Political observers in Sofia have spotted some unusual activity within the Bulgarian – Italian relations over the past few days. Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva was on a working visit to Rome on November 9 –10 and spoke with her counterpart Angelino Alfano. Yesterday PM Boyko Borissov had a one-day blitz visit to the Eternal City, where he was welcomed by Premier Paolo Gentiloni.

Was this all a coincidence, or Sofia and Rome touch based bilaterally and within the EU? Coincidence is unlikely in such cases. We would rather say that Ministers Zaharieva and Alfano set the environment and then Borissov and Gentiloni coordinated their stances on some issues, essential for both countries.

The main one is without any doubt the forthcoming Bulgarian presidency of the Council of the EU over the first half of 2018. “Italy stands next to Bulgaria and will support it during its presidency”, PM Gentiloni declared during the joint press conference with PM Borissov. Minister Alfano said to Minister Zaharieva that “the priorities of the Bulgarian presidency are our priorities and you can always rely on us”.

The Bulgarian and Italian politicians commented one of those priorities in detail – the EU accession of the Western Balkans. PM Borissov pointed out that there was a long road ahead to this goal due to regional challenges related to infrastructure development and transport communication projects, such as European Corridor 8. “This project is essential and offers opportunities for EU investments,” Premier Borissov added. The Italian party expressed full support for this good intention of Bulgaria.

The foreign ministers and then the premiers of the two countries also discussed and touch based on another sensitive matter – the migration flow from the Middle East and North Africa towards the borders of each of the two countries which are external to the EU as well. Boyko Borissov stated that European diplomacy on the issue shouldn’t be passive anymore, but should help actively both Rome and Sofia. However, Borissov further pointed out that Italy spent too much money on the establishment of refugee asylum centers in Libya, but this policy had no future. According to him, Rome should act like Sofia, restricting economic migration and enhancing the restricting measures along its external borders.

The Bulgarian foreign minister and the premier voiced to their counterparts Sofia’s readiness to enter the Schengen Area, having by now met all the technical requirements for that. The support of the Italian government was clear on this issue as well.

As far as bilateral relations were concerned, the talks in Rome revealed their constant positive development in all areas. For example, Italy has always been among the top trading partners of Bulgaria. Statistics says that in 2016 this country exported to Italy production to the tune of EUR 2.17 billion, which makes the Italian market the second largest for us after the German one. The import level over the same year was EUR 2.6 bln – that places Italy third after Germany and Russia.

Now we will end up with some spicy rumors: the Italian hosts had imposed a strict ‘no comment’ veto during the visit of PM Borissov in Rome on the issue with the collapse of the Azzurri at the qualifications of the world championships in Moscow. The national football team of Italy failed to score to the Swedes on its own terrain and dropped off the world cup tournament for a first time since 1958 - shame and national mourning for the fans of Italy.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev