Deputy Speaker of Parliament Tsveta Karayancheva has had talks with German MP Gero Storjohann, who is in Bulgaria to select Bulgarian interns at the German Bundestag. Chair of the Bulgaria-Germany Friendship Group Daniela Maleshkova and Deputy Chair Erol Mehmed have also attended the talks.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Tsveta Karayancheva has said that the friendship between Bulgaria and Germany is very important for our country and stressed that Bulgaria highly values Germany’s support in many areas. She has praised the International Parliamentary Internship Programme for being very useful because it contributes to the active involvement of young people in parliamentary projects and their successful professional career.

Gero Storjohann said that since 1986 over 2400 young people from different countries had participated in the International Parliamentary Internship Programme. They have had the opportunity to learn about the work of the German Bundestag and be actively involved in it. During the selection of interns for the Bundestag I was impressed with the candidates’ good language skills but at the same time there were gaps in their knowledge of politics, commented Gero Storjohann. He explained that four interns had been selected to work at the German Bundestag in the following year.

Tsveta Karayancheva said that she was not surprised by Bulgarian young people’s level of competence in German because the German language was the second most wanted language to study in the Bulgarian educational system. She mentioned that there had been a student internship programme with the Bulgarian Parliament since 1999, and in 2007 it became part of the Parliament’s administrative structure.

Daniela Maleshkova, Chair of the Bulgaria-Germany Friendship Group emphasised the significance of the International Parliamentary Internship Programme for the exchange of political experience between the two countries. She promised to seek information about students’ career success after the internship.

Among other topics discussed at the meeting were opportunities for developing and promoting the International Parliamentary Internship Programme as well as issues related to the bilateral relations in infrastructure, transport and economy.