Austria: “You Are Doing an Excellent Job with External Border Protection. Thank You!”
09 March 2018 News
“Bulgaria is doing an excellent job protecting the external border. Thank you!” Austrian Federal Minister of European Affairs, Art, Culture and Media Gernot Blümel addressed these words to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva.
Blümel is paying a one-day visit to Sofia. He congratulated Zaharieva on the professionalism with which Bulgarian diplomats are handling the EU Council Presidency. During the second half of this year, the Austrian Minister will take over from the chief Bulgarian diplomat as Chair of the General Affairs Council and the General Affairs Council (Article 50).
“This is our second official meeting with Gernot, but the fourth since he became minister. As part of the Trio, we and our teams are constantly in touch with each other so as to ensure continuity in attaining the priorities of our Presidencies,” Minister Zaharieva told journalists, emerging from the session with her guest.
“Our two countries share a common position on the Western Balkans, and this position is that we must ensure a European perspective to that region. We hold similar views that the Union must prioritise EU external border protection,” the Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister added.
Regarding the debate on the Multiannual Financial Framework, she recalled her position that the policies that will be financed should be identified before determining the amount of the budget because the money is a means to implement the priorities.
Minister Blümel stated that Austria will continue Bulgaria’s policy line with regard to the Western Balkans after the EU Council Presidency rotates to his country.
In their capacity as the present and the next chairs of the EU Council (Art. 50), the two agreed that Michel Barnier’s negotiating team is doing an excellent job as it succeeds in representing the single will of the 27 Member States. “Austria will seek to keep the unity, just as your Presidency is doing,” Blümel said.
More photos
