"The day will come , in which not all countries will have their own European Commissioner and we will fight not just for a portfolio, but to have our own European Commissioner. The portfolio has been reduced in volume, but has been increased in terms of policies, which she (note editor - Ekaterina Zaharieva) has been assigned to prepare a legislative act, which so far in "research and innovation" he wasn't there. How are we going to benefit from the department - not at all, as before.
This was stated by the former Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Zinaida Zlatanova in the program "The Day ON AIR".
"How much money was she going to distribute... This is naive. This money is not for us, but for the whole EU. It would be good for Bulgaria to have projects that can be counted on the fingers of one hand. We have to look at our Recovery and Resilience Plan (RSP) and our European funds", stressed the guest of Bulgaria ON AIR.
Zlatanova drew attention to the fact that at this stage it is important for Zaharieva to perform well at the hearing and gain a reputation as a serious politician in order to have arguments that Bulgaria is contributing.
"Because in recent years, Bulgaria has not contributed to the EU. The news related to us is largely negative," she pointed out.
"There will certainly be money that we will not receive for air defense because we are delaying reforms. With this, Bulgaria is unaccustomed to work. These plans call for structural reforms. Projects are one thing - they will still be more complicated. But we can't even get there because we can't make the reforms," Zlatanova warns.
She added that already in the third parliament and for more than a year and a half, the deputies have looked at the laws, but "there is a concern that we don't hear in essence what it is.
"We are talking about 10 billion, which we will not receive - we will not renovate kindergartens, we will not have new schools, we will not have startups... Bulgaria continues to be the poorest country in the EU. 18% live in extreme poverty, that means you are a beggar. "Every fifth lives in beggarly conditions," Zlatanova pointed out.
"There is this idea that Austria is the obstacle in front of us, and we are so nice and have stopped migration so much. We have a much bigger problem. The Netherlands' interior minister said not only does Schengen want to close borders, but it wants to exit the EU's migration policy and implement its own. Concern in Europe is widespread. We are closing our internal borders. Without free movement, which is an absolute pillar of the EU, Europe will face very serious consequences", Zlatanova commented.
In her words, the fact that we are still outside Schengen speaks volumes.