The countries of the Balkan Peninsula must understand that we will only be strong if we are united. This is all we need to move forward, Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov said at the 18th Bled Strategic Forum.
“I will be more than happy if the next time we meet in this body, all countries outside the European Union (EU) present here have already started accession negotiations,” Denkov said.
“The Balkans are a common economic and geographical region, I hope they will become so politically as well. But our countries have a lot of homework to do. After all, the EU is not just a geographical union. It is based on values that unite us,” he declared.
Denkov said everyone was looking towards Bulgaria and wondering why it was stopping North Macedonia on its path to the EU because of the issue of constitutional amendments.
“But the question can be asked in another way: why is it a problem that Bulgarians are part of the list of nations included in the constitution of North Macedonia,” he said.
“This is a political issue that is now part of the negotiations between North Macedonia and the European Union. I hope this problem will be resolved as outlined in the 2022 EU proposal.”
Denkov said Bulgaria also had “homework” to do to convince the Netherlands and Austria, which are blocking Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen visa zone.
He said that the Bulgarian government has a list of tasks and a timetable according to which these tasks must be accomplished.
“We want to do our homework 100 percent to be sure that when we negotiate there will be nothing in our country that is considered bad,” Denkov said.
Since its establishment in 2005, the Bled Strategic Forum, an intergovernmental project of the Republic of Slovenia, organized by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Center for the European Future, has been a leading conference in Central and Southern Europe. South East.
It allows representatives from various fields – diplomacy, politics, economics, private and public sectors and academia – to discuss the main challenges of the 21st century and find innovative solutions to regional and global challenges.
This year, the international conference is being held under the title “Solidarity for Global Security”. The 18th forum also includes activities related to fundraising for victims of the catastrophic floods in Slovenia in August this year.
(Photo: government.bg)
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