On the occasion of the incoming Bulgarian Presidency of the EU, Boyko BORISSOV, Bulgarian Prime Minister, presents the incoming EU Council Presidency priorities, during the EP plenary session (15-18 January 2018) in Strasbourg. Those include security and stability, the digital economy and a European perspective and the connectivity of the Western Balkans. Statements by Boyko BORISSOV, Bulgarian Prime Minister, Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, Elena VALENCIANO (S&D, ES), Syed KAMALL (ECR, UK) and Dimitrios PAPADIMOULIS (GUE/NGL, EL).

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

EU - Bulgaria (T)

JUNCKER, Jean-Claude (LU)

VALENCIANO, Elena (S&D, ES)

KAMALL, Syed (ECR, UK)

PAPADIMOULIS, Dimitrios (The Left, EL)

BORISSOV, Boyko (BG)

Bulgarian Presidency of the EU (T)

Presentation of the programme of activities of the Bulgarian Presidency: extracts from the debate

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/20270022/I149367Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (Bulgarian), Boyko BORISSOV, Bulgarian Prime Minister, I dare to say that Bulgaria has succeeded, within a year, to reduce the migration pressure to zero. This was a result of a lot of work and on the Bulgarian-Turkish border, we showed how we can work together with the European solidarity and help; I am grateful to the Council from Bratislava that gave 160 million euros for technical expenses, with the efforts from the country and with the agreement we have with Turkey for limiting immigration influx to a minimum.

SOUNDBITE (Bulgarian), Boyko BORISSOV, Bulgarian Prime Minister, The stability on the Balkans is directly related to the stability in Europe. We would wonder where Islamic fighters come from or where radical Islam develops because there are conditions for such developments there due to large amount of Islamic citizens on the Balkans.

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, For the Bulgarians and for all of us it is an opportunity to finalise the work on some of the major challenges that the EU faces and where the EU can make a big difference. I am thinking particularly about migration, the digital economy and security.

SOUNDBITE (German), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, <p>I continue to feel that the exit of Great Britain is a catastrophy. It is a defeat that we all have to deal with the consequences of. But the causes of the British decision run much deeper. As Ms. May has said, the British have never felt entirely comfortable with the European Union and for 40 years they were never given the opportunity to be able to feel better.</p>

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Elena VALENCIANO (S&amp;D, ES), You will be well aware Mr. Borissov, because as you are from Bulgaria you understand this line of thinking, that we need a common system in Europe for asylum and migration and we need urgently to revise the Dubin convention, you can rely on us for that.

SOUNDBITE (English), Syed KAMALL (ECR, UK), Mr. Juncker you should not take responsibility for the UK version to leave. If responsibility lies anywhere, it is with the political class in Britain for the last 40 years that has never been honest about the political dimension of the EU pretending that the EU is only about trade. But whilst Brexit has dominated the agenda of late, the ECR group believes that the urgent must not crowd out what is important: the need for reform, physical responsibility and doing less but doing it better.

SOUNDBITE (Greek), Dimitrios PAPADIMOULIS (GUE/NGL, EL), The youth unemployment, a brain drain that has to be turned into a brain gain for our countries, the social economy, training and educaiton as well as migration. I would, however, like to give a special emphasis to the European prospect of the Western Balkans. I am especially happy because President Juncker said that the main goal is to have the Western Balkans accessing the EU and I think that the Bulgarian Presidency is very well placed in order to make some progress on these issues.