The parliamentary delegation of the National Assembly at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), led by Dzhema Grozanova, has attended the regular session of the Assembly in Strasbourg. The participants have discussed Ukraine’s new education law, which looks into the options for national minorities to be taught in their mother tongue, as well as the report calling for a fourth Council of Europe Summit. The meeting was initiated by the Bulgarian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers and confirmed by the unanimous adoption of the Sofia Declaration in November 2015.

At the debates in the committees it was mentioned that the Ukrainian authorities have to take into account and duly implement the possible expert recommendations of the Venice Commission in the administration of law, including the drafting of secondary legislation.

"Bulgaria should have a leading role in the organisation of the Summit, which will consolidate the European unity and protect and support democratic security. We should offer topics for discussion and set the direction for the future of Europe. The report, adopted today, clearly shows the Bulgarian contribution to the big debate on European unity and cooperation. This will be our goal also during the Presidency of the Council of the EU: to seek balance and agreement among member states", said Dzhema Grozdanova before the Assembly. She emphasised that Bulgaria should have a clear position on the scenarios for the development of the EU. After Juncker’s speech on the state of the Union there is no certainty in the common position and that is why Bulgaria should have one by the beginning of the Presidency, said Dzhema Grozdanova. In her words, the slogan of the Presidency “Unity makes strength” clearly shows the direction in which Bulgaria will be working defending the EU policies.

The Assembly also discussed a report on the state of the rule of law, which recommends that Bulgaria should continue with the judicial reform and set up an anti-corruption agency.

Members of the delegation at the National Assembly are PACE members Milena Damyanova, Valeri Zhablyanov, Hamid Hamid, Nikolay Alexandrov and Plamen Hristov.