site.btaDeputy Foreign Minister Represents Bulgaria at General Affairs Council Meeting

Deputy Foreign Minister Elena Shekerletova represented Bulgaria at the regular meeting of the General Affairs Council, which took place here on Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs press service reported. The meeting began with the Hungarian presidency presented its priorities, after which the Council discussed the state of the rule of law in the EU, as well as in the four Western Balkan candidate states.

The Bulgarian side focused on the following topics raised at the forum: the abolition of controls at Bulgaria's internal Schengen land borders by the end of 2024, accession to the euro area, maintaining strong support and solidarity with Ukraine, EU enlargement based on the principle of own merits and strict implementation of commitments and conditions by the candidate states, migration.

In her speech Shekerletova stated that Bulgaria strongly condemns the Russian military actions against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. She noted the importance of establishing a functioning Ukrainian relief fund as soon as possible. On the topic of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, she stressed the need to support the peace efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt.

The Deputy Minister brought up a recent report drafted by the former Italian prime minister and former president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, and the need for additional investing in technology, education and industrial innovation. She highlighted high energy prices as one of the main problems, which seriously undermines the competitiveness of European industry.