human capital and  parliamentary cooperation as an overreaching theme in support of the activities within these priorities)

The Conclusions adopted at the Bucharest Regional Table confirmed the priorities outlined in the Conclusions from Belgrade and reconfirmed the time-table of the transformation of SEE regional cooperation. Agreement was reached for the joint financing of the future regional RCC structure, the RCC Secretariat in particular, by the countries in the region. The RCC transformation process should be over by 2008 when Sofia will host the last Round Table, which will also be the first meeting in the RCC format. The Pact will then cease its activities.

The thirteenth meeting of the SEE Stability Pact Regional Table was held for the first time in the framework of the SEECP Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Summit on 10 May 2007 in Zagreb. Conclusions of the Chair and the RCC Statute were adopted. The Statute will be an integral part of the RCC Memorandum of Understanding which is due for signing at the RCC constituent meeting in February 2008 in Sofia. The Regional Table approved the proposed candidatures of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo) for headquarters of the RCC Secretariat and of Hidajet Biscevic as RCC Secretary General, and they were officially endorsed at the Meeting of the SEECP Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Summit on 10 and 11 May 2007 in Zagreb. A progress report was submitted about the advancement of the process of modernising the initiatives and the task forces within the Stability Pact.

Danube Cooperation Process Initiative (DCP)

The Danube Cooperation Process Initiative was launched jointly by Austria and Romania in mid-2001 with the support of the SEE Stability Pact and the European Commission. Its official start is considered to be the Vienna Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the countries from the Danube basin of 27 May 2002, which adopted formally the Declaration on the Establishment of the Danube Cooperation Process and the following documents outlining the modalities of interaction: Operational Principles and Methods of the Process, and Indicative Work Programme. Participants are all the countries from the hydrological basin of the river: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Germany, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Yugoslavia. The initiative is open for appropriate participation to all interested countries and international organisations.  

The Bulgarian participation in the initiative was approved with a Council of Ministers decision of May 2002

The initiative Danube Cooperation Process envisages the deepening, expansion and optimisation of the cooperation among the countries of the region on the political level as well as in the field of economy, sustainable development, transport, navigation, tourism, culture and the sub-regions. The aim is to generate political impulses for the resolution of issues which cannot be adequately addressed by the existing structures and which are consonant with the European integration processes.

The envisaged format of implementation of the cooperation is periodic (biannual) ministerial to exchange opinion, to identify areas of common interest for the countries of the region and to give political impulse to the realisation of the common goals. The initiative does not envisage the establishment of national administrative structures. It is not expected to perform the role of a financing mechanism for concrete projects either.  

At the most recent Third DCP Ministerial held on 18 April 2007 in Belgrade Bulgaria singled out the environment and navigation as priority DCP fields and identified the interaction with other regional organisations and initiatives, especially BSEC, as a perspective area in the initiative’s future development. 

South-East European Cooperative Initiative (SECI)

Bulgaria views the cooperation in South- East Europe and the Black Sea region as a priority goal of its foreign policy. As an EU and NATO member-state, Bulgaria aims to conduct a balanced policy vis-à-vis its immediate neighbours. It takes part in several regional initiatives which help strengthen the relations between the individual countries and foster inter-regional cooperation with the Danube region, Central Asia and the Middle East in the field of transport, energy, environmental protection and others.