German Justice Minister: “Bulgaria’s progress in the judicial reform is visible to all in the European Union”
31 May 2017 News
“Bulgaria is making tangible progress in the field of the judicial reform, and we can see this not only in Germany, it is also visible to the rest of the Member States of the European Union. I am glad that Ekaterina will continue to deal with the reform because she was precisely the one who started it.”
With these remarks, the German Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection Heiko Maas welcomed in Berlin the Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister for Judicial Reform and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva.
Minister Maas promised that the German side will continue to help the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice with expertise in reference with the forthcoming Presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2018. Minister Zaharieva thanked for the excellent cooperation: Germany sent a prosecutor who participated in the expert mission which prepared an independent analysis of the structural and functional model of the prosecution service in Bulgaria, and the Justice Ministry in Berlin trained Bulgarian jurists, one of whom is already working on the EU Presidency matters related to justice at Bulgaria’s Permanent Representation in Brussels.
Heiko Maas asked Minister Zaharieva to inform Bulgarian Justice Minister Tsetska Tsacheva that the doors of his Ministry in Berlin are always open for her and her team.
Maas and Zaharieva also discussed a number of topics of bilateral interest, as well as the progress on the high-profile dossiers on the agenda of EU justice ministers.
Within the framework of her official visit to Berlin, Deputy Prime Minister Zaharieva also conferred with the Chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Dr Hans-Gert Poettering. “We highly appreciate the determination we see in you and in Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s entire Government regarding Bulgaria’s clear and steadfast European orientation,” Poettering said. He was proud to emphasize that Bulgarian was the first language into which his autobiography had been translated, and he presented Minister Zaharieva with a copy of his book. The two discussed the political situation in Bulgaria and Germany, the forthcoming parliamentary elections in the Federal Republic, the progress of the judicial reform in Bulgaria, and current events in the Western Balkans.
Minister Zaharieva also conferred with Christoph Heusgen, foreign policy adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel, and with Dr Uwe Corsepius, the Chancellor’s adviser on European affairs.
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