Monika Panayotova and a delegation of the National Assembly attended the 45th regular meeting of COSAC

31/05/11

The Conference of European Affairs Committees of Parliaments of the Member States of the EU (COSAC) that took place from 29 to 31 May in Budapest was attended by the Chairwoman of the Committee on European Affairs and control of EU funds Monika Panayotova, Vladimir Toshev and four MPs from the committee.

The conference was opened by the President of the Hungarian Parliament, Mr. Laszlo Kover and President of the European Affairs Committee of the Hungarian Parliament and hosting the meeting, Mr Richard Horchsik.

The first speaker, Mr. Victor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, reviewed the Hungarian EU Presidency, emphasizing on strengthening economic governance and the launch of the European semester. Among other achievements of the Presidency, Mr Orban mentioned also the preparation of a common European strategy on Roma, the adoption of the Danube strategy, raising the debates on the issues of family, activities to protect the euro and migration issues in the context of the events that took place in North Africa.

Within this debate on behalf of the Bulgarian delegation Vladimir Toshev (MP) made a statement in which he thanked the Hungarian presidency for the efforts regarding the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in the Schengen zone. He also noted that the country has met all technical criteria and our readiness reports are fully positive. Further, Mr. Toshev noted that as EU member state the question for us is not whether but when we’ll be adopted in Schengen, as our accession in short period will immediately make us a part of solving the problem in the Mediterranean and North Africa. "Unclear reasons for delay and postponement of our acceptance constitute a challenge to Bulgaria's image. We fully recognize the commitments that we assume and our country is fully prepared to take the responsibilities arising from this membership," said Mr. Toshev. In response to requests by the Bulgarian and Romanian delegations for support from all sides, Viktor Orban commented the issue of Bulgaria and Romania accession in Schengen by mentioning that the arguments for an end to the Schengen area were unacceptable. The two countries have fulfilled all the criteria and now the Member States of the Schengen must agree to their adoption as soon as possible. According to him, if we focused only on elections (in countries where they are ahead), this will not lead to progress in Europe.

After Mr Orban word was given to Deputy President of the European Commission responsible for inter-institutional dialogue, Mr. Maros Sefcovic. The main themes that Mr. Sefcovic affected were the way to recovery from the crisis in the context of new economic governance of the Union, Europe 2020 strategy and new initiative for a European semester. The main emphasis was placed on the common market, the legislative package to strengthen economic management and the pact "Euro +. The themes for the new economic management, the European semester and annual review of growth are widely covered and analyzed in the report prepared by the COSAC Secretariat 15th semiannual report. The positions of the Bulgarian Parliament are significantly accepted in the report.

An active debate caused the Directive on the common consolidated basis for corporate tax, recently proposed by the European Commission, which raised concerns in many member states and about which the Bulgarian Parliament delivered its first reasoned opinion that this proposal was contrary to subsidiary principle, enshrined established in the Treaty of Lisbon. Representatives of nine of the overall 27 parliaments (with a total score of 13 votes, a minimum of 18) spoke against the proposal, arguing that it affected the sovereignty of individual countries and would not support it, and therefore sent reasoned opinions. This position is fully in line with the reasoned opinion of the Bulgarian Parliament, stating that a common consolidated tax base across the EU will deprive the individual Member States of their key competitive advantages, and the EU as a whole will lead to so-called "dissolution of gap between Member States without counting "the process of catching up" from the new Member States, it will put pressure on the indirect tax rate, will lead to significant administrative and financial burdens, will deprive the national budget from tax revenues, which are part of the budget planning.

Save for the issue of taxation, the representatives of national parliaments were interested in the topics concerning the Danube strategy and its implementation, the common agricultural policy with emphasis on the reform connected with the direct payments, migration for work purposes, etc.

During the meeting there were also discussed the conclusions of the meeting of Presidents of Parliaments of the Member States, held in April in Brussels, the main emphasis was placed on the common foreign and security policy and defense.

Public discussion "I am “FOR " Schengen" was held in Sofia university

27/05/2011

Today at Sofia University St. University a discussion meeting was organized on topic "Why I am "FOR " Schengen" with the participation of Ms. Monika Panayotova and Dr. Andrei Kovachev. They were invited by the Student Club of the political scientist, as the meeting appeared a continuation of the tradition of the club to conduct discussions with prominent politicians and public figures on topics with an important public purpose.

