I am very pleased that finally the major countries in Europe have understood that we must take our destiny into our own hands. This was stated by President Iliana Iotova after the keynote speeches during the 62nd Munich Security Conference.
According to her, the countries of the Old Continent have been resting on their laurels for many years, making excessive compromises and bureaucracy.
„When Mario Draghi came out with a report 17 months ago, he very clearly gave a diagnosis of what the European Union is currently. Unfortunately, nothing has been done about this report so far – Only 15% of these proposals are a fact today, and there it was said that Europe has long been uncompetitive with the major world economies, that we have too expensive production and we do not have an energy union“, said Yotova.
She also said that there has been talk for a long time about an independent defense system of the European Union.
“Now this is a recognized necessity, not because this should be a structure that opposes NATO, but rather for the European pillar within NATO to be even stronger and for Europe to have its own production“, she added.
Asked whether Bulgaria has a position on the important issues discussed in the Alliance, Yotova replied: “I have always been a supporter of the Bulgarian voice being strong, but if necessary – different from the European partners, because we are a country on the external border of the EU, and recently it has become very relevant and mandatory to talk about “Eastern Partnership and strengthening the positions of the East. All this must go through the specifics of the Bulgarian system. I have always missed such a position from our governments“.
When asked which elephant she saw in the hall, she replied: “If you noticed this elephant is not happy at all, because it is accompanied by debris of various organizations such as the UN. There is something broken in the international legal order. This was also heard in many conversations with the leaders with whom I exchanged a few words. It is good that the European leaders have realized that the world we live in has changed“.