Position of Bulgaria on EU enlargement and Stabilisation and Association Process for General Affairs Council, Brussels, 13 December 2016
12 December 2016 News
The Bulgarian position for the General Affairs Council meeting, due on 13 December 2016, which will adopt conclusions on EU enlargement, is adopted in accordance with the national coordination mechanism on European affairs. The position clearly states that the EU accession process of the Republic of Turkey is an important instrument of influencing and encouraging the process of that country’s Europeanisation and should be kept on track.
Nothing in Bulgaria’s position regarding the negotiations on the accession of the Republic of Turkey to the EU gives grounds for concluding that Bulgaria could possibly support a suspension of the negotiation process. The Republic of Bulgaria has always adhered to the position that the negotiations on EU membership of the Republic of Turkey must follow the same procedure and conform to the same criteria which apply to all other applicant countries conducting accession negotiations.
At the General Affairs Council meeting on Tuesday, Bulgaria will express the hope that a way will be found to reflect adequately the concerns expressed by certain other Member States and, at the same time, will stress the importance of adopting balanced conclusions which should not be called into question because they will send an important and long-awaited signal to partner countries.