Tsetska Tsacheva defined the visit of Mevlyut Cavusoglu as being a further step towards expanding and strengthening the cooperation between the National Assembly and PACE. She stressed that Bulgaria highly appreciates the role and activities of the Council of Europe aimed at promoting democracy everywhere-in Europe. She underscored the unreserved support of the organization, over the past 18 years, for the democratic changes in the country, for the reforms in the Bulgarian legislation in line with the European standards and for the consolidation of the democratic institutions in Bulgaria.
“The Bulgarian parliament attaches great importance to its cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe” noted Tsetska Tsacheva and added that the members of the Bulgarian parliamentary delegation are actively involved in the work of the Assembly.
The participants in the meeting exchanged views on the evolving issues in the dialogue between Bulgaria and PACE in the post accession monitoring period of the country. It was mentioned that reports on our country’s progress since 2009 are positive that Bulgaria has made undeniable progress in the reform process and that the current government and parliament have a clear commitment to their continuation.
The President of the National Assembly emphasized the firm political will of the present government to combat corruption and organized crime and briefed the guest on the legislative measures passed by the 41st National Assembly aimed at achieving this goal.
The program of the visit envisions meetings of Mr. Mevlyut Cavusoglu with the President of Bulgaria Georgi Parvanov, the Minister of Justice Margarita Popova and the Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov.
On December 9, 2010 at 9.30 am, Mevlyut Cavusoglu is scheduled to meet with parliamentary group leaders of the 41st National Assembly. He will have talks with Veselin Vuchkov, Deputy Interior Minister and members of the Bulgarian delegation to PACE.
On December 10, 2010 Mevlyut Cavusoglu will visit Varna, where he will meet with the Regional Governor Yordan Simeonov.
The President of PACE will deliver a lecture at Varna’s Free University on the occasion of the International Day on Human Rights.