site.btaForeign Minister Zaharieva: History Must Be Our Teacher, Not a Restriction

110 POLITICS - PARLIAMENT - WESTERN BALKANS - CONFERENCE

Foreign Minister Zaharieva:
History Must Be Our Teacher,
Not a Restriction


Sofia, October 5 (BTA) - "History must not be a restriction, but bring lessons, memories, be our teacher and protect us from future mistakes," said here on Friday Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva. She was addressing a forum on "Transforming the Western Balkans region - a parliamentary perspective on the role and future of EU accession process", organized by the National Assembly and the European Parliament (EP).

The forum is dedicated to the leading priority of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and it takes place within the framework of the Support Program that the European Parliament provides to the parliaments of EU accession process.

Zaharieva described the European perspective as the main motive and driving force for the true reconciliation, connectivity and reforms in the region. Not a single reform can take place without the support of the parties, national parliaments and the EP, she noted.

The EU's enlargement was restricted given the numerous challenges the Union faces, Zaharieva recalled. She expressed satisfaction that in the past six months, the EU has managed to understand that the European project cannot be fully completed without the Western Balkan countries' accession, when they are ready.

There are still challenges in the Balkans, open issues between some neighbours, many reforms to be implemented, while some EU Member States have to be convinced that the countries in the Western Balkans must become EU members, and that is possible through reforms, she explained.

Parliament's Deputy Chair Yavor Notev said that 15 years after the EU-Western Balkans Thessaloniki Summit, Bulgaria has managed to permanently put the region back on the EU's agenda. The region's European perspective is a geostrategic investment in a stable, strong and united Europe. "I strongly believe that the focus on the Western Balkans will not only be retained during the (EU) presidencies of Austria, Romania and Croatia, but make ever more tangible progress," Notev said. LI/MY
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