April 23, 2009

Bulgarian parliamentary delegation, headed by the National Assembly Chairman Pirinski is on an official visit to the Kingdom of Sweden on 23-24 April 2009. Nadya Antonova from the parliamentary group Coalition for Bulgaria and Ilko Dimitrov, MP from Bulgarian New Democracy are part of the delegation. Among the key-issues of discussions between Georgi Pirinski and the Speaker of Sweden’s parliament Mr. Per Westerberg were the common energy policies, the EU enlargement and the joint measures to tackle the global financial crisis.

Georgi Pirinski and Per Westerberg shared the support of their countries for further enlargement of the EU. Mr. Pirinski emphasized the consistent position of Bulgaria that the process should be encouraged but attached to the fulfillment of certain criteria.

Per Westerberg outlined the priorities of Sweden regarding its upcoming presidency of the EU, as being the promotion of joint energy policies aimed at the establishing of a common energy market in Europe, preventing future crisis in the sector. As another priority of his country’s presidency, he pointed the objective to broaden the dialogue with the Baltic States, Ukraine and Moldova as well as the expansion of contacts with Russia.

The Bulgarian Speaker of parliament expressed the gratitude of Bulgaria for the consistent support which the country had received during its accession to the EU period. He briefed Mr. Westerberg on the activity of the Bulgarian parliament with regards to the incorporation of the European Law and stressed the continuous commitment of the Bulgarian parliament to go ahead with the legislative and institutional reforms.

During the talks the Chairman of the National Assembly noticed that at present all countries were facing similar difficulties that challenge the ability of the EU to respond to the crisis. In his view it was important for the countries to recognize the early indicators of a potential crisis.

The two parties discussed the financial crisis and the measures undertaken to overcome it. According to the Speaker of Sweden the bank sector in his country was the most affected. Mr. Pirinski pointed that up to the present Bulgaria did remain stable, but the crisis was starting to affect the export, the unemployment and foreign investment in the country. He said that the opening of Sweden’s labor market was a positive step.

The Bulgarian delegation had meetings with members of the Foreign, European Union Affairs and Justice Committees in the Swedish parliament.

On April 24, 2009 Georgi Pirinski and the delegation are scheduled to have an audience with His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf King of Sweden.
As part of the visit the Bulgarian MP Nadya Antonova will be meeting with Klas Norgren, one of the Auditors General of Sweden’s National Audit Office and the Director General, Mr. Oscar Karnebeck.