Deputy Prime Minister Zaharieva in Sarajevo: “Bulgaria Will Share Its Reform Experience with Western Balkan Countries”
08 July 2019 News
“Regional forums like the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) and the Berlin Process are a good place to communicate and increase our mutual knowledge and understanding despite political differences. The SEECP has emerged as a pragmatic tool of cooperation promoting particular projects, economic growth and stability in the region.”
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said this, addressing a foreign ministers’ meeting of the South-East European Cooperation Process in Sarajevo, which marked the end of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s SEECP Chairmanship.
“It took me five hours to reach Sarajevo from Sofia by plane, which shows how weakly we are connected, and not only transport-wise but also in terms of digital infrastructure and business-to-business, which is why we support the priorities of your SEECP Chairmanship,” Zaharieva said.
“During the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council, we made a lot of efforts to put the European integration of the Western Balkans back on the EU agenda,” the chief Bulgarian diplomat stressed.
“Colleagues persuaded me that this is not a popular topic, but we didn’t give up. Now we can report the EU-Western Balkans Summit, the Sofia Declaration and the Sofia Agenda as a success. I am pleased that the Romanian, Finnish and Croatian presidencies carry on our work. We are trying to persuade the rest of the EU Member States, too, that starting negotiations with the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Albania is a win-win situation for both the Western Balkans and the EU,” Zaharieva pointed out.
“We want to help you by sharing our administrative experience in absorbing EU funds, so that you won’t make the same mistakes we did in the pre-accession period, when we failed to cope well with the projects,” Zaharieva said, addressing the Western Balkan countries. “We are now in the top three Member States best absorbing the EU Structural Funds. Sufficient financial resources and financing mechanisms are often available in the region, but administrative capacity to implement the projects in practice is lacking.”
Zaharieva also called on the heads of the SEECP participants’ foreign ministries to consider ways of improving the organisation’s visibility and effectiveness because there are many regional formats.
“The absence here of two countries: Kosovo and Albania, is a bad sign. Five EU Member States do not recognise Kosovo, but another 23 of the EU have done so, and I think a formula has been found in which Kosovo can participate at various international forums together with States that do not recognise it,” Zaharieva added.
After the ministerial meeting, which will be followed by a forum of the heads of State and government of the SEECP countries, a final document is expected to be adopted, reaffirming the participants’ desire for a European perspective for the region, cooperation in the fight against extremism, terrorism, human and arms trafficking, money laundering and corruption.
The participants welcomed the results of the Sofia Summit in May 2018 and promised to work for all aspects of connectivity.
The South-East European Cooperation Process operates as a forum for political dialogue among the countries in the region. The SEECP was established on the initiative of Bulgaria and traces its beginning to the Sofia Declaration on Good-Neighbourly Relations, Stability, Security and Cooperation in the Balkans, adopted in 1996.
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