“Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity.” These are the words France’s Foreign Minister Robert Schuman addressed to the international media in Paris on 9 May 1950. He presented a declaration addressing France, Germany and the other European countries, proposing the creation of a European Coal and Steel Community. “World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it.” Today these words from Schuman’s declaration are considered to be the first step towards pooling all European efforts in an initiative that is now the European Union. May 9 – the day on which Robert Schuman made his speech in 1950 - was declared Europe Day at the EU summit in Milan in 1985, and has come to be regarded as a symbol of united Europe, alongside the blue flag studded with golden stars, the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and the single currency, the Euro.

Bulgaria’s relations with the EU have a brief but dynamic history. This country established diplomatic relations with the European community on 9 August 1988. In 1990, the Grand National Assembly voted a decision expressing Bulgaria’s desire to become a full member of the community. On 16 December 1995, during the third European Council in Madrid, the President of the Council of the European Union Javier Solana was handed Bulgaria’s EU membership application. By 2002 this country had opened all negotiation chapters. Three years later, Bulgarian parliament ratified the country’s EU accession treaty. After ratification by the member countries, on 14 December 2006 Bulgaria and Romania were officially welcomed to the European family and have been full members of the Union since 1 January 2007.

What is Europe like 65 years after Robert Schuman’s speech? The answer from Meglena Kuneva, Bulgaria’s first European commissioner, now Deputy Prime Minister for European Policies Coordination and Institutional Affairs:

“No one could have imagined back then that Europe would be united on such a scale,” she says. “We should always remember that united Europe started out from a small group of countries, all of them neighbours. Six countries which knew their history and had been through it together. Now Europe comprises 28 countries and it is still a magnet for the countries of the Western Balkans, as well as for countries like Ukraine and Turkey. To begin with, the EU was more of an economic project. But to my mind what has been unfolding over the past 10 years, is a persistency in upholding human rights and protecting personal interests, civil liberties. This is what gives Europe its unique face. As to respecting the individual even when it is to the detriment of other interests, raising the protection of human rights to the rank of a fundamental value, I think that this is what makes Europe a unique political entity in the world. And this is the reason why so many people hold it dear.”

Meglena Kuneva – we remember her name as part of the process of Bulgaria’s accession to the EU, when she was minister of European affairs. Looking back at those events now, have we succeeded in altering the way Europeans regard us and what are the tasks lying ahead?

“To my mind a very powerful sign would be our accession to the Schengen area, even if we start with just one border,” she says. “It is a grave error that since 2007 Bulgaria has halted its accession to the EU. The country has not been advancing towards the Eurozone or Schengen at any tangible rates. The European Commission came out and stated Bulgaria was ready to join Schengen. I think it is crucial that the Bulgarian government, the Bulgarian parliament, the Presidential institution unite in a joint declaration. I urge parliament to appraise these past years – on May 11 it will be 10 years since the ratification of Bulgaria’s EU accession treaty, and to state what we want. To support our own selves, very clearly, very distinctly. Otherwise it would look as if we expect our accession to Schengen to come as a routine calendar event. We must demonstrate the will for this to happen and assume the commitment.”

Meglena Kuneva has frequently had to face difficult decisions with no simple answers.

“Each thing has to be assessed in light of its own time,” she says. “There were some highly unpopular decisions. They were always difficult at the time they were made. Now, looking back, the most important decision of all was the decision on the speed of the negotiations, on not dallying. If we were to revert to this ambition now I think Bulgaria will be successful in many of its reforms – in the judiciary, in education, in health care, the Interior Ministry, the administration etc. Things that have to happen in the country. I hope we shall be able to do that.”

English version: Milena Daynova