A Declaration outlining the options for the EU to address the challenges it is facing was adopted by the heads of the parliamentary delegations of EU member states to the Inter-Parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy. On 16 and 17 February 2018, the Foreign Policy Committee and the Defence Committee of the National Assembly hosted the conference, which was the second event of the Parliamentary Dimension of the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU.

Foreign Policy Committee Chair Dzhema Grozdanova emphasised that the adoption of a final document sent a clear message that it was possible to achieve a common approach in foreign policy and guarantee the security of the Union.

The declaration confirms the need of a strategic focus on the Western Balkans and welcomes the strategy for EU enlargement. The participants in the event urged that the European prospect for the Western Balkan countries should be re-affirmed at the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Sofia on 17 May.

Representatives of the parliamentary Foreign Policy and Defence Committees of the EU member states welcome the establishment of a permanent structured cooperation in the area of security and defence.

Defence Committee Chair General Konstantin Popov said that there was a fruitful and necessary discussion, which showed the strategic vision of the parliamentarians for the common foreign policy and security policy. We have to seek and find common solutions to our common problems, he said. We have clearly shown that the priority of the Bulgarian Presidency is to implement an active policy towards the Western Balkan countries, emphasised General Konstantin Popov. We believe that their efforts for full membership in the EU and NATO deserve our support, and they already have a place in the European family, he said. It is only their progress in the fulfilment of the criteria for membership that will determine when they will take their place in our common European home, added the Defence Committee Chair. The EU is making big steps to strengthen its policy and build the defence potential of the Union through the implementation of the Global strategy, said General Konstantin Popov. According to him, the strategic partnership with NATO and the cooperation between the EU and NATO should be a continuation of the implementation of the Warsaw declaration. I hope that the conference has achieved its goals, it provided a venue and framework for exchange of information and best practices, said the Defence Committee Chair at the end.

Before that, as part of the session on the state of the Black Sea region, PABSEC Secretary General Asaf Hajiyev said that his organisation was a unique opportunity for dialogue between the countries from the region. The Black Sea is a bridge between Europe and Asia, it connects Europe to a huge market, the Black Sea is a crossroads, which can ensure supplies of different energy sources, but there are also transport connections, he said. However, it is not energy or transport, but the people with different religions, nationality and traditions who live together in the Black Sea region, who give the real value of this region, added Asaf Hajiyev. The PABSEC Secretary General emphasised that the countries in the region were at risk and the reason for this was that while globally one in 110 people was a refugee, in the Black Sea countries, one in 60 people was a refugee, and in some countries it was one in 9. The solution is in the hands of the international community, which needs to make joint efforts to address this threat, emphasised Asaf Hajiyev. He said that in the future PABSEC would continue to work towards making the Black Sea region a unifying and not a dividing factor.

According to Ivailo Kalfin, special advisor to Commissioner Guenther Oettinger and former Bulgarian Foreign Minister, it is not in the interest of the EU to ignore the Black Sea region, because, if used in the right way, it could be a huge resource for energy, transport, communications. If we want a shortcut to the East, it goes through the Black Sea, added Ivailo Kalfin. The European Union now has different policies, which overlap and are not sufficiently effective, he said. Our approach should be inclusive, we should work on issues of importance for us: energy, anti-terrorism, transport, contacts between people, said Ivailo Kalfin. In his words, these are issues for which we can find a common platform with no exclusions. I believe that this is the way to draft our policies, he emphasised. We all want stability, security and peace in the Black Sea region, but the problem is that different players might see stability in different ways, added Ivailo Kalfin.

Any enlargement of the European Union enriches the regional prospect and regional perspective of the Union, said Thomas Mayr-Harting, Managing Director of the European External Action Service for Europe and Central Asia. The initiative for Black Sea synergy came at the time when Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU, he said. This is yet another proof that every new member of the Union does not only add its unique value, but also that its neighbours become neighbours of all member states, said Thomas Mayr-Harting.