Prime Minister Boyko Borisov presented before the deputies the report of the government on the priorities of the country during the Cypriot presidency of the European Union and on the achieved results on the important themes and dossiers on the EU agenda during the Danish presidency. The Prime Minister has noted that preparations for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union should start as early as possible even though the latter seems far in the future – the second half of 2018.

Mr. Boyko Borisov noticed that in the first six months of the year the country has held intensive talks on key topics of the European Union such as the Multiyear Financial Framework for 2014 – 2020. In the negotiations the country has reached progress in two important priorities, namely the placement of the Cohesion Policy issues into a separate subchapter of the MFF and the inclusion of a specific text stipulating the financial assistance continuation for Bulgaria, Slovakia and Lituania’s discontinuation of nuclear reactors. 

Mr. Boyko Borisov outlined four important for Bulgaria basic themes to work on during the presidency of Cyprus in the second half of 2012. In his words the priorities set with respect to the country’s membership to the European Union correspond completely with the goals for development set by the country. Among them he pointed out the overcoming of the insecurity and instability, caused by the financial crisis, improvement of the economic management and budget control.

In the debate that followed, the deputies agreed unanimously that the MFF of the EU for the period 2014-2020 was the most important topic.

The GERB party deputies emphasized the positive sides of the cabinet’s policies related to the EU, particularly the financial and economic stability of the country and the increasing credit rating of Bulgaria, regardless of the crisis. The chair of the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of European Funds, Mrs. Monika Panayotova, mentioned that Bulgaria has created favorable conditions for sustainable economic growth and has participated successfully in the negotiations on the structuring of the 2014-2020 Budget of the Union and praised the government for not allowing the country into the “debt – deficit” spiral.

The Blue Coalition MP Assen Agov said his parliamentary group is to help the GERB party parliamentary group if it starts working on finding “solution that will save Bulgarians from the natural gas prices made up by Russia”. He recalled the big theme on the EU agenda, started during the presidency of Cyprus - the federalization of the national states in the EU and said that Bulgaria has to consider the profit of gaining a greater weight in the EU decision - making process if this happens.

The PG Coalition of Bulgaria MP Plamen Oresharski said the position of Bulgaria on the above mentioned issue was very passive. He mentioned that our country relies on the solidarity of the EU for closing its old nuclear reactors in “Kozloduy” and requested the amount of the financial aid to be reconsidered.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms PG asked an analysis of the cohesion policies’ results to be made, not only the information on the numbers of absorbed money.

The PG of the Ataka Party declared they were in favor of renegotiating the preconditions for the membership of Bulgaria in the European Union.