site.bta President Radev: "I Have Never Voted and Will Never Vote for CETA"

President Radev: "I Have Never Voted and Will Never Vote for CETA"

Brussels, March 10 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Talking to Bulgarian journalists in Brussels, President Rumen Radev said he had never welcomed and would never welcome the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

Radev, who is in Brussels for the European Council meeting, said: "I have never voted and will never vote for CETA. On the contrary, in my capacity as the Bulgarian President and guardian of the Constitution, I will refer the matter to the Constitutional Court because CETA requires amendments to the Basic Law and the Constitutional Court will have to pronounce on their legal conformity. From now on CETA is in the hands of the Bulgarian Parliament, which will vote on its ratification."

The Bulgarian President also said: "One thing must be clear: I do not fight lost battles. The EU has already decided about CETA. As soon as the Bulgarian government was authorized, it decided to back CETA, and the agreement was signed here [in Brussels]. Last October the Bulgarian prime minister [Boyko Borissov] voted for CETA at the European Council. These are the facts. Most importantly, CETA was approved by the European Parliament."

Reacting to comments that he hailed the trade agreement with Canada, Radev explained that "what was expressed on Thursday was a declaration, which was not voted due to Poland's disapproval of Donald Tusk's re-election as President of the European Council".

The President said: "What is important to us is that I insisted firmly and proposed a text guaranteeing that Cohesion Policy will continue, which I later discussed with the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission. I suggested that all texts inconsistent with the EU principles of unity and solidarity be scrapped. The ones I proposed are in favour of continuing Cohesion Policy. Let's not view the EU as a cash cow. In the last 10 years EU funding accounts for 40 per cent of all public investments. In 2013, it accounted for as much as 80 per cent."

This applies to the Juncker plan as well: it is to the benefit of the strong economies and the business of the developed countries. Nevertheless, Bulgaria has supported it. Bulgaria is a reliable guardian of the external borders of the EU and allocates a considerable amount of funds to protect this border, the President also said. This is again a matter of compromise in the name of solidarity in the EU and should be taken into account, he added.

Radev also said that Bulgaria provides considerable contribution to the future of Europe. "I will insist that the cohesion policy finds a place in the strategic documents and be reflected in the multiannual financial framework of the EU," he observed.

Bulgaria should categorically proceed with the important structural reforms. The EU funds have not achieved the objective of ensuring social convergence as the effect on the Bulgarians' living standards is only 0.8 per cent. It is very important to have supremacy of the law and it should be strengthened. The fight against corruption and the syphoning of the EU funds should be hard. There should be clear rules for the operation of all law-enforcement and law-administration bodies, serious reforms in the judiciary, education, healthcare and economy. "If we do not do this, noone should wait for us. Formally or informally, the leading countries will proceed at their speeds," President Radev concluded.