2011 Will Be the Year of Eastern Europe in the EU
12 January 2011 News
After Hungary, Poland is the country to take over the rotating EU Presidency. This is a unique opportunity for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to see in the priorities of these two countries many of their own priorities, said Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov at the conference “Priorities and Challenges of the Hungarian EU Presidency”, organized by the European Institute on Wednesday, 12 January 2011. He emphasized that the priorities of the Hungarian and the future Polish EU presidencies, are of particular interest to our country and that Bulgaria will cooperate for their achievement. These include energy security, actual implementation of the Danube Strategy and debate on the future of the European Cohesion Policy and the EU Common Agricultural Policy.
Foreign Minister Mladenov highlighted that the European strategy for Roma integration and the EU enlargement with the countries from the Western Balkans are other priority issues for our country that are part of the challenges the Hungarian EU presidency faces.
Certainly, it is important for us to look to the East, to look to the South, but mostly to look to the South-East of the EU, Minister Nickolay Mladenov said.
Minister Mladenov confirmed that “the Bulgarian government is convinced that it will have fulfilled all technical requirements and criteria to become part of the Schengen Agreement by March 2011”.
The main priorities of the Hungarian presidency were presented by the Ambassador of Hungary to Bulgaria Ms. Judith Lang.