site.btaSofia Hosts Inter-parliamentary Meeting of European Parliament and United States Congress

Sofia, June 30 (BTA) - On June 29 and 30 Sofia hosted an inter-parliamentary meeting of the European Parliament and the United States Congress.

The Saturday panel talks discussed the political situation and the dialogue between the EU and the United States, Chairman of the Interior Security and Public Order Committee in the Bulgarian Parliament Tsvetan Tsvetanov said. Tsvetanov spoke in joint statements of the second day of the inter-parliamentary meeting.

He said he was impressed with the friendly relations between the two sides. "We have sincerity and trust. I am certain that this is the attitude for sending a message for more America in Europe and more Europe in America," Tsvetanov said.

This was the 82nd meeting under the Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue initiative, where transatlantic security cooperation and relations in the digital and economic spheres are debated twice a year. Bulgaria hosted the event as the country holding the rotating Presidency of the EU Council which it handed over to Austria on Saturday. The topics of the meeting on Friday and Saturday touched upon one of the key priorities of the Bulgarian EU Council Presidency, the Western Balkans.

Other key topics of the meeting were security, cyber security, the problematic relations with Russia, the Russian interference in respect of social media and elections, head of the the European Parliament delegation at the meeting Christian Ehler (EPP-DE) said. Dwelling on the relations with the United States, Ehler said that "although we may have different positions now in respect of trade and some economic issues, as well on certain political ones, we remain brothers in arms".

Ehler also spoke about the efforts of the Bulgarian Presidency for bringing the Western Balkans high on the agenda of not only Europe but of the transatlantic relations as well.

Head of the bipartisan delegation from the US House of Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) said that "the relations between the US Congress and our friends in Europe continue to be solid and robust and will remain so".