The international secretary of MGERB took part in the meeting of the Council of YEPP

12/09/11

In the period between the 8th and 11th of September in Kiev, Ukraine was held the meeting of the Council of YEPP (the youth organisation of the EPP) on the topic “The democratic process in Ukraine 1991 – 2011: The results after 20 years”. MGERB was represented by its International Secretary Hristo Gadzhev.

During 2011 the political situation in Ukraine became tense after the arrests of several leaders of the opposition and the start of a series of trials in court, the most significant is against the former Prime Minister of Ukraine – Yulia Tymoshenko, who was left under guard a few days before the conference.

The main topics were freedom of speech, the level of democracy and rule of law, as well as the role of the economy of the European Union for the future positive development of Ukraine. In the conference took part several representatives of the opposition parties, representatives of non-government organisations, representatives of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and others.

The main message of the conference is that the European People’s Party will not stop to support the democratically thinking people in country. The EPP will observer for the upholding of human rights and the rule of law in the actions of the government towards the opposition and the citizens of Ukraine. The made findings will be the main moving force in determining the decisions of the EPP in the continuation of the negotiations between the EU and Ukraine for the further European integration of the country,

The conference of the youths of the EPP was the first step from a series of initiatives of the European Christian Democrats for achieving fair and just relations towards the opposition in Ukraine. In the frame of September there is scheduled to be a visit from the President of the European People’s Party Wilfried Martens, who will observe the trial against Yulia Tymoshenko.

Youths and ministers from GERB followed the announcement of the presidential candidate pair of the party

04/09/2011

During the Fourth Summer University of MGERB which was held in Varna from the 3rd to the 6th of September – youths, ministers, MP’s and MEP’s from GERB followed the live announcement of the presidential candidate pair of PP GERB.

The youths followed the announcement of the candidates for president and vice-president from the party, after which they stood up and strongly applauded the announcement of the names of the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works and the Minister of Justice. The official nomination of Rosen Plevneliev caused a wide wave of approval among the participants of the university.

Monika Panayotova – Chairwoman of MGERB and Member of Parliament in the 41st National Assembly commented the nomination of the candidate president from GERB Rosen Plevneliev, as a well thought choice of the leadership of PP GERB and shared that she believes that Minister Plevneliev is the person, which will give a new image to the presidential institution, as it will start working for the Bulgaria brand and it will no longer only have representative functions. “The new president will not only be a unifier of the nation, but will point attention towards preserving and developing its potential. Due to this I believe that he will be the president of young people”, commented Panayotova.

The Minister of Defence Anyu Angelov wished the future president, fulfilling the function of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria to acknowledge the White Book for Defence, as his guide book in the sphere of defence.

The Minister of Education, Youth and Science Sergei Ignatov commented that Rosen Plevneliev and Margarita Popova are: “one good European pair”, Traicho Traikov, Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism regretted that he loses two colleagues in the Council of Ministers, but stated his confidence that they will be the winning pair in the presidential elections.

Bulgaria received a Vice Chairman seat in the European Democratic Students, due to MGERB

11/07/2011

On the 11th of July, Kalin Zahariev, member of the National Executive Council of the Youth of GERB was elected for a Vice Chairman of the European Democrat Students (EDS) during the Annual meeting of the organisation. The event was part of the Summer University of EDS and was held in Vienna.

EDS (www.edsnet.org) is one of the largest student political organisations in the European Union and is viewed as the student organisation of the European People’s Party (EPP). One of the main targets of EDS is to influence the policies in the sphere of higher education on EU level. This is achieved through participation in work groups of the EPP, as well as proposals during political meetings.

During the past year Kalin Zahariev was Co-chair of the Permanent Working Group for Higher Education and Research of EDS. A direct result of his work is his participation in the preparation of the project of the new political platform of the EPP. A whole chapter regarding higher education and research was included in the document due to that.

MGERB took part in the Annual Summer University of YEPP

11/07/2011

In the period between the 7th of July till the 11th of July was held the Annual Summer University of YEPP (the youth organisation of YEPP) on the topic of “Common Foreign and Security Policy” in Limassol, Cyprus. MGERB was represented by its International Secretary Hristo Gadzhev.

In the discussions took part the Chairman of the House of Representatives – Mr. Giannakis Omirou, the Chairperson of the Democratic Rally Party - Mr. Nikos Anastasiades, the Spokesman of the Government, the MEP’s Ioannis Kasoulides – European People’s Party Vice-President and Michael Gahler – European People’s Party, as well as Andrey Klimov - Deputy Chairman of the Committee for friendship EU-Russia in the State Duma.

The main topics of the debates formed to be the role of the EU in the world, the relations with Turkey, as well as those with Russia. And a main highlight to the security policy was given to the relations between the EU and NATO in the context of building trust with Russia and the system for anti-missile defence of NATO.

