site.bta Bulgarian, Romanian, Serbian Parliamentary Committees Discuss Refugee Flow, EU Enlargement, Energy Projects

Bulgarian, Romanian, Serbian Parliamentary Committees Discuss Refugee Flow, EU Enlargement, Energy Projects

Sofia, October 22 (BTA) - The refugee flow, European Union
enlargement and energy projects and gas interconnectors figured
high on the agenda of a trilateral meeting in Sofia on Thursday
between members of the parliamentary foreign-policy committees
of Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia. Bulgarian National Assembly
Foreign Policy Committee Chair Dzhema Grozdanova said after the
meeting that the idea is to strengthen cooperation between the
three countries' parliaments. Bulgaria and Romania declared
their unqualified support for Serbia's EU membership. The talks
also stressed the importance of regional cooperation which is at
 the core of good-neighbourly relations, she said.

"Migration was the main subject of discussions," Grozdanova
pointed out. "Migration as a problem for all Europe and, in this
 connection, Bulgaria and Romania's accession to Schengen and
our preparedness to protect the EU external border," she
specified. The MP recalled that Bulgaria supports the migrant
relocation among Member States but does not regard this as a
long-term solution to the problem.

Bulgarian National Assembly Deputy Chairman Dimiter Glavchev
pointed out that the migrants issue was discussed in detail. "We
 considered the three countries' readiness to act in one and the
 same direction," he said. "We concurred on the need to keep
acting in the direction in which we have been acting so far," he
 added.

"The trilateral format that the three countries started in
Craiova, Romania, is of exceptional importance to us because
Bulgaria and Romania are EU members and EU integration is
precisely a key foreign policy priority for Serbia at present,
and we are exceedingly grateful to Bulgaria and Romania for
their help," said Aleksandra Djurovic, Chair of the Serbian
National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee. She attaches
importance to institutionalizing the talks by signing a
memorandum specifying the subjects and issues that the three
countries will be addressing.

"The challenges of the future oblige us to institutionalize
trilateral interaction at both government and parliament
levels," said Petru Filip, Chairman of the Romanian Senate
Foreign Policy Committee. He pointed out that Thursday's meeting
 laid the foundations of institutionalized parliamentary
cooperation between the three countries. "I am convinced that
the next meeting will have pragmatic dimensions, to-the-point
questions will be considered, and this will enable the
parliaments to participate directly in the implementation of
large-scale projects," he said.