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MGERB continues the tradition to organise educational seminars for its members. The autumn modules of MGERB’s Third Political Academy were closely followed by MGERB’s Winter University. Before the end of the successful 2009, over 70 members of MGERB from all over Bulgaria gathered in Borovets from the 18th to the 19th of December and participated in MGERB’s First Winter University. The winter university was organised with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. This was a spectacular end of an incredibly active year for the Youth Organisation of GERB, which organised two Political Academies, a Summer University and a variety of training courses and seminars for its members. In this way they acquire ranging new skills, which can be helpful in their future professional development in the public sector, as well as the private.
The Winter University of MGERB was opened by Dr. Andreas von Below – Director of the Sofia office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Monika Panayotova – Chairwoman of MGERB and Member of Parliament in the 41st National Assembly. Dr. Andreas von Below, highlighted three main points in his opening speech – his impressions about Bulgaria since taking office and Bulgaria’s energy dependency from Russia, the elections for national government from the 5th of July, which allowed GERB to form a government dedicated to the European development of Bulgaria, which consists of young and active ministers and made a conclusion about all of the successful projects that the foundation has realised with MGERB, which have contributed to the fact that there are many young people in the executive and the legislative branch of government. He also expressed his support for the upcoming initiatives and seminars in 2010.
To support the fact that one of GERB’s main priorities is to invest in the young many young members of parliament, parliament secretaries and representatives of the executive government from GERB took part in the Winter University. One of the main priorities of the university concerned the development of youth policies in Bulgaria, where Mrs. Svetlana Lomeva – Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Science regarding youth policies, discussed the topic with the participants. After the second day the participants handed their suggestions for the development of the youth sector and were informed about the completed work in the sphere in the first 100 days of the new government for the European development of Bulgaria. The European aspect of the seminar was given by the MEP’s from GERB – Illiana Ivanova and Vladimir Urutchev who represented the work done by MEP’s. They also familiarised the participants about the hardships of the Lisbon Treaty, the development of the European energy policy and the Bulgarian energy projects, as well as the results from the summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. There was special interest in the upcoming opportunity in which representatives of MGERB can work for the European Institutions from 2010. The Balkan aspect of the seminar was presented by Radoslav Tochev – Councillor to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria regarding foreign policy. The national aspect of the seminar, regarding reforms was presented by Vladislav Goranov – Deputy Minister of Finance.
Another important aspect of the seminar was dedicated to team work and leadership, where Mrs. Iren Sokolova – Member of Parliament in the 41st National Assembly and expert in social psychology, lead the discussions. During an interactive session the participants had to form a National Youth Council of Bulgaria. They were divided into groups and had the opportunity to decide how to achieve this and later write down, how they formed their groups, what role did they play in their group and their impressions, weather they managed to fulfill their ideas and the overall performance of the group as a whole.
As a final the administrative secretary of the party Mr. Cvetomir Paunov presented to the participants the priorities and the hardships of the future development of the project GERB.
The alumni of MGERB’s Winter University strengthened the link between lecturers and organisers and participants by giving excellent remarks about the organisation, the excellent efficiency and the successful combination of lecturers and training modules. They expressed strong hope to participate in MGERB’s upcoming training seminars in 2010!
The first module of the regional program of the Bulgarian School of Politics for 2009/2010 started on the 9th of December and ended on the 13th of December 2009. The module was located in Skopje, Macedonia. The first module went under the title “Leadership in Action, the young leaders who form the image of the Balkans”. There were 32 participants from all over the Balkans – Bulgaria, Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. The participants consisted of representatives of the youth organisations of the major political parties of the participating countries, as well as representatives of the media and non government organisations. MGERB was represented by Dean Nikolov – member of MGERB, Sofia.
The course included five panels – “Leadership of the 21st century”, “Social and political leaders”, “Leadership and European integration:”, “Leadership and minorities”, “Political correctness and the media in the Balkans” and “Young people and their opportunities for leadership in the political and government institutions”. The lecturers were Ognyan Minchev – Director of the Institute for Regional and International Studies, Assya Kavrakova and Marin Lessenski – Open Society Institute – Sofia, Lubov Mincheva – Associated professor of political science to the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Antony Georgiev – Publisher of the “Vagabond” magazine, Sasho Ordanoski – Director of the Alsat-M, Republic Macedonia television, and Ivon Velickovski – Vice President of the Liberal party of Macedonian.
