A delegation of the Committee for European Affairs of the French Senate led by the chair of the Committee, Mr Simon Sutour is on a visit to Bulgaria. The French parliamentarians have met with the President of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva and with leaders and members of the Committee on European Affairs and European Funds Oversight. The guests visited and were welcomed in the plenary hall of the parliament.

The key issues discussed at the talks with the Speaker of the Bulgarian parliament have been the accession of Bulgaria to the Schengen space, the economic and financial policies of the European Union and the cooperation between the legislatures of the two countries. Both sides have agreed that in conditions of crisis abiding by the rules and values of the European Union serves as guarantee to every country for its prosperity and well-being.

The chair of the Committee for European Affairs of the French Senate, Simon Sutour, and the delegation conferred at the National Assembly with the leaders and members of the European Affairs and European Funds Oversight committee. At the meeting were discussed important topics for the two parties on the EU agenda such as: the enlargement of the Schengen area, the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification, the future of the EU Multiannual Financial Framework emphasizing in particular on the Cohesion and the Common Agricultural policy of the Union.

The chairperson of the parliamentary European Affairs committee expressed her gratitude for the progress of the French position on the access of Bulgaria to the Schengen Agreement and her hope that by September the issue will be resolved. She expressed optimism with regards to the upcoming, in the month of July, report and evaluation of the European Commission on everything achieved by the country in the last 5 years in the area of judicial reform and fight against organized crime since the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification has been put into effect.
Monika Panayotova has added further that the recommendations of the EU Commission have been implemented and the parliament had made the necessary legislative changes, through adoption of the Act on Forfeiture of Illegally Acquired Assets and the amendments in the Judicial System Act.

The French senators and the Bulgarian Members of the parliament united around the opinion that the accession of Bulgaria to Schengen should be linked to the evaluation to be received by the country under the requirements of the Mechanism for cooperation and Verification. The concrete results achieved by Bulgaria are grounds to assume the Mechanism as a tool for intensified cooperation rather than as an instrument for check up.

The schedule of the French parliamentarians’ visit includes meetings with the Vice-Premier and Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov and the Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Naydenov.

The delegation of the Committee for European Affairs of the French Senate will visit Plovdiv and meet with the city’s mayor Ivan Totev and His Eminence the Metropolitan Bishop Nikolay.