site.btaOpposition Socialists Assess Bulgarian EU Council Presidency as "Well Organized, Deficient in Content"

Sofia, July 10 (BTA) - In the opinion of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the Bulgarian EU Council Presidency in the first half of 2018 was "well organized but deficient in content", "a pretty but empty wrapping", BSP Chair Kornelia Ninova told a news conference at the party headquarters on Tuesday.

"The Presidency was turned into a one-party event, a PR stunt personally benefiting the Prime Minister, which failed to rally the people and the institutions," she commented.

Ninova argued that this is an objective assessment, based on documents rather than on emotions. She cited a National Assembly resolution by which the draft programme of the Presidency was adopted. The keywords of the Presidency were the three C's: consensus, competitiveness and cohesion, the Socialist leader recalled.

In his words, the EU has never been more divided. "Bulgaria failed to deliver the leadership ensuring concord, consensus on key issues for Europe. On the contrary, the divisions and rifts between the European countries were deepened," she commented.

She noted that the Bulgarian Government failed to ensure institutional unity and support for the Presidency. "Nothing happened in Parliament, the President was isolated, the non-governmental sector was left out, just as the judiciary," Ninova pointed out. In her opinion, the only meeting which brought together the legislative and the executive branches and the President was the Plenary Meeting of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC), organized by Socialist MP Kristian Vigenin.

The BSP leader noted that the Bulgarian Presidency did not achieve progress on the topics of competitiveness, a revision of the Dublin Regulation and Schengen. "The Bulgarian EU Presidency witnessed glaring examples of killing competitiveness," she argued, citing the debate on cutting farm subsidies and the attempt to push through the EU Mobility Package. In her words, the Bulgarian Presidency also failed to stand up for Cohesion Policy as a way of reducing disparities in the EU.

Ninova assessed in positive terms the placing of the Western Balkans on the EU agenda and the foregrounding of the subject. She noted, though, that a roadmap was not adopted at the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Sofia and that the EU accession of the Western Balkans remains wishful thinking for the indefinite future, without firm deadlines and commitments.

The BSP leader counted 72 protests staged during the six-month Presidency, which makes one protest per 2.5 days on the average. She said that private investors withdrew 161 million euro from Bulgaria between January and April.

"The Presidency was nothing but PR, kissing and hugging without much point to it," Ninova concluded. "Instead, allies should have been sought. This Presidency backed off from fundamental European values and rights which European citizens, including Bulgarians, have enjoyed so far," she commented.

BSP Deputy Chair Deniza Slateva, who served as minister for the EU in the last caretaker cabinet (in office January-May 2017, appointed by President Rumen Radev), blasted the powerholders for keeping Radev isolated from every aspect of the EU Council Presidency. She said on Bulgarian National Radio Monday that the entire Presidency "was used as a PR campaign by the Government, which did its best to keep the President out". "I don't understand this isolation of the President. It was indeed the Prime Minister who was Bulgaria's face at the Councils, but we had a chance to show maturity and respect for State institutions, including respect between Prime Minister and President," Slateva said, apparently implying that the chance was wasted.