During the second day of the program the participants had a specially organised meeting with the president of the Republic of Macedonia – Gjorgje Ivanov.
At the end of the seminar the participants gave ideas for initiatives, which can be conducted for the day of the Balkans, which will come during the last module in Sofia during May - 2010.
15/12/09
MGERB started a national initiative, which goes under the title of “The University Idea Today – Plan your future flexibly”. The target of the initiative is to support the reforms in university education and the changes to the Law of University Education in particular. The initiative took hold during the week of the University Student’s Day – the 8th of December in all regions of Bulgaria with universities - Sofia, Plovdiv, Blagoevgrad, Veliko Turnovo, Varna and Burgas, as well as the big resorts Bansko, Borovets, Pamporovo and Arbanassi. Those were a small part of the places where the young people popularised the ideas of the government of GERB for reforms in education.
The target of MGERB was to show their fellow youth that the reforms which began in university education are targeted towards them. That those reforms have the target to improve their status as university students, to make the educational system more precise, to improve the way that exams are held and the scoring process in particular, as well as guarantee better cooperation between business and the academic circles.
“Be innovative” and “Invest in yourself” are only some of the messages that the young deliver to their fellow university students on the day of their holiday.
05/12/09
MGERB has officially gained the status of an observer member in the Youth of the European People’s Party – YEPP! MGERB was also officially recognised by the right-wing centralist youth organisations from all over Europe as a full righted partner. This happened during the international seminar of YEPP in Tirana, Albania. The seminar took hold from the 3rd of December to the 6th of December 2009. MGERB was supported with consent by over 30 youth organisations from all over Europe during the vote, which occurred during the board meeting of YEPP. Having an observer member status is the last step before achieving a full member status in the YEPP. After the achieved success MGERB can take an active part in determining the policies on European level, through it’s participation in the largest international youth organisation. When MGERB is accepted as a full member the representatives of MGERB will have the right to elect the YEPP Board, as well as be elected to be in the YEPP Board.
Hristo Gadzhev – MGERB’s International Secretary took part in the seminar in Tirana. He presented MGERB before the participants and introduced the qualities of the largest right-wing centralist youth organisation in Bulgaria. “At the base of MGERB lay main values, such as supremacy of the law, freedom of personal initiative and the traditional values of the EPP. We have proven our willingness to work for forming policies, regarding people not only on national, but on European level, so we can achieve prosperity for all European citizens. That is why I am certain that MGERB will be a worthy member of the family of YEPP”.
The participants to the conference were welcomed by the Prime Minister of Albania – Sali Berisha. He thanked them for their visit to Albania and introduced the situation in the country. He requested help for the removal of visas from 2010. The ministers of European Integration, Interior, Defence, Infrastructure and Transport and Telecommunications were also present during the meeting. Antonio Tajani the Vice President of the European Commission for Transport was also a special guest to the seminar.
Monika Panayotova the Chairwoman of MGERB will specially meet with the Board of YEPP during the forthcoming congress of the EPP in Bonn to thank personally for the vote of confidence and the acceptance of MGERB in the big youth European family.
The next seminar of the Youth of the European People’s Party will take place in Sofia and Plovdiv – Bulgaria. It will start on the 18th of February and end on the 21st of February. The host of the seminar will be MGERB.
02/12/09
Kuneva can give to Bulgaria as an expert, thinks the MP from GERB
Monika Panayotova was born on the 19th of August 1983 in Sofia. She has a MA in International Economic Relations in the University of National and World Economy with a specialization in “International Project Management”. She is the Chairwoman of MGERB. She was the director of “Projects connected with Society”, in the Economical Policy Institute until 2008. She can wield English, French and Spanish.
Miss Panayotova do you think that the International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Commission is important enough for the Bulgarian representative to the European Commission and what do you think about the opinions that the Foreign Minister would become the Emel Etem of Europe?
Every commission of the European Union is important if it has been opened. The President of the European Commission forms his team of European Commissioners, so every commissioner is important for his work. It is important that every European Commissioner is vital and everyone can vote. Our European Commissioner needs to keep the balance between the best interests of the whole European Union and of Bulgaria. Keeping the balance is very important and every commissioner can influence his fellow commissioners.
What do you think of the statement of Miglena Kuneva that she intends to transfer her work efforts towards the Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and the President Georgi Parvanov?
