Meeting of the EU Club on the occasion of the beginning of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU

On 17 January 2019, Enterprise Europe Network at the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted the traditional EU Club meeting, dedicated to the achievements of the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the EU and its takeover by Romania. Among the official guests of the event were H.E. Mrs. Andrea Wicke, Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to Bulgaria, H.E. Mr. Ion Galea, Ambassador of Romania to Bulgaria, and Mrs. Tanya Chuntova, PR Expert at the Liaison Office of the European Parliament in Bulgaria. The meeting was attended by diplomats, representatives of the business community, the NGOs and the media.

In his opening speech, the President of BCCI Tsvetan Simeonov said that the meeting of the EU Club has once again attracted a large number of participants and discusses increasingly interesting and important topics on the EU agenda.

Moderator of the meeting was the Chair of the EU Club – Prof. Ingrid Shikova, who highlighted the achievements of the Austrian Presidency over the past six months, as well as the positive expectations for the Presidency by neighbouring Romania, with which Bulgaria started its diplomatic relations 140 years ago.

H.E. Mrs. Andrea Wicke, Ambassador of the Republic of Austria, presented the results achieved during the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the EU, focusing on the organized forums dedicated to climate change, anti-Semitism and the European-African relations, the signing of a FRONTEX agreement, and continuing the topic of EU enlargement towards the Western Balkans.

The meeting continued with a presentation by H.E. Mr. Ion Galea, Ambassador of Romania to Bulgaria, who acquainted the participants with the priorities of the Romanian Presidency, namely:

• ensuring convergence and cohesion in Europe, in order to achieve sustainable and equal development opportunities for all citizens and Member States,
• consolidating a safer Europe through increased cohesion among EU Member States in dealing with the new security challenges,
• consolidating the global role of the EU through promoting the enlargement policy, the European action in its neighbourhood, further implementing the Global Strategy.

Tanya Chuntova presented an independent platform presenting the European Parliament elections and how to engage more people to vote.

BCCI maintains the view that EU legislation has a major impact on the rules of trade in the Single Market, the tax environment, the access to financing, and many other issues which directly concern the business environment in Bulgaria. Therefore, the Chamber encourages representatives of the Bulgarian business to be active during the 2019 European Parliament elections.