Ekaterina Zaharieva: Our young people were the face of the Bulgarian Presidency
12 September 2018 News
‘In the past six months there has been more upbeat talk about Bulgaria than in the 27 years before that. The successes of the Bulgarian EU Presidency are there for all to see, and the young faces that worked as volunteers for the institutions make up its collective face. Everyone who came to Bulgaria saw our true wealth: the young people, who are our future.’ Those were the words of Deputy Prime Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva at a discussion held today with young people from the town of Velingrad on the subject of ‘Summing up the EU Presidency and how we see the future of the EU: the role of the youth’.
In her statement the top Bulgarian diplomat emphasized that in the past six months, Bulgaria has demonstrated, through its vision and ambition, that it is capable of imposing its priorities on the rest of Europe. ‘We showed that we can lead the dialogue and debate among all 28 member states in such a way as to attain our goals,’ Zaharieva pointed out.
The Foreign Minister stated firmly that the debate on the future of Europe should not be seen as a mere formality, and that the voice of young people is extremely important as they are the ones that determine the future. In the words of Zaharieva, the crises that the EU has been through recently: the economic crisis, the refugee problem, the decision of the citizens of one country to quit the European family – all of that has demonstrated that even the most democratic, the most meaningful, the most successful alliance of nations is neither indestructible nor an irreversible process.
‘Our mistake, one that is common for all European politicians and EU officials, was that we kind of forgot to explain to the young people what it is we do and why, what it means to be an EU member, and most important of all, to ask them what they expect from us,’ Ekaterina Zaharieva said. She went on to emphasize that it is important that the Brussels institutions are not perceived as some abstract notion. ‘Europe and its institutions are us, each and all of us European citizens. We all define their policies together,’ Minister Zaharieva also pointed out.
‘Democracy should not be taken for granted; it is something each and everyone of us should fight for, day in and day out,’ she appealed to the young people of Velingrad. ‘The way you should do it is by suggesting ideas, by speaking out and by being vocal in your rejection of things you do not agree with.’
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