I think that Meglena Kuneva has a lot to give to Bulgaria as an expert. The fact that she spent a lot of time in Brussels proves that. I think that everyone who wants to help the Bulgarian Government constructively is welcome to do so. This has always been stated by our Prime Minister. Everyone can help despite his political orientation if he works for the best interest of the country. After we leave the border of Bulgaria we defend Bulgaria’s position and not the position of GERB, BSP or MRF. We go out there with the Bulgarian position. I don’t see any difficulties for anyone who wants to work for this cause.
The Lisbon Treaty takes effect from the 1st of December. What does this mean for Bulgaria?
I have personally been pro-federally orientated from many years and I have been hoping that this becomes reality one day. I am really happy that the Lisbon Treaty will take effect. This is a sign that Europe is moving forward. From now on Europe will become a legal personality in other words - it will become a key figure in the international field. The changes that effect Bulgaria will have effect on the whole European Union. Now we are talking for wider identification – the European identification. We think of ourselves as Bulgarians, but now we would think of ourselves also as Europeans, because the European Union will have an independent foreign policy and a president. The role of the institutions and the new legislation is becoming really important concerning decisions. In order for a certain decision to take effect it would need 55% approval of the member countries and 65% approval of the population of the European Union. There will be double legitimacy regarding the decisions. Every country will have the right to leave the European Union if it considers this to be the right decision. The citizens of the European Union will have the right for initiatives. If one million citizens think that a particular problem is of great importance for the whole Union, they could have it reviewed. There will be greater perspective for the citizens regarding the decision making process. Another important moment is that the national governments will have a greater impact on the European Parliament. In reality before any decision can take effect it first needs to be reviewed by all the national governments. This will be a challenge in front of our government, because we would need greater expertise – the MP’s as well as the experts working for the National Assembly.
Won’t we lose our national identity with the Lisbon Treaty?
No not at all. The motto of Europe – “United in diversity”, will truly take effect. Everyone is contributing to what the European Union looks like and this leads to a wider European identification. Culturally everyone has their own identity. Everyone is equal before the law.
How would you comment on the increasing civil claims before the Court in Strasbourg by the people with disabilities and the pensioners?
Maybe they know that when a civil suit starts there at one moment there will be a result. This is something that we can’t always see here.
How can we change this?
This can happen with a reform in the justice system, but as you know this takes a really long time. The important thing is that the new government has expressed will for reforms and is starting to achieve them. But everything is happening gradually and by stages, because every fast decision might not be the right one. Every step is well tough by our government. I believe there will be reforms but there is now way that they could happen in the first one hundred days of the new cabinet. It is a question of time before we can see the positive results.
What do you think of the results of the referendum in Switzerland about minarets?
One of the international theories is that of the conflict of the civilizations in other words between Christianity and Islam. I believe it is very important for politicians to be able to keep the balance and to put an accent that religion needs to remain in the frames of personal space. If we start dividing ourselves on religious, sexual or ethnical bases we would never be able to achieve anything good. Normally the more radical parties succeed in doing more negative campaigns. The ones who opposed European integration had a more successful campaign.
One of the last events that drew public attention was also on a religious basis. The Yuzeirovi Brothers attempted to build a second monument of the Unknown Turkish Warrior, but this time in their patio. Don’t you think that the law for registration of new religions or new parties needs to be changed?
As far as I am informed about the case of the second monument it was never discussed with the local authorities and no one asked for a legal approval i.e. it wasn’t done in the necessary manner. No division leads to anything good. Bulgaria has always been a good example for ethnical tolerance. Let’s keep this image - this is my appeal to everyone. We are not a big country. If we start dividing ourselves this won’t be good for anyone. The individual success of everyone will contribute to the success of the country. Let’s have a positive and creative thinking, rather then destructive.
MGERB continues the tradition to organise educational seminars for its members. The autumn modules of MGERB’s Third Political Academy were closely followed by MGERB’s Winter University. Before the end of the successful 2009, over 70 members of MGERB from all over Bulgaria gathered in Borovets from the 18th to the 19th of December and participated in MGERB’s First Winter University. The winter university was organised with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. This was a spectacular end of an incredibly active year for the Youth Organisation of GERB, which organised two Political Academies, a Summer University and a variety of training courses and seminars for its members. In this way they acquire ranging new skills, which can be helpful in their future professional development in the public sector, as well as the private.
