During the first day of the seminar the participants were addressed by Monika Panayotova – Chairwoman of MGERB and Laurent Schouteten – President of YEPP. They were joined in the Council of Ministers building by Andreas von Below – Director of the Sofia office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Boyko Borissov – Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria. This was a start of a series of meetings with representatives of the executive and judicial government.
“If you are the representatives of the new generation of politicians in Europe, the future of the EPP is in safe hands. I rely on you for one stronger and united society”. This was the message that the prime minister sent in his greeting speech towards the representatives of the Youth Organisation of GERB (MGERB) and the Youth of the European People’s Party (YEPP). “The government needs to listen to the voice of the young more often, because their unencumbered social, political and economical engagement will contribute to the stability and security of the European Union”, highlighted the prime minister. During the meeting with the young people the prime minister highlighted on the political will of the new government of Bulgaria, the anti-corruption measures, which the government undertakes and the firm control, which is applied in all public spheres, especially regarding the conditions of the European funds. He called Bulgaria “The A-student of the Balkans” for the comparative financial stability, which can be observed in our country, despite the presence of the Global Financial Crisis. For an example he gave the last rankings for Bulgaria, given by companies, such as “Standart & Poor” and “Moody’s”. Other topics he commented were connected with the synchronization of criminal law in the countries from the European Union, the counteraction to trans-border crime, the energy project “Nabucco”, the climate changes and the question about the delivery of the Russian gas for Bulgaria and Europe.
After the Council of Ministers the youths visited the National Assembly, were they were officially greeted by the Chairwoman of the National Assembly – Tsetska Tsacheva. When they finished observing the parliamentary control and were greeted in the plenary hall by the members of parliament, the European guests met with representatives of MGERB in parliament, from which they learned how it feels to be a young person in politics and is the voice of the young heard in the judicial government.
Later the program in the National Assembly continued with the panel “New aspects in center-right politics in Europe”, which was opened by Monika Panayotova, Laurent Schouteten and Andreas von Below, who expressed his support and pleasure from the work with MGERB. Tsetska Tsacheva – Chairwoman of the 41st National Assembly, the ministers Tsvetan Tsvetanov and Simeon Djankov and the MEP from GERB Mariya Nedelcheva took part in the panel. From them the young people learned, what is the role of the young people in the judicial government, what are the policies for safety and anti-corruption measures in the new countries members of the European Union. They also learned about the hardships in front of the young entrepreneurs during the global financial crisis and what is the role of the European and national governments after the Lisbon Treaty. Later they were joined by the Deputy Minister for Education, Youth and Science – Petya Evtimova, who opened the discussion about the perspectives and the challenges in youth policy. The ideas for the forming of a National Youth Council and the Strategy for Youth were discussed. The guests shared how this has been done in their countries and in this way experience and ideas were shared, which will help for the forming of the youth policy in the country. The last meeting for the day was in the Sofia Municipality. The meeting was hosted by the Mayer of Sofia – Yordanka Fandakova and the Chairwoman of the GERB group in Sofia’s Municipal Council – Malina Edreva.
The program for the day ended with a meeting of the board, which took place in the headquarters of GERB.
The second day of the seminar was dedicated to the political frame of YEPP and discussion on various questions, including renewable energy sources, clear financial future, illegal immigration in the Mediterranean countries and others. MGERB took an active part with the presentation of the newly developed resolution on young people in politics, which was passed with the full consent of everyone.
The day’s final came with the traditional Bulgarian dinner, which MGERB organised specially for its guests from Europe.
The seminar passed with extraordinary interest shown by the participants. They shared their excitement from the good organisation and the honors shown towards them in the different government institutions. They were greatly impressed by the sincerity and the straightforwardness of the Bulgarian prime minister, as well as the warm welcome in the National Assembly. Everyone was positively surprised by the great number of young people in parliament. They stated that they will carry the good practices over to their countries. In an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, Laurent Schouteten – President of YEPP, shared that “The target of the visit was to familiarise ourselves in more detail with the Bulgarian institutions and the participation of young people in politics. In this case the Bulgarian youths can be an example for political behavior for the whole of Europe. Many young people are involved in politics in Bulgaria”.
After the successfully passed seminar of YEPP in Bulgaria, MGERB showed its capacity, team work and motivation to be a full-righted member of the Youth Organisation of the European People’s Party in the upcoming 2011.
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