Monika Panayotova and Andrey Kovachev informed the participants what is Schengen, why it is important for a country to be a member of the Schengen area and particularly what are the benefits to Bulgaria from its accession. There were also reflected specific actions taken by the Bulgarian government, which led not only to our indisputable technical readiness at this stage, but mostly to the achievement of the unanimity and non-partisan consensus on the issue Schengen, interpreted as a national cause.

Bulgaria is a full member of the EU and its accession to the Schengen area is part of the real integration of our state. Postponement is not a trouble, but is a challenge for the country's image, while the delay of membership in the Schengen area could lead to setting new criteria and raise euroscepticism in Bulgaria. Our country may be useful in discussions about the protection of EU external borders, especially when these issues come strongly forward in the EU agenda. Benefits of membership of Bulgaria into the Schengen zone are both politically and economically, and for the citizens themselves. These were just some of the highlights which were raised during the discussion, in which the students took active part with relevant comments and questions on topical themes.

MGERB launched an information campaign "I am for Schengen"

27/05/2011

Today was launched "I'm for Schengen" initiative, jointly organized by MGERB and the members of the European parliament from GERB / EPP group. The campaign was presented at a meeting with journalists in the National Assembly by the Vice-President of GERB and Deputy Prime Minister Tsvetanov, the chairwoman of MGERB Monika Panayotova and MEPs Andrey Kovachev and Vladimir Urutchev. During the presentation it was emphasized on the positive nature of the idea of informing citizens about the rights they will have within Schengen.

A special brochure called “guide to travel in Europe” is made for the purpose, which reflects the basic facts related to the Schengen area - history, member countries etc. Special attention is paid to security standards - the abolition of internal border controls at the expense of stronger measures at the external and the Schengen Information System, which provides for increased cooperation between European countries in the fight against crime. The brochure consists of available and useful information on what documents are needed for travel within Schengen by car and airplane, including some important customs provisions connected with the transport of goods and money. There are also indicated the contacts of the Bulgarian diplomatic services in the Schengen countries as well as information on how to react in an emergency.

After launching the campaign young people gave from the books to those present in the lobby of the National Assembly – deputies, journalists and guests. There was a unanimous opinion in support of the Bulgarian membership. The initiative continues as a youth of GERB will inform citizens across the country for the rights they will have after our entry into the Schengen area.

A representative of MGERB participated in a prestige training for young leaders, organized by “The International Republican Institute”

17/05/2011

Venra Dracheva, a representative of MGERB Sofia successfully passed the “Campaign management” training, that was held in Instanbul in the period between the 12th and the 16th of May this year. The event was organized by IRI – “The International Republican Institute”, in common with the Dutch foundation “Eduardo Frei”.

The youth organization of GERB participated by its representatives for a fourth year in a row in IRI’s seminars and trainings and it’s one of the most loyal partners of the organization. In the list of the invited participants were representatives of the center-right parties from Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina , Serbia, Albania and Turkey. The young active members were being trained by highly skilled specialists in the range of organizing and holding a pre-election campaign, the use of the public opinion for political campaign, verbal and non-verbal methods, public speaking, media communication during pre-election campaign, the position of civil society in politics, the methods in creating the campaign message, the combination of political ideology and the electorate’s wishes, the campaign strategy and plan, etc.




Venera Dracheva took an active part in the practical tasks during the training and consecutively assumed the role of campaign manager, data analyzer, target groups’ research-worker and political party spokesman. She faced the rest of the participants with the MGERB’s annual report for 2010 and roused deep interest for the specifics of the local, regional and national MGERB’s initiatives.

MGERB was admitted as a full member of the Youth of European People's Party (YEPP)

15/05/2011

MGERB was admitted as a full member of the Youth of European People's Party (YEPP) – the largest political youth organization in Europe with 56 organizations from 38 countries. This happened during the Congress of the organization, that is being held in Berlin in the period 12th-15th of May. Over 250 delegates voted unanimously the adopting of MGERB in the family of YEPP.

Before the delegates the chairwoman of MGERB Monica Panayotova presented the main activities of the organization and hope that the youth of GERB have proven to work and contribute to future development of YEPP, sharing common center-right values in Europe.

In Berlin, the delegates met with German Chancellor Mrs Angela Merkel, European Commissioner for Energy Mr. Gunter Oytinger, EPP President Wilfred Martens, President of Konrad Adenauer Foundation Mr. Hans Gert Poettering and several members of the Bundestag, including its chairman Mr Norbert Lammert. They all expressed their position and experience on the subject of the Congress “How to finance the European Union in the 21th century.