Representatives from MGERB observed the presidential campaign in France.

17/04/2012

From 11 to 15 April 2012 the Chairwoman of MGERB Monika Panayotova and the international secretary of the organization Christo Gadzhev participated in an international delegation that aimed to observe and examine the development of the presidential campaign in France and in particular the campaign of the President Nicolas Sarkozy and his party UMP. The international delegation included representatives from parties that were EPP members from Central and Eastern Europe. The event was organized by Robert Schuman Foundation. 

 

During their visit the MGERB representatives participated in a meeting between Sarkozy and UMP representatives from the Paris region, where the president announced some of his priorities for the second term. The issue "Europe and the EU" was discussed during the presidential campaign with Pierre Lekiye – Chairman of the Committee on European Affairs in the parliament, Arno Odie, deputy international secretary of UMP and Jean - Dominique Giuliani, Chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation.

 

According to all participants, unfortunately, one of the pillars of the European idea – the theme of Europe and its future was in the background. On the other hand, if Sarkozy won the election there would be launched a new reform in the EU to solve the problems facing the community. As for the socialist candidate theme was based mainly of populism and promises as the idea to get out of the fiscal pact that would devastating effects for the French economy and its position in Europe.

Another major topic at the meetings was the way of conduct of campaign by the UMP in France. The representatives of MGERB discussed with Anne Cibon – director for elections UMP, Herve Novelli - deputy - Secretary General of the UMP, responsible for International Affairs, Xavier Takiyan - Special Adviser to the Minister of European Affairs, Pierre Chasa - communications director of UMP. There was made an analysis of the forms and rules for leading campaign in Bulgaria and France and the main conclusion was that the GERB’s campaigns in Bulgaria met all modern standards.