Ekaterina Zaharieva Talks to Her Portuguese Counterpart, Expresses Bulgaria’s Support for Portugal’s EU Council Presidency Priorities
12 January 2021 News
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva talked by telephone today with her Portuguese counterpart Augusto Santos Silva and took part in an online discussion on the priorities of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU.
Zaharieva congratulated Minister Silva on the Presidency priorities and expressed Bulgaria’s full support for the priorities. The two discussed the challenges posed by combating COVID-19 and the enlargement of the European Union, along with other key dossiers on the Union’s agenda. The two chief diplomats will confer in Brussels on 25 January during the Foreign Affairs Council meeting.
“If we all in the EU are of the same team, if we are consistent and have continuity, we can overcome the challenges that confront us,” Ekaterina Zaharieva said during the online discussion. She stressed that Portugal is taking over the EU Presidency at a crucial moment for the implementation of the important decisions made during the preceding German Presidency.
“The fact that we managed to improve EU coordination of joint COVID pandemic response measures, to reach agreement on the EU budget, to reach agreement on the recovery and resilience facility, to reach agreement on the future relations with the EU has demonstrated, to my mind, that the EU is able to cope with even unexpected and unprecedentedly difficult situations,” Zaharieva said. She expects a start without delay of the implementation of the Multiannual Financial Framework and the EU Recovery Facility.
“The motto you have chosen comes at just the right time and place. It says: ‘Time to deliver’. This is precisely what our citizens expect,” Ekaterina Zaharieva said.
The Bulgarian Foreign Minister stressed the importance of vaccines and of the EU’s strategic autonomy to manage the coronavirus pandemic and its effects.