site.btaPrime Minister Kiril Petkov Meets with EU Leaders during European Union - African Union Summit

On Thursday, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov participated in his first meeting with the government and parliamentary leaders of the EU Member States in Brussels. Petkov is there to take part in the European Union - African Union summit. ''I had a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, we discussed important topics, including our clear plans to clean up corruption, to improve the judiciary, we talked about possible cooperation in the direction of infrastructure,'' the Prime Minister told reporters.

Petkov noted that Macron welcomed the constructive Sofia-Skopje dialogue and added that according to the French president, this is the right direction. Macron has expressed readiness to do everything in his power to support the Bulgarian authorities in the process at European level.

Petkov said that he had also briefly talked with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about Bulgaria's economic recovery plan. According to him, the negotiations concern an alternative to the development of a combined cycle power plant. He added that a new postponement is unlikely to be required to evaluate the plan, and that one month will most likely be enough to evaluate it.

Regarding the new sanctions against Russia under discussion, the Prime Minister said that Europe has two messages: first, that all EU countries are united, that there can be no division on the common position on Ukraine. The other message is that the EU continues to use all diplomatic opportunities to ease the tension.