Bulgaria Completes EU Accession Negotiations
Bulgaria completed the negotiations on its accession to the European Union, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
The end of the negotiations came after the last two chapters, Competition and Miscellaneous, were closed at a minister-level Intergovernmental Conference on Bulgaria's EU accession in Luxembourg.

Foreign Minister Solomon Passy, who heads the Bulgarian delegation to the Conference, commented that the timely completion of negotiations is a clear sign that the Bulgarian government strategy for stepping up political and economic reforms, has succeeded.
He was congratulated by the session's chairman, Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, who said that completing the negotiations with Bulgaria has been the biggest achievement of the Irish Presidency.

Bulgaria managed to negotiate a 5 per cent increase of 240 million euros in the allocations under Miscellaneous. This chapter also has 550 million euros in financing for the decommissioning of nuclear reactors and 30 million for administrative capacity building. The additional allocations will come in the first three years of accession and will finance measures to strengthen border controls, which Bulgaria will have to implement when its borders become EU external border, and the national budget.

"The allocations agreed upon today ads up to over 4.5 billion euro in EU financing for the period between 2007 and 2009," said European Policy Minister Meglena Kouneva.

The Competition chapter was among the toughest because it guarantees the smooth functioning of the European common market. By closing it, the EU member states acknowledge the alignment of Bulgaria's legislation to the European and the improved performance of the Bulgarian competition protection commission.

The Intergovernmental Conference also confirmed the closing of the three financial chapters: Agriculture; Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Instruments; and Financial and Budgetary Provisions.

This was the end of one of the most important stages in Bulgaria's relations with the EU, Foreign Minister Passy commented. He expressed hope that this country will be able to sign the accession treaty as soon as possible next year.

PM Saxe-Coburg-Gotha: Completion of Negotiations Means that Bulgaria Is Already Living and Working by the Rules and with the Responsibilities of the Member States

"Bulgaria is completing a long section of the road leading to EU-membership," Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha told a solemn session of the European Integration Council minutes after it was announced in Luxembourg that Bulgaria has completed its negotiations on full EU membership.

"The completion of negotiations means that Bulgaria is already living and working by the rules and with the responsibilities of the member states," the Bulgarian Prime Minister also said.

He pointed out that the closing of the negotiation chapters does not mean there will be no more negotiations or work on living together in the EU. From now on the Bulgarian society will live by the European laws and rules, which will be valid for all, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha said.

Commenting the good news, Finance Minister Milen Velchev said Bulgaria cannot but be pleased with the commitments about the funds it will receive from the EU. In addition to the initially agreed unprecedented high amount of 4,500 million euros, it was agreed on Monday that another 240 million euros would be released under the Miscellaneous chapter, thus making Bulgaria the biggest beneficiary of money from the EU funds as compared to the country's Gross Domestic Product, Velchev said. He said that the additional 240 million euros would be used for strengthening the country's internal borders and for general budgetary support.

The right-wing Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) described the technical conclusions of the accession talks as a huge success for Bulgaria. "We are proud with this achievement of our country," UDF Deputy Chairman Nikolai Mladenov told a news conference.

Ruling Simeon II National Movement (SNM) floor leader Stanimir Ilchev said the conclusion of negotiations is a big success for the entire country and also a proof that the cabinet's foreign policy agenda is implemented as closely as possible.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) will call an extended meeting of its leadership, MPs and its cabinet ministers in June 25 to 27 to discuss the challenges facing Bulgaria after the completion of the EU accession talks, MRF Deputy Chair Emel Etem told a news conference. She said that MRF wants to have a clear picture of the real steps expected by politicians until 2007 when Bulgaria is expected to become a full EU member.

Deputy Chairman of the New Time parliamentary group (made up of SNM breakaway MPs) Borislav Tsekov commented to BTA that the end of EU accession talks is a historic event but that difficulties lay ahead. "Closing chapters is easy. However, realizing commitments into real social practices and governance is hard work and a challenge to all future cabinets and parliaments," he said. Leader of the lift-wing opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Sergei Stanishev told a news conference that closing the EU accession talks is an achievement. However, BSP has always warned that the cabinet laid the stress on the speed of negotiations rather than on their quality. The Socialist leader said also that the internal effort of the cabinet and the state institutions for this country's preparations to join the EU will be a task of primary importance from now on and that the BSP is ready and willing to be part of its accomplishment.

Deputy Chairperson of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria Ekaterina Mihailova, who is also floor leader of the United Democratic Forces (UtdDF), said that the closing of the EU accession talks is good news but it does mean that Bulgaria is a EU member yet. She said much needs to be done from now on to explain to the Bulgarian public the commitments Bulgaria has assumed. Mihailova said the process of negotiations under the incumbent cabinet lacked transparency and sufficient information.

Mihailova noted that Bulgaria opened its EU accession talks on December 10, 1999 during the UtdDF cabinet led by Ivan Kostov. She recalled that by that time Bulgaria had prepared its positions on 22 of the chapters for negotiations, which she described as an important contribution, which deserves to be noted.