The hosts familiarized the participants with the development of the Cyprus question in the relations with Turkey, after the invasion in 1974, as well as the history of the city of Famagusta – the only ghost town in Europe. With the advance of the Turkish army in 1974 its 45 000 citizens abandoned it and now it is located in “no man’s land” controlled by the Turkish army. Nobody lives in it and the city is “frozen”, as it was left by its inhabitants. There was great interest in the discussion for the relations between the EU and Russia, due to the participation of representatives of all points of view – from Brussels, through Belarus and Ukraine to Moscow.

Representatives of MGERB were observers during the parliamentary elections in Turkey

01/07/2011

At the invitation of the youth organization of the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Parti), between 3 - 30 June 2011, representatives of MGERB monitored the election process in Turkey. Youth initiative, passed under the title "Election Exchange" and organized in Istanbul, Turkey, was the first of its kind, as the organizers declared their expectation to make it a tradition. The first edition "Election Exchange 2011" was attended by around 100 young people from 45 countries, including two representatives of MGERB - Marin Zahariev, member of the district executive council of MGERB Smolyan and municipal organizational secretary of GERB Smolyan and Lyubomir Stefanov - Member of MGERB Targovishte and member of the municipal executive body of GERB Targovishte.

Main focus of the event was the election campaign of the ruling party. From 3 to 12 June MGERB representatives took an active role in various meetings, discussions, lectures, as well as numerous media appearances, part of the campaign. During the visit, they had meeting with the leaders of the Party of Justice and Development in Istanbul, as well as the opportunity to meet with the Prime Minister of Turkey, the mayor of Istanbul, and with mayors of other districts in the city and popular party members.

During the event participants were divided into groups that visited different areas of the city, with a view to monitor the election campaign, to see the candidates’ approach and people’s attitude toward the election process. Several days before the election, the young people participated in simulation games, based on what they had seen during the campaign, while at the same time they had to show their own communication skills, debating and conducting election meetings and discussions. Significant advantage during the simulation games for the Bulgarian representatives was their participation in the Political academy of MGERB and different regional trainings.

On the Election Day, the youth representatives visited several polling stations as observers, and after that they watched the announcement of interim and final results at the headquarters of the Party of Justice and Development in Istanbul.

MGERB took part in an international conference of IRI in the Republic of Croatia

19/06/11

The International Republican Institute (IRI) held the consecutive political conference in East Europe. Croatia was the host of the seminars in which participated 23 youths from 11 European countries. MGERB was represented to the international conference by the Regional Coordinator of Sliven – Vesela Kacharova. The topic of the conference was “Successful leadership of an election campaign”.

The trainings were held by lecturers from Austria, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The event was held in the frame of three days in the city of Zadar. The main topics were: “How to use the public opinion for a political campaign”, “The organisation of a successful election campaign: strategies, planning” and “Verbal and non-verbal communication in front of the media”.

As part of the training were held role-playing games. The youths were divided into groups representing different political parties and it was necessary for them to defend the interests of their parties and candidates in different media formats. The target of the trainings was to show leadership skills during an election campaign. The participants held press conferences and television debates, which were filmed and analyzed by the lecturers.

Jan Surotchak the Director of IRI for Europe took part in the seminars. He presented a deep analysis of the election campaign and the results from the elections in the USA during November 2010.

MGERB initiated a wide informational campaign under the motto “I support Bulgaria’s membership in Schengen”

12/06/11

Exactly at 10 o’clock in the morning on 12 June the youth representatives of GERB from the entire country put the beginning of a national informational campaign “I support Bulgaria’s membership in Schengen”. The initiative’s formal beginning was set on 27 May in the Bulgarian Parliament where the Chairperson of MGERB Monika Panayotova, together with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Domestic Affairs- Cvetan Cvetanov and the European Deputies of GERB/EPP in the European Parliament Andrey Kovachev and Vladimir Uruchev presented the “Guide for Travelling in Schengen”.

The informational campaign of the youth representatives took place in all the district cities and most of the municipalities of the country where 224 000 brochures were distributed only during the first day of the campaign. Many deputies from GERB and the European Deputies themselves took part in the campaign in different places around the country.




“I support Bulgaria’s membership in Schengen” aims for increasing the familiarity of citizens with their rights and obligations during their travelling and stay in the countries from the Schengen Society. The Guide prepared by MGERB consists of very useful information on necessary documents when crossing the borders and customs regulations as well as the maximum of speed allowed when driving in each Schengen country, the maximum amount of money and the means of payment one can have in theirselves etc. In the guide citizens can also find the addresses and telephones of all the Bulgarian Diplomatic offices in the Schengen countries which they can contact in case of emergency.

The youth representatives of GERB who were going around the country all day in order to meet as many people as possible consider Bulgaria’s entering the Schengen Society as a major priority not only for young people but also for business in our country. Monika Panayotova who is also a Deputy in the Bulgarian Parliament related directly to the subject “Schengen” put an accent on the fact that Bulgarian citizens need more positive campaigns like this one. Monika shared her hope that after this initiative every citizen who was reached by the youth representatives is now at least a little bit better informed on Schengen.

The informational campaign will continue to take place in the entire country during the next few weeks.

The “Guide for Travelling in Schengen” can be downloaded in electronical version.