site.btaBulgaria, Austria Share Common Positions on Series of Matters on European Agenda

Bulgaria, Austria Share Common Positions on Series of  Matters on European Agenda

Sofia/Vienna, June 11 (BTA) - As part of his two-day working visit to Austria, Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov held a meeting with Austria's Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs Minister Sebastian Kurz, Mitov's ministry said in a press release Saturday. "One of the Bulgarian Government's key priorities is to guarantee the energy security and diversification of energy sources and suppliers. The construction of the necessary intersystem connections and infrastructure in Central and Southeastern Europe, as well as the opportunities for access to liquified natural gas terminals, are at the basis of the overcoming of the region's and Bulgaria's energy dependence," Mitov said at the meeting.

The two foreign ministers discussed bilateral relations, their countries common vision and interest in cooperation within the EU Strategy for the Danube Region and the migration influx in Europe.

"The excellent bilateral relations and good communication in international organizations are a symbol of the shared common positions on the important topics for Europe," Mitov said. Kurz noted that Austria is among the biggest investors in Bulgaria, and he expressed the hope that the bilateral economic and political ties will be strengthened and developed.

Talking about the migration crisis, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister said that his country is making everything within its power to protect efficiently the EU's external border. In his words, there are three important steps the EU needs to take: joint protection of the borders by all Member States; an uncompromising fight against human traffickers through interruption of their networks not just in the EU but also in the countries of origin; and unification at the European level of the policies on migration and asylum, and creation of a single policy on repatriation.

In the Austrian Foreign Minister's words, Bulgaria as an external border of the EU is doing the best it can to handle the migration flows. Bulgaria has expressed support for the application of the Austrian model in its part about the constant fight against human trafficking, he noted. "We should close down the illegal trafficking routes and return to the established model of clear and legal crossing of borders," he added.

The two ministers also discussed the situation in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia, the EU-Turkey Agreement, the forthcoming referendum in the UK, as well as the Western Balkans' EU integration.