Minister Zaharieva: We expect the European leaders to show courage to their counterparts in the Western Balkans
22 June 2018 News
‘If there is one thing by which the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council should be remembered, it is the unblocking of the process of European integration of the Western Balkans,’ said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva to representatives of the organized European civil society.
‘Before the start of our Presidency, we had to convince our European partners that Europe does not end at the Balkan frontier, and the leaders of our neighbours and friends in the Western Balkans, that they should carry on with their reforms,’ the Minister said at Boyana [government residence]. There she joined the external meeting of the Workers’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). According to the Foreign Minister, the second task turned out to be the more difficult one, yet the Balkan leaders surprised everyone by demonstrating that they could tackle their problems themselves, and thus proved wrong the cliché of ‘Balkanization’, i.e. self-imposed isolation and reluctance for dialog.
‘The Friendship and Neighbourhood Agreement between Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia provided the initial impetus. This was followed by the demarcation agreement between Kosovo and Montenegro, the agreement between Skopje and Athens and the continuation of the dialog between Belgrade and Pristina, marked by the symbolic handshake between the two leaders in Sofia,’ the Minister pointed out, adding that she expected the leaders of the 28 Member States to greenlight at the upcoming European Council meeting on June 28th-29th the start of pre-accession negotiations with Albania and the Republic of Macedonia.
‘I expect that by the end of our Presidency the European leaders will demonstrate courage and start the negotiations,’ Minister Zaharieva said, expressing her optimism that this would indeed happen because of the apparent change in European attitudes towards negotiating with the Western Balkan countries. ‘At first everybody was very sceptical about our theory that the region is important not just for its immediate neighbours, such as Bulgaria, but for all of Europe. Now this view is shared to a great extent by our partners so we, as the rotational President of the Council, can be proud of that accomplishment,’ she added.
‘While the political process is a step in the right direction, that step may not be enough if the EU does not give it its practical support, and here is where our country may set an example,’ continued our top diplomat. ‘It is our desire to set up a Balkan network of start-up businesses, because Bulgaria was the first country in the region to establish with European money not one but as many as three funds for investment in start-ups, and today they are so advanced as to help young people with business ideas from the entire Balkans.’
This is one of the concrete measures for dealing with youth unemployment, which ranges between 55 and 64 percent in the Western Balkans, Zaharieva also stressed.
Touching upon the problems in the labour market, she explained Bulgaria’s position on the matter of labour migration in Europe. ‘We need to work on three pillars,’ she said.
The first pillar is the foreign economic one, comprising different tools as part of development programmes, the fight against climate change that creates ‘ecological migrants’, and prevention of man-made conflicts.
The second pillar is the borders. ‘We in the EU should not confine ourselves and separate ourselves from each other. We should make together the efforts and show solidarity with the countries along our external borders,’ Minister Zaharieva underscored.
The third pillar is the completion of the reform for the European asylum policy.
‘I think that with your help, we cold incentivize politicians from all Member States to show more courage in this, too,’ the Deputy Prime Minister concluded.
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