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Kiril Petkov and Emmanuel Macron had a personal meeting in February, and now the French president is inviting Bulgaria’s prime minister to join the Renew Europe group.
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The Prime Minister of the European Council will ask why Italy and Germany buy gas from Russia
Prime Minister Kiril Petkov is leaving for an extraordinary meeting of the European Council on Monday and Tuesday, at which European leaders will discuss the situation in Ukraine and the topics of security and defense, energy and food security, the government’s press service said.
This should be Petkov’s first participation in a meeting of European prime ministers as a member of the Renew Europe group, which includes French President Emmanuel Macron, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and other representatives of liberal parties in the EU. Until now, Petkov did not belong to any of the groups, but a few days ago the Brussels edition “Politico” announced that the Bulgarian Prime Minister was invited to join the group “Renew Europe” by Macron. This was interpreted as a step “We continue the change” to seek membership in the European Liberals, where Bulgaria is already represented by the MRF. And in the Bulgarian media there were even reports that
the party of Kiril Petkov and Asen Vassilev will want the MRF to be expelled by the Liberals
I am very glad to be invited to this first meeting with the leaders of the Euro-Liberals “Renew Europe”. There are wonderful people in this political family. What I would like to raise as a question, and I think it is a good topic for every political family in Europe, is this: We need to create a very high standard of the rule of law, as well as anti-corruption mechanisms. In other words, what I encounter in Bulgaria can be developed at the European level. When we talk about political families in Brussels, we must have the highest possible standard of membership. That is, all political parties must adhere to the highest standards at the national level and enforce this standard in Brussels as well. If a member of a political family does not comply with this standard, it should not be tolerated. I do not like the idea of compromising locally in order to gain support in Brussels. This type of connection must be cut. I would like to have very clear standards and principles around the topic I have just talked about, and then make the final decision. I think this is good not only for my party or Bulgaria, but for European families. I look forward to meeting my friends, President Macron, of course, Prime Minister Rutte, I talked to them in private, so, yes, I can’t wait to see youcommented on the topic of joining the “Renew Europe” and the membership of the MRF in it Petkov two days ago.
In Brussels, European leaders are expected to finally adopt the oil embargo on Russia, which has been under discussion for a month. As the latest proposal from the European Commission sent to governments on Saturday, it envisions Bulgaria receiving
postponement until June or December 2024,
to completely stop oil imports from Russia, Bloomberg reported. The government insisted on the postponement because a complete and immediate halt to Russian oil imports could lead to technical problems for Lukoil Neftochim. In addition, tanker transport across the Bosphorus would further increase the cost of crude oil supplies to the Bulgarian refinery.
So far, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have won exceptions to the embargo. As in the new proposal, there is a discount for Hungary as well, as the Druzhba oil pipeline will be completely removed from the sanctions.
I was happy with this news, as it shows that Bulgaria’s firm position in defense of European rules, shows our country as a stable partner and our needs are understood by the EC, which is preparing a package of exceptions, commented on the news of the 2-year postponement of the Minister of Innovation Daniel Lorer.
Kiril Petkov plans to ask the European Council for a unified position on the purchase of Russian gas, after Gazprom cut off supplies to Bulgaria due to the government’s refusal to pay in rubles, but offered special conditions to countries such as Italy and Germany. The companies of the two countries actually pay for Russian gas in euros and have a fixed exchange rate for them in rubles, it became clear after Petkov’s meeting with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi last week in Rome.
European leaders will also have a special video conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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