Nickolay Mladenov discusses Middle East and Multiannual Financial Framework with EU colleagues
20 November 2012 News
At the Friends of Syria group meeting in Morocco in December, the European Union will expect that the unification of the Syrian opposition will have become firmer, that it is open to others who want to join and that it will have a detailed plan for a transition in the country, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov said, commenting on the conclusions adopted last night by the EU Foreign Affairs Council.
The Council conclusions welcomed the establishment of the national opposition coalition and accepted it as the legitimate representative of the aspirations of the Syrian people. Mladenov said that on the basis of last night’s decision, the EU will provide support to the Syrian opposition through the new coalition.
The Foreign Affairs Council discussed developments in the Middle East, focusing on the situation in Gaza and with the EU foreign ministers again calling for an immediate end to the hostilities.
The Council discussed the situation in Ukraine after the October 28 parliamentary elections. Speaking during the discussions, Minister Mladenov emphasised the strategic importance of relations with Ukraine and the need to preserve that country’s European perspectives.
In preparation for the extraordinary meeting of the European Council to be held at the end of the week on the Multiannual Financial Framework, the ministers spoke with European Council President Herman van Rompuy. “The member states seem determined to do their utmost to achieve an agreement on the budget at this point. If we still do not have an agreement at the forthcoming European Council, it will be a question of judging whether and how to achieve agreement at the beginning of next year or later next year,” Minister Mladenov said. Some EU member states have made a very strong case for reducing the overall level of expenditure in the 2014-2020 EU budget and from our point of view, the question is where these cuts will be made, he said.
Bulgaria and the Friends of Cohesion group insist that the least of these cuts affect the Cohesion Policy. Bulgaria proposes instead that opportunities be examined to cut costs of some the large and expensive projects such as Galileo and Connecting Europe, among others, and by cost-cutting at European institutions.
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/133598.pdf
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/133587.pdf