Delegation of the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds at the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria, lead by the Chairperson of the Committee – Ms. Monika Panayotova, participated in the XLIV COSAC meeting (25-26 October 2010), organized by the Belgian Presidency of the EU.
The Bulgarian representatives at COSAC – Ms. Meglena Plugtschieva, deputy chairwoman of the Committee, Mr. Asen Agov, Mr. Emil Radev and Mr. Korman Ispamilov – members of the Committee took part in the meeting.
Among the topics that were in focus of the two-days discussions were: Sustainable development and the “Europe 2020” Strategy, the future role of COSAC after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the Belgian Presidency of the EU and the Parliamentary scrutiny over the common security and defense policy. The President of the European Commission - Mr. Jose Manuel Durao Baroso and the President of the European Council – Mr. Herman Van Rompuy presented the activities of both institutions during the Belgian Presidency. Among the distinguished guests of the session was the Belgian Prime Minister - Mr. Ives Leterme.
The Chairwoman of the Committee on European Affairs took part in the first panel of the discussion, dedicated to the “Sustainable development” and “Europe 2020” Strategy”. She mentioned that the Strategy inspired Bulgaria to determine its national indicators for achieving intelligent, sustainable and inclusive growth with a focus on the territorial, economic and social cohesion which should be implemented through prioritization and application of an integrated and synergetic approach. Furthermore, the national priorities envisaged in each National Reform Programme, should be coherent with the challenges of the new Programming period (2014-2020) and the “Europe 2020” Strategy. Having in mind the Lisbon Strategy experience of the EU, Ms. Panayotova encouraged the representatives of the Member States to mobilize their intellectual potential by including in the Europe 2020 discussion all the stakeholders such as representatives of the legislative power, the executive power, NGOs, business sector and the academic society. Ms. Panayotova emphasized the need for strong political will to determine the national indicators and to develop an Action plan for implementation of the Strategy. This is the right way to avoid the risk of “Europe 2020” Strategy being only a document of good intentions. On the contrary, the Strategy should put in practice the declared national priorities.