 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
OPENING ADDRESS
of Mr. IVAN PETKOV at the book promotion on 14 June 2005
Your excellencies, Dear guests, Dear colleagues from the Bulgarian European Community Studies Association, Dear colleagues from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Diplomatic Institute, It is a pleasure for me to open the meeting we are holding today dedicated to the promotion of a new scientific publication on Europe’s foreign policy, security and defence. I am glad that, on this occasion, we can welcome H.E. Mr. Jeremy Hill, who will share his views on the role of the UK as one of the eminent actors in CFSP and ESDP. In anticipation of the forthcoming Bulgarian accession to the European Union, Europe’s foreign policy and its security and defence components steadily gain more and more significance in Bulgarian foreign policy making. Adherence to the overall common goals and policies of the EU on essential themes related to world development or towards various regions and countries has enjoyed a solid consensus among Bulgarian parties and in society at large. We now start to face a different challenge – that of the day-to-day making of EU foreign policy, of participating in this process as active observers and later as full-fledged members, of preparing Bulgarian positions on CFSP-related issues bearing in mind both the national interest and the emerging interests of a unified Europe as a global-player-in-the-making. To respond to such a challenge, it is imperative to encourage substantive preparatory work and thinking at home, where politicians, diplomats, foreign policy experts from academia and the NGO sector ill join forces in providing analyses, developing scenarios, making policy recommendations for participation in the elaboration of European positions, actions and strategies. I am glad to see the result of such a joint effort – both at home in Bulgaria and on a European scale. The volume we are promoting today is the result of a conference held in Sofia in October 2004 on the regional dimensions of CFSP and ESDP and of other events held in Bulgaria and in other European countries during 2004 in the framework of the Network for Research on European Foreign Policy “FORNET”. I encouraged the efforts of the Bulgarian European Community Studies Association (BECSA) and “FORNET” last October, I find it natural to offer my support for the result today. I feel particularly committed because of the involvement of my colleagues – experts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – both at the events and in the preparation of this publication.
As I was informed, the volume “More than a dwarf?” has gathered eminent authors from the United Kingdom, Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, the United States, the European Commission, and several contributions from Bulgaria. I appreciate the opportunity it gives for exchanging expert views – for introducing opinions of our partners in the domestic foreign policy debate we hold here in Bulgaria, and for conveying Bulgarian standpoints to wider European audiences. I sincerely hope that it will become a valuable contribution in both directions. In the end, let me express the expectation that today’s event will trigger other joint initiatives between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Diplomatic Institute and the Bulgarian European Community Studies Association.
|