President Rosen Plevneliev met today at 2 Dondoukov Boulevard with European Commissioner for International Co-operation, Humanitarian Assistance and Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva and European Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn, who were visiting Bulgaria. This was the new President’s first meeting after his inauguration.

At the meeting, President Plevneliev reiterated his pledge of a pragmatic administration and of the active participation of the Presidential institution in formulating Bulgaria’s position within the European Union. Speaking to journalists later, President Plevneliev underlined the symbolism of his first meeting having been with the two Commissioners because of the fundamental commitment that he had made during the election campaign was to the European development of Bulgaria.

President Plevneliev said that Bulgaria’s institutions would make every effort to promote Bulgaria as a good partner of the EU. “Bulgaria needs the efforts of all of us. Bulgaria is not such a small country, but certainly everything will be done, through the voice of the new President, for the Bulgarian position to be heard,” President Plevneliev said.

Rosen Plevneliev said that matters discussed at the meeting were the drafting of the “Bulgaria 2020” national programme and the synchronization of its priorities with those of the “Europe 2020” strategy.

President Plevneliev also noted his forthcoming visit on January 25 and 26 2012 to Brussels, adding that his first working visit abroad also would be symbolic because the city was where the big European family gathers to take important decisions.

Commissioners Georgieva and Hahn wished Rosen Plevneliev a successful tenure as Head of State of Bulgaria.

Kristalina Georgieva noted that the European Commissioners regarded their first meeting with the new Bulgarian President as a sign of the European identity of Bulgaria, but moreover as evidence of the personal faith of the Head of State that Bulgaria’s place is in Europe and that a strong Europe gives good opportunities for Bulgarian citizens. Commissioner Georgieva added that President Plevneliev could always count on the European Commission.

Commissioner Johannes Hahn emphasised that Bulgaria’s excellent macro-economic indicators showed that Bulgaria had a very strongly grounded and moral right, and at the same time a responsibility, to play a more active role in the European Union.

Commissioners Georgieva and Hahn gave the Bulgarian President a copy of a picture showing the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1951, establishing the European Coal and Steel Community.