The Bulgarian Post
2006-10-15 08:12:09
"We want the EU to be a better union — well-structured, coherent, stronger than it is today," PM Sergei Stanishev said at a news conference after meeting with French President Jacques Chirac as part of a four-day trip to Paris.
The European Union formally said last month that Bulgaria and northern neighbor Romania can join the 25-member bloc on Jan. 1. The European Commission has urged both countries — which would be the poorest EU member states — to press forward with reforms, AP news agency reports.
"We all know that the European is going through a heavy time, a difficult moment — a crisis," Stanishev said. "Bulgaria is joining the EU also with the intention of overcoming the current difficulties."
"If we look back, in retrospect, we see that the entire evolution of the European Union was a sort of permanent crisis, which has always been overcome," he added.
France wants to increase bilateral economic, military and legal ties with Bulgaria. Stanishev said France is the 14th biggest foreign investor in his country — and so it has room for expansion.
In the meeting, Chirac called for "rapid progress" in French-Bulgarian trade, particularly in the energy and infrastructure sectors, according to his spokesman, Jerome Bonnafont.
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