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An EU General Affairs Council is held in Brussels

17 December 2024 News

Deputy Foreign Minister Elena Shekerletova represented Bulgaria at the ordinary December meeting of the General Affairs Council, which took place today in Brussels. In the last for the year meeting of this format of the Council, under the presidency of Hungary, the main topics of discussion of the ministers were the conclusions for the regular meeting of the European leaders on 19 December this year, the conclusions on enlargement policy, EU—UK relations and the Future of Europe.

The conclusions for the European leaders' meeting on 19 December include the following major topics Ukraine, the Middle East, the EU in the global world and migration. Deputy Minister Shekerletova emphasized in her speech the continued support for Ukraine in all directions. On the situation in Syria, she stressed the need for a peaceful and inclusive transition in the country. She expressed the hope that the truce reached between Israel and Hezbollah would lead to a stabilisation of the situation. On the priority topic for our country to counter illegal migration, Bulgaria and the other member states agreed on the need to speed up returns and implement innovative approaches to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the EU. Deputy Minister Shekerletova welcomed the positive message in the European Council conclusions on the completion of the integration process of Bulgaria and Romania into Schengen.

Ministers adopt the Council's annual conclusions on EU enlargement policy. The new momentum in the process was welcomed with the progress made by Montenegro and Albania, which allowed for the holding of Intergovernmental Conferences with these candidate countries on the eve of the General Affairs Council. The statement of Bulgaria stressed that the enlargement process continues to be guided by the progress of the candidate countries and the assessment on their own merits. The achievements of Albania and Montenegro over the past year were welcomed. It reminded that the European Consensus of 2022 contains the conditions for the progress of the Republic of North Macedonia on the path towards the EU. In their conclusions, the ministers called on the Republic of North Macedonia to speed up the adoption of the constitutional amendments and stressed the need to achieve tangible results and faithful implementation of the Treaty with Bulgaria in line with the Negotiating Framework.

On the topic of EU-UK relations, the ministers united around following a unified approach that gives the EU the maximum opportunity to protect its interests. ‘For us there are three important areas of further deepening the EU—UK relations — the area of foreign, security and defence policy, promoting youth mobility and ensuring the rights of European citizens residing in the UK’, said Deputy Minister Elena Shekerletova.

Deputy Minister Elena Shekerletova led the Bulgarian delegation to participate in the EU-Albania Intergovernmental Conference, during which the negotiating cluster 6 ‘External Relations’ was opened, and in the EU-Montenegro Intergovernmental Conference, during which negotiations on three negotiating chapters were closed. Thus, the total number of closed negotiating chapters with Montenegro is 6, with all negotiating chapters open.

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