Szabolcs Takács, Minister of State for EU Affairs had talks with the competent officials of Bulgaria, the country to hold the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union as of next year in Sofia on Wednesday.
During his visit, the Minister of State enquired about the priorities regarding certain EU affairs of Bulgaria which will take over the EU Presidency as of 1 January 2018, and informed his counterparts about Hungary’s positions on certain matters. In answer to the question of the Hungarian news agency MTI, he said that Minister for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU Lilyana Pavlova was his main negotiating partner who mentioned the cause of promoting the accession of the Western Balkans region – Serbia and Montenegro first of all – to the EU as one of the most important goals of Bulgaria.
Mr. Takács highlighted that on account of its geographical situation and history, Bulgaria has an advantage in terms of its knowledge of the region over other Western European Member States, and it may make good use of this advantage. The extension of the enlargement of the EU to the Western Balkans is equally in the best interests of Hungary, the Visegrád Four and Austria which will take over the EU Presidency in the second half of 2018, the Minister of State observed.
The second main topic of the talks was migration. Bulgaria is directly affected by the crisis as it neighbours Turkey. Mr. Takács informed his partners that Hungary has concerns about what is happening in the European Union regarding issues of migration. Several Member States support the plan for the mandatory relocation of migrants which is unacceptable for Hungary, and on this Budapest’s position is firm. The Minister of State asked the Bulgarian party to ensure that Sofia – as far as the possibilities of its EU Presidency allow – should take the Hungarian position into consideration emphatically.
As a third priority topic, the parties discussed the necessity of the development of Europe’s digital economy. Bulgaria is in a specific situation because at this point in time a Bulgarian Commissioner is responsible for this area in the European Commission, Mr. Takács remarked, adding that as regards development, Hungary, too, has ambitious plans also with a view to enhancing competitiveness, in agreement with the Bulgarian party.
The parties further spoke, as a fourth main topic, about the EU’s new budget for the period beyond 2020 the debate of which will start soon, and negotiations will begin already during the Bulgarian Presidency.
In addition to Lilyana Pavlova, Mr. Takács met with Deputy Foreign Minister Emilia Kraleva and Rumyana Bachvarova, the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Chief.