The state of our Union is the strongest, but it also feels like the most uncertain it has ever been, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the European Union speech on Wednesday.
„It is possible that Canada will become an associate member of the EU. The more ties we have, the stronger we and our economy will be. It is not surprising to us that Canada maintains increasingly close ties with the member states“.
This was stated in the program “This Saturday and Sunday“ on bTV by Emil Radev, MEP from GERB/EPP and member of the initiative committee for the nomination of Iliana Yotova for president.
“10 member states have not ratified the CETA agreement. Bulgaria is one of them“, he noted.
“Canada has an economic agreement with the EU. In 10 years, we have seen that the concerns are unfounded. Other agreements, much closer, must be signed that would benefit both countries. We are in no way aggravating relations with the US. We see that there has been a lot of uncertainty recently. Donald Trump treats Canada as the 51st state, but it has its own policy“, said Emil Radev.
Corruption in Bulgaria
“According to the government, the oligarchic model has been defeated. Unfortunately, I do not see this happening. I hope the government will act in this way not only against its political opponents, but also against all those who carry out criminal activity on the territory of our country and in the EU“, commented the MEP.
“From what I heard about Vladi Goranov, he rented out a property for 1,000 euros per month to a company that has not been proven to have carried out criminal activity. As a lawyer, I do not accept labeling,” he also said.
Emil Radev defended his decision to join the initiative committee of Iliyana Yotova, who is supported by the Bulgarian Socialist Party and “Progressive Bulgaria.”
„In the European Parliament, my path crossed that of Iliyana Yotova. We worked very well with her to remove the discriminatory monitoring that was preventing us from entering Schengen. Yotova’s invitation to me proves that she wants people from different spheres, professions and political forces. These are the qualities of a unifier of the nation, which the president should be. I do not regret joining the initiative committee,” he emphasized.
„The first person I informed was the chairman of GERB, Boyko Borisov. We do not have our own candidate. There is no right-wing candidate either. Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev are not right-wing. We have a competition of left-wing candidates. Iliana Yotova stood under the banner of the EPP, she abandoned her narrow political party interests in the interests of Bulgaria and I think this is a very good quality for a president“, Emil Radev is categorical.
The MEP explained that he will not leave GERB.
“I have been a member of GERB for 20 years. This is my party. I have made a political move and with the consent of the party leadership. GERB will remain my party as long as I am involved in politics“.