At a joint sitting of the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds (CEAOEF) and the Foreign Policy and Defence Committee (FPDC), held on December 15, 2011, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Konstantin Dimitrov presented the Bulgarian position on the European Commission documents related to the EU Enlargement policy and the European Neighbourhood Policy, included as item 61, 62 and 63 of the Bulgarian Parliament Annual Working Programme on EU Affairs (2011).

The discussion held on those topics reflects the active participation of the Bulgarian Parliament on one of the key Polish Presidency priorities – extending the area of European values and regulations through further enlargement of the EU and development of the cooperation with neighbouring countries.

Regarding the Enlargement policy, the members of both parliamentary committees scrutinized the progress made during the past 12 months in the negotiation process of each of the EU candidate countries – Croatia, Turkey, Iceland, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and the potential EU candidate countries – Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo.

The following key aspects were brought to the fore with regard to the Enlargement Package:

- The deepening of European Integration goes hand-in-hand with Enlargement. From this point of view, the Bulgarian Parliament supports the dynamics of the EU’s enlargement process and the signing of the Accession Treaty with Croatia;
- Maintaining the spirit of good neighbourly relations and cooperation, while strictly abiding by the principles of conditionality and own merits;
- The building of a modern infrastructure in order to overcome physical barriers and also stereotypes, still prevalent among the countries of the Western Balkans;
- The Enlargement Policy is an instrument for reforms. Along with the stabilization processes that take place within the EU candidate countries and potential membership candidates, the latter ought to work toward strengthening the integrity of the European Union;
- The success of the Enlargement Policy is dependent not only on the actual enlargement, but also on the positive attitude toward integration. For the purpose of enlargement to be successfully realized, the citizenry ought to be more broadly informed on the subject.

Regarding the European Neighbourhood Policy, incl. the Eastern Partnership, the Bulgarian Parliament welcomes the priority which the EU attaches to the process of stabilisation and democratisation in its neighbourhood countries. The revised ENP should be based on the principles of differentiation, as per the individual needs of our neighbours, more rigorous conditionality of the assistance made available, depending on compliance with the political criteria, and more local ownership on the part of partners.

As a result of the discussion, CEAOEF and FPDC unanimously adopted joint reports and supporting statements on the three topics, which have been sent on behalf of the Bulgarian Parliament to the European Commission and the European Parliament in the framework of the informal political dialogue.

The Statement can be found at:

http://parliament.bg/en/parliamentarycommittees/members/240/documents