“The way it was often said that the portfolio that the European Commission gave to Bulgaria was close to humiliating, now it has turned out that it is one of the most important ones”. With these words PM Boiko Borissov presented the Bulgarian EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid & Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva. She was in this country for her first official visit in her new capacity of member of the large EU government. The powerful earthquakes and Haiti and Chile presented major challenges to the Bulgarian EU commissioner from the very start of her term of office. “During the Chile quake I had the chance to see how Bulgaria’s civil protection service operates. As Bulgarian, I felt quite proud to see how well trained it is”, Kristalina Georgieva said.
“In a matter of 30 sec. the Bulgarian representative reported on the readiness for inclusion in aid to a third country. In the meantime, the River Danube waters were rising, and he provided a very accurate assessment about the current threat for Bulgaria. We can see that natural disasters have become more frequent and more violent. Bulgaria has a very good team and a very good center for training for civil protection workers in the Northwestern town of Montana. Of course, it is not enough to state that we are absolutely ready and there is no problem, because natural disasters have become more frequent and more violent, as I said.”
Bulgaria’s priorities in the EU development strategy Europe 2020, including exiting the economic crisis, were among the highlights in the talks of PM Boiko Borissov with EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva. She commented that in the context of the crisis the Bulgarian government was being flexible by listening to public opinion and to the business. She compared its actions with dancing tango – two steps forward, then one step back, keeping the right direction though. Georgieva praised Bulgaria’s decision to appoint a cabinet minister in charge of EU funds’ absorption. Asked how Bulgaria could fit into the Europe 2020 strategy, Kristalina Georgieva replied that the government and the society should decide where they should focus their priorities on the basis of the strategy’s main indexes.
“There are some obvious things. Under one of the indexes called ‘energy efficiency’ we are unlucky to hold the record of the country with the lowest energy efficiency. So we have to work to make our economy more efficient meaning Bulgarians will pay less for energy. This will position Bulgaria much better. Under most of the Europe 2020 indexes we do have room to move forward. However where employment is concerned, we keep levels above the EU average. The strategy’s target under it is 75% employment of the able-bodied population. Under this index and under the rest of course, we are free to set ambitious targets showing that we fit into the European strategy to the benefit of our nation. Living up to such targets will improve Bulgaria’s image. The fact that the government is already thinking of opportunities to position the country in this debate and to prove its commitment to the European priorities, is already quite good for Bulgaria.”
For Radio Bulgaria Kristalina Georgieva gave some details about this country’s involvement in the new EU Diplomatic Service:
“Bulgaria’s success is up to the nominations that it will raise. There are no quotas there. Instead there is competition, and we do have competent people to face it at all levels. We have to be sure that we support them. I am convinced that the government will do its best to back the Bulgarian team based on professional merits, rather than on partisan ones. Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov has left a very good impression – and he is already involved in the task. Well, as the proverb goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so once the diplomatic service’s lineup is ready we can judge about the quality of our pudding”, concluded Bulgarian EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva.
English version Daniela Konstantinova
