MGERB held its Second Winter University under the motto “Management of Projects for the European Development of Bulgaria”

20/12/2011

In the period between the 17th and the 19th of December, was held the Second Winter University of MGERB mutually with the organisation of GERB Entrepreneurs and with the kind cooperation of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, in Bansko.

Organised in such a way, one of its target was to create strong team work and a connection between the young and the business in different regions, to unite the efforts and the expirience of both organisations for increasing the capacity on local level for managing business projects, or funds financed by the European structures. For this helped the team of lecturers, including Tsvetan Tsvetanov – Minister of Interior, Tomislav Donchev – Minister charged of EU funds management, Liliyana Pavlova – Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works; a series of members of parliament and experts of PP GERB. A special guest was Radoslav Tochev – General Consul of the Republic of Bulgaria in New York and the MEP’s of GERB in the EP.

The winter university was opened by the Director of the Bureau of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation for Bulgaria – Mr. Andreas von Below. In his welcoming speech he stressed the importance of succession in conducting policies, in order to have stability in time. In her statement towards the participants Monika Panayotova pointed the benefits from an increase of cooperation of the entrepreneur organisation with MGERB, for achieving stable results. At the end Mr. Below was pleasantly surprised by the prepared by MGERB gift for the occasion of his retirement – an Orthodox icon, as a sign of our uniting values.

Especially for MGERB, to the winter university came, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Mr. Tsvetan Tsvetanov. He once again highlighted the importance and the activity of the youth, as well as his pleasure to be with them. Sometimes the prime minister speaks to me, that I turn the most attention to the young, and not the seniors, as we can not become youths, but seniors for sure, joked Tsvetanov. He presented to the gathered participants the work of the government in the sphere of security. If there is no security for each citizen, if there is no security for the business that it will work normally, if our investors and our partners don’t have security – we can not achieve the wanted development for the country. This is why it is important for the government of GERB to give the so wanted security to the citizens of Bulgaria, he added, Minister Donchev presented to the participants the ways for structuring a plan for candidacy for the European programs and how to check for the stability of an idea. Divided in 10 groups the participants received a serious of cases, for which they prepared their projects in together and put forth short term, middle term and long term goals. Later the projects were evaluated and the flaws corrected.

Team work was strengthened also during the trainings on team work and communication skills by Irena Sokolova – Member of Parliament in the 41st National Assembly and Sevdelina Arnaudova - PR of PP GERB. Later the participants were informed about the functioning of the new started program by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works – JESSICA by Deputy Minister Pavlova. The second day of the seminar was concluded by the Euro-Atlantic meeting of the participants with Radoslav Tochev and the MEP’s – Andrey Kovatchev, Illiana Ivanova, Vladimir Urutchev and Mariya Nedelcheva. They discussed the future of the transatlantic relations, as well as the challenges before the EU, born by the fiscal crisis on the continent.

In the Sunday morning the youths gathered in the center of Bansko, where they held their civil initiative, with which they greeted the citizens and the guests of the resort for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

MGERB participated in YEPP seminar dedicated to university student's mobility

6/12/2010

From the 2nd to the 5th of December Pavel Hristov – Regional Coordinator of MGERB Varna and Todor Petrov from MGERB Lovech took part in a seminar of YEPP (the Youth Organisation of the European People’s Party) in Skopje, Macedonia, hosted by the Youth Union of VMRO-DPMNE on the topic of: “Youth educational programs – a factor for university student mobility”.

The representatives of MGERB had the opportunity to participate in a series of discussions with representatives of the executive and legislative government in Macedonia, among which were Nikola Gruevski – Prime Minister of Macedonia, Trajko Veljanovski – Speaker of the Parliament, Nikola Todorov – Minister of Education, as well as other members of the cabinet and members of parliament from the Macedonian parliament. Among the main topics of discussion were the good practices from the education reform in Macedonia, among which: investments in new universities, new laboratories (for which were given over 60 million euro), as well as a level of 4.7% from the GDP determined for education and science.

During the seminar there was a meeting of the Council of YEPP, during which the European youth organisation confirmed the readiness for MGERB to become a full member of YEPP during the next congress in Berlin.During the meeting of the council were adopted several resolutions targeted towards economical management, simultaneous with the package of measures for economical management, discussed on European level, precisely: “Appeal for financial discipline in the EU”, “Resolution for economical integration of southeastern Europe” and others.

