site.btaEC President Juncker Says Monitoring of Bulgaria Will Be Reconsidered, CVM Lifted by His Term's End

EC President Juncker Says
Monitoring of Bulgaria Will Be
Reconsidered, CVM Lifted by His Term's End


Brussels, December 4 (BTA corr. Nikolay Jeliazkov) - The
Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), which the European
Commission (EC) applied to Bulgaria in 2007 to monitor progress
in reforming the judiciary and fighting corruption and
organized crime, will be lifted by 2019, said EC President
Jean-Claude Juncker here on Thursday during a joint news
conference with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.

The CVM will be reconsidered within this Commission's mandate,
Juncker said, recalling that he had made such a promise during
the election campaign. The conditions are present for this to
happen gradually, the EC President noted. Answering a question,
he said that there is a clear vision for this and promised that
the CVM will be lifted during his term as EC President.

"Bulgaria is part of the European family. The European family is
supporting Bulgaria in finding solutions to the current
geopolitical challenges. We are here to help our Bulgarian
family members. We will make sure EU funds are relaunched and
used to the full in solidarity with Bulgaria and Bulgaria will
do its best to use them to stimulate growth, create jobs and
improve the lives of the Bulgarian people," Juncker said.

"Energy matters are a matter of common concern to all Europeans.
Bulgaria is not alone, and the Commission and the European
Union are not observers. We are with Bulgaria in these
difficult times. We want energy to flow to Bulgaria and to the
whole of Europe and we will not accept any blackmailing on
energy matters. Bulgaria is not a small country, it has the
whole of Europe behind it.

We will be working closely together on the Investment Plan,
which I presented recently, to ensure that energy
interconnectors are a key element in the new wave of investments
of the 315 billion euro we want to trigger.

As regards South Stream, the EU and Bulgaria are working
together to solve the outstanding issues. These outstanding
issues are not insurmountable. We should do what is best for
Bulgaria and thus best for Europe. Boyko and myself will find a
solution together," the EC President said.

According to Juncker, South Stream can be built and the
conditions have been clear since a long time. "There is nothing
new. The ball is in the court of Russia. We are ready.
Preparatory work is on the way." he said.

Bulgaria is ready to join Schengen and the rest of the Europeans
must start preparing for this, Juncker said, promising to make
this happen quickly. The EC President explained that he is not
indifferent towards Bulgaria, as it was part of his election
campaign and he shares a very close friendship with its PM Boyko
Borissov. Juncker said he will do everything possible so that
Bulgaria takes the place in Europe that it deserves.

Juncker said he does not accept the idea for Bulgaria to be
blackmailed and a scapegoat in the relations between Russia and
the EU. All necessary steps for improving relations with Russia
have been taken, but this does not depend only on the will of
the EU and the EC. "It takes two to tango," Juncker said.

Bulgaria was pointed out by name and singled out as posing a
problem for South Stream, Borissov said, adding that he finds
this unjust, because the EC negotiates in the name of the six EU
Member States, through which the pipeline's route will pass.
Preparatory activities have not been suspended. This statement
from Ankara was made deliberately and before the issues were
cleared, Borissov said, referring to Russian President Vladimir
Putin's statement that he made recently in Turkey about Russia
scrapping South Stream. Borissov said Bulgaria is in favour of
building South Stream in compliance with European rules.
Bulgaria has already incurred quite a lot of expenses.

The PM voiced hope that relations between the EU and Russia will
improve and noted that this also depends on Russia. "If they
accept the Third Energy Package, we can start South Stream's
construction today," he said.

The Prime Minister noted that Bulgaria has supported the
sanctions against Russia, but voiced hope that they won't last
and relations will get back to normal. "We support the
sanctions, regardless of how unpleasant and serious the
consequences for Bulgarian tourism and trade are. Some 15-20
years ago we suffered losses worth billions because of the
embargo on Yugoslavia, which left us being the poorest country
in the EU. Now, at the other border are Ukraine, Crimea and the
Black Sea and we are pressured by sanctions. On the other side
is Turkey with its powerful economy. We have serious problems,"
Borissov said.

He said that Bulgaria has been ready to join Schengen for a long
time, voicing hope that the CVM mechanism will not be tied to
this country's readiness to join Schengen.

EC Vice President and Budget Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva
said the Commission feels a huge responsibility to work with
Bulgaria, so that it can take full advantage of its EU
membership in these difficult times, when the country finds
itself facing potential and extremely serious political and
economic damages.

Speaking in front of Bulgarian journalists earlier after meeting
with President of the European People's Party (EPP) Joseph
Daul, Borissov said that the question of [joining] the Schengen
Area should be returned on the agenda. Present at the meeting
which was held in EPP's headquarters, were also Bulgarian Deputy
Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva and President of the Party of the
European Socialists Sergei Stanishev.

Borissov and Daul said that the South Stream gas pipeline
project was discussed in their talks. Daul said that Europe will
not give in to Russian President Vladimir Putin's propaganda
in Bulgaria and in the rest of Europe. The EPP President added
that a decision on the matter must be made at European level.

Borissov for his part voiced hope to receive "a clearer"
position from the European Commission. The Bulgarian Prime
Minister expressed indignation at a recent statement of an EC
spokesperson that the EC was only monitoring the South Stream
project. Borissov said he has read the document whereby Bulgaria
delegates all rights for this project to the EC. He said it was
a totally different matter whether Bulgaria is entitled to
compensations from scrapping the project or whether this is laid
down in the agreement. "I want from the EC yes/no answers to
the questions, what can be done and what not," Borissov said.
The Prime Minister reiterated his position that it is no
diversification if Bulgaria receives gas from the same deposit
but via Greece and Turkey. "I am still pained that Bulgaria was
bypassed by Nabucco-West gas pipeline. If we had it, we would
have had no problems," he said.

On Wednesday evening Borissov conferred with Elmar Brok,
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European
Parliament, the government's information service said in a press
release.

The two officials conferred after Borissov
arrived in Brussels on a working visit. The main topic of the
talks was the situation of the South Stream gas pipeline
project.

Borissov said that Bulgaria has always supported the
implementation of the gas pipeline but only provided that all
requirements of the European and Bulgarian legislation are
strictly complied with. He also stressed that Bulgaria will not
allow being used as a bargaining chip in the relations between
Russia and the West. "I expect the EU leaders to protect the
interests of Bulgaria too in the talks between Russia and the
EU," Borissov said.

On Thursday in Brussels Borissov is also scheduled to confer
with European
Council President Donald Tusk, European Parliament President
Martin Schulz. VI, PK/ZH, MY







/МЙ/