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BULGARIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY |
Prime-Minister Ivan Kostov:
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The invitation extended by the EU to Bulgaria has turned 10 December 1999 into a
historical date and now we are different"
The invitation extended by the European Union to Bulgaria to begin negotiations for membership has turned 10 December 1999 into a historical date and now we are different. This was declared by Prime Minister Ivan Kostov at a press conference in Helsinki, given immediately after Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Liponen announced the decision of the EU summit to invite Bulgaria and 5 other countries to start negotiations for membership in February 2000.
For Bulgaria, the negotiations can end by 2006 at the best, said the Bulgarian Prime Minister.
He put an accent on the advantages, which this decision will bring to Bulgaria in internal aspect:
In international aspect, the advantages for Bulgaria within the framework of the process of negotiations are, in the first place, the status of a candidate member to the European Union, which will bring increasing guarantees for the national security and an equal standing with the developed countries of Central and Eastern Europe. According to the Prime Minister, gradually, the free movement of people, goods, and capital to and from Bulgaria will increase; the standard of living will approach that of the EU countries. Mr. Kostov stressed that we should be able to accomplish the Bulgarian interests within the general European policy for security and defence. Bulgaria was turning into a political factor of first importance in South Eastern Europe.
The Prime Minister considered also the advantages of the new status of Bulgaria from the point of view of external funding. The country will be able to rely on European financial sources in support to its balance of payment, on financial support to the Trans-European corridors crossing Bulgaria, as well as on support to infrastructure projects and to the restructuring of economy. Soon we shall have access to European credits for Bulgarian companies on favourable terms, predicted the Prime Minister.
Besides advantages, the new situation brings a number of challenges to the country, underlined the Prime Minister. According to him, most important was to overcome “the resilient mania for indiscriminate negation, the insufficiency of faith and constructive force”. Bulgaria must be successful in achieving its interests in the process of negotiations, stressed Mr. Kostov. He accentuated on the necessity of maintaining a public consensus and permanent support by the political fractions in the Parliament in the process of negotiations. The competitiveness of Bulgarian economy will be put on trial, added the Prime Minister.
According to realistic estimations, in 2000 Bulgaria can open 15 of a total of 31 chapters for negotiations, said the Bulgarian Prime Minister. The first six countries invited for membership, already lead negotiations under 24 chapters. It is possible the European Commission to have another proposal on the scope of negotiations, but this will be decided in the coming year, added the Prime Minister.
Concerning the duration of negotiations, Mr. Ivan Kostov noted that the European Commission maintained a position for a slower pace, because it considered that in a short term, Bulgaria would have difficulties in covering the Copenhagen criteria and mainly those related to competitiveness.
To conclude, the Prime Minister indicated that he hoped to see a new type of relations and a new type of general responsibilities – that we should represent Bulgaria in the best possible light and do our best to meet the requirements of the EU.