Monika Panayotova: Party games trip us for Schengen

02/12/2010

Monika Panayotova, Chairperson of the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds

I always ask myself, why always when our country is going in the right direction, there is always someone to criticize and make negative campaign, appropriate for an election platform, but in last place in the interest of the image of the country. The “Bulgaria Brand” can be hard to lay on the competitive European and world market, when the Bulgarians constantly try to present it as not ably competitive. Until we understand that its mutual building will bring positives for all citizens and in particular parties, without matter being in opposition or in power, it will be harder for us to change the perception of Brussels, that our country is just a place, embodied with corruption and organised crime. Joining Schengen has two dimensions – covering the technical criteria and trust, which if the parties in Bulgaria undermine the processes will not develop in the interest of the country.

The joining of our country has moral value, because the Bulgarian citizens currently also travel freely with personal passports in the countries of the EU, but joining Schengen, Bulgaria will be treated as a full righted and full valued member of the union, passing its full integration in the Community.

That’s why if we have in our country real democrats for a STRONG Bulgaria three main errors should not be allowed to occur in the process of the joining of our country to the Schengen space, precisely to connect:

“Schengen with the mechanism for cooperation and verification”;

“Schengen with the problem which occurred in France with the Roma from Romania and Bulgaria”;

“Schengen – the border problem with Greece and the mobilization of FRONTEX”.

Why?

Because every connection has only and singly political character and can not be legally justified. In the countries stating reserves elections are forthcoming and the political configuration dictates their short term goals.

Because the judicial power is independent, the part of the reform regarding change and creation of normative acts and undertaking actions in the direction of the fight with corruption, organised crime, which are in the prerogative of the executive and legislative power are undertaken.

Because placing on the same surface and treating on an identical manner of Bulgaria and Romania is not fair. The returned Roma from our neighbor numbered thousands, while from Bulgaria there were 50 voluntarily returning. Regarding the technical criteria the marks for Bulgaria are excellent.

Because the stability on the Bulgarian borders should not be placed under doubt, because for years our country has been a border between two worlds a period for which we should daily value democracy.

I ask myself, where were DSB to ask the former government why during 2007 and 2008 under the financial instrument there was 1.43% assimilation. Thanks to the efforts of the current government was negotiated 100% financing on the instrument and to this date are assimilated more then 70% (which in numbers is 175 million assimilated of negotiated 252.2 million levs).

We from GERB will continue to play by the rules and will continue to do on the principle of the good example, what is necessary for the “Bulgaria Brand”, on a maximum transparent way, let us hope to see a change in the approach of our “partners”, “constructive opposition”, I think I got confused exactly how to define them.

Representatives of MGERB Sofia took part in training on campaign management, organized by IRI

23/11/2010

From 18 to 22 November was held a training organized by the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the Leadership Institute for Central and Eastern Europe (LICEE), in Pristina, Kosovo. Important forum brought together young activists from the center-right political space, there were representatives from youth organizations of political parties in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Bulgaria was represented by Vladimir Vanchev and Mitja Atanasov MGERB of Sofia.

Lecturers at the seminar were: Mr. Balint Portsalmi - Executive Vice-President of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, Mr. Ronald Ryudl - Austrian People's Party and Mr. Meyus van der Poel - Consultant, Foundation Eduardo Frei, former campaign manager , Christian-democratic appeal, the Netherlands. As a special lecturer at the seminar was Mr. Jan Erik Surotchak, Resident Director of the Regional Programme of the International Republican Institute in Europe.

Bulgaria has been actively represented at the seminar by MGERB, taking active part in all simulation games, questions and answers, and preparing and performing a statistical presentation on the orientation of the voters in our country. So, they received universal praise from all participants in the seminar.

Monika Panayotova presented the role of the National parliament in the absorption of EU funds

18/11/2010

Within the international conference on the topic: "Utilisation of EU funds: national priorities, the experience of Spain," Ms Monika Panayotova - Chairwoman of the Committee on European Affairs and oversight of the EU funds in the 41 th National Assembly presented the role of the National Assembly in the process management and monitoring of EU funds. International Conference was held in Sofia under the patronage and participation of Tomislav Donchev - Minister for management of EU funds and Hon. Jorge Fuentes - Ambassador of Spain in Bulgaria.

