HE Valentin RADOMIRSKI , the ambassador of Bulgaria to Bucharest: We are interested in opening as many opportunities for cooperation as possible
Date: 12-03-2010
February has ended with a busy agenda regarding the meeting between the Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc and his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borissov. Generally speaking, the press has followed the issues under discussion but more details were revealed for ACTMedia by HE Valentin RADOMIRSKI, the ambassador of Bulgaria to Bucharest. « This meeting at high level has been on the agenda for a very long time, but due to last year elections first in Bulgaria and then the presidential ones in Romania, we had to postpone it. We also discussed the future visit President Traian Basescu is to make to Bulgaria in the second half of this year.
As regards the relations between our two countries, you should know that our cooperation projects have been proposed by the population. For example, at the end of this month there will be the launch of the ferry boat connecting Nicopole and Turnu Magurele. A proof of the development of our relations is the evolution of commercial exchanges: in 2002 the value was 341 million euro while in 2008 the value reached 2.7 billion euro. At the same time, Romania was ranked 5th in 2008 as Bulgaria’s commercial partner and in 2009 it went another position up,which shows that, in spite of the economic crisis, the volume of commercial exchanges between the two countries has increased. An important role is covered by tourism, as more Romanians spend their holidays in Bulgaria, where they come to discover a reality which does not correspond to stereotypes. This reality triggers a pragmatic approach of bilateral relations.
• Your Excellency, Bulgaria, similarly to Romania is facing the difficulties brought about by the global financial crisis. But, while Bucharest announced for this year severe measures necessary to cope with the situation, in Sofia the minister of finances Simeon Djankov stated that Bulgaria will come out of the crisis in March and Standard&Poor’s raised the country rating from “ negative” to “ stable”, Bulgaria being the only EU state who had the indicator upgraded since the crisis started. How could you manage this ? More precisely, how could the population stand the price of the imposed measures ?
As I said, we have to come out of the crisis as we are interested in opening as many opportunities for cooperation as possible. One of them is represented by the European funds we could access for joint projects. During the meeting between the two premiers they signed the Agreement Memorandum for the Romanian – Bulgarian transborder cooperation programme 2007 – 2013 to allow us to access as many funds as our administrative capacity is capable of. Only by joining our efforts can we access the funds, especially as the crisis makes us do that. You asked me how Bulgaria could manage to get out of the crisis and I will tell you that are trying to cope with a short-term programme made up of 82 anticrisis measures in 8 sectors – economic, financial, social, etc.The minister of finances expects the first results to be evident this month and we hope to announce the end of recession during the second part of the year. Thus, at the end of 2010 we expect a positive increase, not spectacular, but over zero. Obviously the effects of the crisis will not disappear overnight, they are long-term ones as they are not only economic or financial but social such as unemployment, education, health. That is why I can say that this crisis will last for a long time. But I am sure our countries could get our of the crisis sooner and better.
- Tell me more about joint projects, such as Calafat-Vidin bridge, which had to be finished by now.
The inauguration of the bridge was postponed for one year, at most one year and a half, as you know, and it will take place on 14th March 2011 or the autumn of the same year. During the discussions between the two premiers we suggested to the Romanian party to build another bridge at Bechet-Oriahovo or Calarasi- Silistra. We would want to have four bridges across the Danube, taking into consideration the fact that there is only one , Russe – Giurgiu which is not enough for the European traffic. We have already discussed the possibility of building a hydro power station, as the EU requires 20% of the energy to be renewable energy. The Danube is a natural opportunity to create this kind of energy. At the present moment, there is already established a working group to analyse the possible placement of a hydro power station at Nicopole – Turnu Magurele or Calarasi-Silistra.
- As we reached this topic, what is the level of involvement in the European energy system for Bulgaria ? How is Bulgaria connected to the integration in Nabucco and South Stream, the big projects for the transport of energy resources from the Caspian area to Europe.? What is the level of negotiations for the Bulgarian authorities with the participating consortiums in the two projects?
Romania and Bulgaria are deeply involved in the European energy security through several projects. Bulgaria ratified the Nabucco project and insists on its speedy implementation. We are interested in the access to different sources and different routes. In this context, we analyse an interconnecting project Giurgiu-Russe. We discussed with the Romanian party our participation in the South Stream so that we could negotiate technical details connected to the project.
• In 2009, Boiko Borissov was elected prime minister because he promised strict measures in the fight against the mafia structure so that the EU trust could be restored, thus leading to the release of European funds. What is now the situation in Bulgaria from this viewpoint ?
Another issue discussed by the two delegations was that of cooperation within the EU so that we have the opportunity to access more European funds in joint projects as well as to better defend our interests and the regional ones ( energy, fisheries, etc). At the same time, we can support the European integration of the countries in our region. On the other hand, we need a Romanian-Bulgarian coordination is necessary in the mechanism of EC monitoring in the fight against the mafia structure. It is about the fight against corruption, against organized crime. We have to go on with cooperation in this mechanism and we need joint assessment for the reports. Our government took strict measures in the fight against organized crime such as the special operation “ Octopus”. A cooperation of our home affairs ministries in the fight against corruption and organized crime could be better as regards the measures for the prevention of the phenomenon. This cooperation will increase the credibility of both Bulgaria and Romania which, as you know, is not very good. We have the obligation towards the people, to find methods of limiting the effects created by the lack of credibility as to contribute to the observance of European values.
