Kiril Petkov will replace President Rumen Radev as Bulgaria’s representative at this year’s last European Council in Brussels on Thursday, if parliament approves the new government today. The meeting of the leaders of the European countries is scheduled for Thursday, December 16.
By law, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria participates in European councils, and exceptionally the President attends when a caretaker government is in power in the country. Until now, it was planned that Rumen Radev would represent Bulgaria at the last council for this year.
There has even been speculation in Bulgaria that the inauguration of the new government will be delayed so that the head of state can defend the Bulgarian veto in Brussels against the start of EU accession talks in the Republic of Northern Macedonia.
However, the leader of “Continuing Change” and the most likely new prime minister, Kiril Petkov, wants him to go to the council and negotiate with other European leaders. He will make his European Council debut with Germany’s new Chancellor Olaf Scholz, which was approved by the Bundestag last week.
Bulgaria’s position on northern Macedonia remains unchanged, Petkov announced on Saturday at the presentation of the project for his government. However, it needs to be upgraded so that it benefits both countries, the candidate for new prime minister added.
In Brussels, however, Petkov will have to defend the framework Bulgarian position approved by the caretaker government. Bulgaria approves the start of EU accession talks for Albania, but not for Macedonia, the caretaker government decided last week.
However, France, which takes over the EU presidency from the beginning of 2022, is expected to propose a new plan for resolving the problems between Bulgaria and RS Macedonia, 24chasa.bg writes.
In addition to the veto over Skopje, Kiril Petkov will discuss with other European leaders the management of the pandemic and reducing the validity of green vaccination certificates from one to nine months.
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