Ms. Panayotova emphasized on the importance and role of the Committee led by her in the absorption of EU funds - to exercise effective control over the overall management of EU funds in Bulgaria and act as guarantor for quality regulation in this area. Given the importance of European funding for the Bulgarian economy and the development of the country in the 41 th National Assembly of Bulgaria for the first time this topic is discussed within the Parliamentary Committee. Committee on European Affairs and oversight of the EU funds monitor the implementation of 21 programs and instruments financed by European funds.

Parliamentary control which the Committee exercises includes regular hearings with representatives of the executive power responsible for programs financed by EU funds, preparation of annual and interim reports on the absorption of EU funds, making recommendations to the executive to implement an integrated approach in program management, seeking synergy of performance and a clear prioritization of objectives in building the national vision for “Bulgaria 2020” in the context of “Europe 2020” Strategy. An early warning mechanism for weaknesses and problem areas in the management of EU funds, created by the Committee, is an integral part of constructive communication with the executive.

Ms. Panayotova noted that the Committee shares the desire of the executive branch to better regulate the process of management of EU funds. In this regard the Committee carried out a detailed analysis of the practice of Member States in the field of normative regulation of EU funds, which showed a different approach to regulating the matter in different countries - from its codification in a special law; its aggregation into a single regulation act; the lack of specific rules, and instead applying a series of procedural manuals and instructions by the Managing Authorities in the various operational programs.

In the context of better regulation, Ms. Panayotova noted that in preparation for the next programming period, a challenge for Bulgaria will be the creation of a maximally effective model for the Bulgarian conditions, without additional bureaucracy and to help beneficiaries. To achieve this goal needs to be applied approach leading to the unification of the regulatory framework for the management of European funds with a clear structure for management of programs, available and transparent rules and procedures as well as balance of rights and obligations between the administration and beneficiaries leading to less bureaucracy. In conclusion, Ms. Panayotova stressed that the achievement of the priorities of the Committee will be implemented in close cooperation and continuous dialogue with partners from the executive, NGOs, business and academic community.

In the second part of the conference experts on European funds from leading Spanish consulting companies shared their experiences and best practices in managing EU funds in Spain.

MGERB participated in a discussion about electronic voting

09/11/2010

On November 8 at the Red House in Sofia was held a discussion on "E-voting' as part of the project "E-citizenship ". Moderator of the debate was Anna Krasteva, director of the project.

The meeting was attended by representatives from youth organizations of MGERB and DSB, lecturers from the NBU, representatives of non-governmental organization “Vote Without Borders”, representatives of "The Other Bulgaria", students, bloggers and citizens. As representatives of MGERB the discussion was attended by Petar Tonkov from Plovdiv and Mitya Atanasov and Botyo Botev from Sofia.

All participants agreed on the idea that there should have an electronic voting, but it needed to be carefully created a voting system so that no manipulation of votes was possible and vote buying would not be facilitated. Although the reasons that this kind of vote was secure enough, since the integrity of votes shall be ensured through various security methods, participants received no call electronic voting to fully implement immediately, but the idea to conduct a pilot project that would include predominantly Bulgarians abroad, where voting was difficult and young mobile people from the big cities of Bulgaria. Discussion ended with the summary that the majority of the attendees and participants in the discussion supported the idea of the government to conduct an experimental electronic voting, the results of which however should be carefully analyzed.

"Young talk about Europe" campaign started

03/11/2011

On 2.11.2010 members of MGERB-Sofia launched the first phase of the project 'Young speak for Europe'. The initiative is under the patronage of Dr. Andrey Kovachev - Head of the Bulgarian delegation, and MEP from the EPP in the European Parliament and is implemented in cooperation with the Foundation 'Paideia'.

The project aims in the form of debate to be discussed topics related to European identity, community citizenship and place of Bulgaria. The theme is particularly important at a time when after the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Union is changing.
The target group includes students from upper grades of ten metropolitan schools, who during the first stage participate with two teams in a debate, as the winning team will take part and represent its school in the second round, which will be held between the different schools.

The initiative was launched in 133th Secondary school ‘A.S. Pushkin ', where students with special desire and good preparation debated the topics: "Do you feel European?" and "What does it mean for you European citizenship?”.

Later the debate in 91 German Language School was attended personally by Dr. Andrey Kovachev - a graduate of the high school who presented to the students the activities of the European Parliament and how a policy that is drawn in Brussels has a direct impact here. Students raised many questions to him related to his activities as an MEP and Chairman of the Bulgarian delegation of the EPP. Young people from the German School debated the topic of diversity and unity of the Community. This and next week's debates will be held in other schools in the capital.