Bulgaria, Estonia, and Austria officially adopted the program for the priorities of the European Union for the next 18 months. This took place at a trilateral meeting in Brussels of the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, his Estonian counterpart – Juri Ratas and the Austrian Prime Minister Christian Kern.

The three countries united around a positive program, oriented towards the future and the achievement of concrete results in response to citizens’ expectations for more security, increase in employment, and a more visible presence of the EU on the international stage. The Trio countries will insist on their priorities but will remain flexible, so as to be able to react adequately to unforeseen situations. The program puts an emphasis on security and strengthening the external borders of the EU, economic growth and competitiveness, as well as the stabilization of neighboring regions of the Union.

Bulgaria will take over the Presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 January 2018. Three are the main highlights in its program. The first is related to guaranteeing security for each EU citizen, prevention of radicalization and violent extremism, managing migration. Bulgaria will utilize the opportunities created by the Presidency to support the countries from the Balkans on their path to Euro-Atlantic integration, underlined Prime Minister Borissov.

The second priority is increasing the competitiveness of the European economy. Its foci include deepening the Economic and Monetary Union, the Single Market and support for entrepreneurship, especially for small and medium-size enterprises and start-ups, for achieving economic growth and creating jobs. An emphasis will also be put on attaining an effective Energy Union, as well as on implementing a climate policy, which will ensure reaching the Paris Agreement goals.

The Cohesion Policy and investments in growth and employment are the third main priority of the Bulgarian Presidency. Cohesion is a fundamental instrument for achieving economic and social convergence among the member states and it is extremely important to accelerate the core debate on its future and priorities after 2020.