Bulgaria, Greece Pledge Support to Neighbours

In a meeting with his Greek counterpart Stavros Dimas on Wednesday, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov said that Greece is Bulgaria's priority partner in the European Union and in the Balkans.

He added that the two had compiled a comprehensive agenda for the second joint meeting of governments in the spring.

Mladenov and Dimas also discussed ways to support the European prospects of Western Balkan countries, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Sofia.
 
"The day that our neighbours meet the requirements of EU legislation and demonstrate that they have good neighbourly relations and regional co-operation, they should become EU members," Mladenov said.

The two ministers reiterated that Bulgaria and Greece are committed to working together to support their neighbours.

Greece has blocked Macedonia's EU accession bid because of a two-decade long dispute over the country's name. Renewed talks in New York this week failed to yield results.
 
During the meeting on Wednesday, Dimas accepted Mladenov’s proposal to hold a trilateral gathering of foreign ministers from Bulgaria, Greece and Romania in the coming months in Sofia. By sending a joint message, the member states in the region will strengthen their voice, Mladenov and Dimas agreed.

The two foreign ministers also addressed the opening of new border crossings, co-operation in infrastructure and implementation of the gas interconnection between Bulgaria and Greece.
 
"The Cold War resulted in an artificial iron curtain between our countries, which included the isolation of our energy networks," he said.
 
Implementing a gas interconnection connection is an important step in overcoming this legacy and in diversifying the two countries' energy supplies, Mladenov explained.