Brussels, December 16 (BTA) - Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, who arrived here on Thursday for a European Council meeting, spoke about Bulgaria's relations with the Republic of North Macedonia and its European integration, the future of nuclear energy, natural gas supply and dialogue with Moscow.

Relations with Republic of North Macedonia

In an interview for Euractiv, quoted by his Press Secretariat, Radev said that Bulgaria is not an obstacle in the EU enlargement process and the progress of this process depends entirely on the Republic of North Macedonia. According to Radev, Bulgaria is rather upholding the fundamental EU values and principles, such as human rights protection and non-discrimination, which are included in the Copenhagen criteria for EU membership.

President Radev noted that Bulgaria, taking account of the huge importance of the Western Balkans' European perspective, has always been a driving force in the European integration process for countries in the region. "It's true that we have special relations with the Republic of North Macedonia, we are much more than neighbours and friends. People on both sides of the border are connected by our common history and culture, while many families were separated by the winds of historical events," Radev said, adding that this is precisely why Bulgaria was the first country to recognize the Republic of North Macedonia's independence back in 1992 and has rendered support to its neighbour in difficult times, such as during economic and political isolation, regional and domestic conflicts, refugee crises and natural disasters. That is the reason why Bulgaria unconditionally supported the Republic of North Macedonia's NATO membership, Rumen Radev said.

An easy explanation for Bulgaria's refusal to open the door to the EU membership negotiations with its neighbour is the latter's failure to observe the Friendship Treaty from 2017.

The Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia must be equal to the other constitutionally recognized "parts of peoples" in that country. There must be full equality and their rights must be guaranteed in the Constitution and the "institutional architecture" of that country, before Bulgaria can give the green light for the start of negotiations, Radev said, adding that this is a matter of principle and is non-negotiable.

Radev once again underscored that the attempts at exerting external pressure on Bulgaria to speed up the European integration of its neigbour is not a working approach, while Bulgaria's European partners should rather focus on encouraging the candidate country to implement the necessary reforms in order to meet the EU membership criteria.

Radev also expressed optimism that the new Bulgarian Parliament and Government will continue supporting the Republic of North Macedonia in implementing the necessary reforms on its European integration path.

Later in the day, President Rumen Radev said that he would convene the National Security Advisory Council (NSAC) to discuss Bulgaria's attitude towards the Republic of North Macedonia and seek consensus with all parties in the National Assembly.

''I propose that the Bulgarian Parliament initiate a structured relationship with North Macedonia's Parliament, so that this dialogue can become an important tool for rapprochement, for clarifying our positions, for finding the best solutions, the head of State explained to Bulgarian journalists in Brussels. Radev pointed out that there was great ambition to resolve the issue of North Macedonia at Thursday's meeting, but the topic was dropped due to the growing understanding of the Bulgarian point of view.

''This is a merit of the Bulgarian diplomacy and the extremely wide communication campaign that we conducted,'' the President summed up.

He added that the process in terms of timing and end result are entirely in the hands of the candidate country and in this case this is North Macedonia.

The Bulgarian head of State stressed the importance of having consensus on the topic in Bulgaria, adding that he is constantly exchanging views with the Prime Minister. "We are both of the opinion that it is in the interests of Bulgaria and the EU for the Western Balkans to become integrated in the EU as soon as possible," he said, explaining that this requires finding solutions to the problems that pose an obstacle for opening the door to the start of negotiations with the Republic of North Macedonia. This process requires strictly following the bilateral Treaty on Friendship, Goodneighbourliness and Cooperation which Sofia and Skopje signed in 2017. "This means constitutional protection of the rights of Macedonian Bulgarians, giving up hate speech and, of course, European guarantees for the irreversibility of this process by the Republic of North Macedonia," President Radev said.

Energy

Radev stated that nuclear energy should be classified as one of the tools for achieving the goals of the European Green Deal.

The Bulgarian President said that France is pushing for nuclear energy to be labelled as a green source by the EU not just temporarily, as it is now, and Bulgaria is among the countries supporting this move. "Classifying nuclear energy and natural gas as green is important because it will have an impact on the environment, a great social and economic impact. I think this is the future and Bulgaria will not back down from these positions," the head of State added.

The idea to recognize nuclear energy as "green" is growing in popularity across Europe, he said. Nuclear energy seems to be the main viable option after 2040, when Bulgaria is expected to no longer be able to rely on its coal-powered plants, the President said.

Radev said that the high price of carbon emmissions stunts the development of the economy and the energy sector and this problem needs to be addressed.

Rumen Radev has conferred in Brussels with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev. The two discussed the continuation of supply of Azeri natural gas to Bulgaria at one of the currently most affordable prices. According to the Bulgarian head of State, Azerbaijan is ready to discuss with the Bulgarian Government the possibility of additional supply of higher natural gas quantities. Radev noted the exceptional importance of finally completing the gas interconnector between Bulgaria and Greece, which has been expected for some ten years now. "I spoke with [Greek] Prime Minister [Kyriakos] Mitsotakis, who will be in Bulgaria on Monday, when we will be able to discuss this matter. I hope that next year Bulgaria will resolve an issue so important for the country," Radev said.

Dialogue with Moscow

Referring to the EU-Eastern Partnership meeting held on Wednesday evening, the President said many EU leaders had backed a vision for dialogue with Moscow so as to ease the current tensions. "As things stand, European security is being discussed by Russia and the United States, while Europe is missing in this dialogue," Radev added, citing his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron. "We must seek dialogue and spell out our European requirements which will guarantee our security," Radev concluded.

Bulgarian Position for European Council Meeting

At its regular meeting on Thursday, the Council of Ministers in Sofia approved Bulgaria's position for the European Council meeting in Brussels later that day. Bulgaria recognizes the need to continue having an approach based on a balance between decisions made at European and national level, according to competence, giving enough leeway to Member States to implement national measures. Sofia believes that tackling the volatility of energy prices requires clear planning and implementation of climate ambitions in order to maintain confidence in the green transition and the competitiveness of the European economy. Bulgaria will continue to insist on the inclusion of nuclear energy and natural gas in the scope of the Delegated Act supplementing Article 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation, the country's position states. Bulgaria supports the approach followed so far in working with priority third countries in the field of migration and a comprehensive and balanced geographical approach to migration financing, which should cover all migration routes.

BTA's Brussels correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov has contributed to this story. LG,RY/YV,DD,DT

Source: Brussels