In Davos: Bulgarian Foreign Minister Makes The Case For EU Enlargement

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister, Mariya Gabriel, addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday on the topic of EU enlargement.

Speakers on her panel included the Prime Minister of Montenegro, the CEO of Scania, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine. Participants discussed "the business case for EU enlargement", or how enlargement will benefit countries economically and financially in tangible ways.

Mariya Gabriel said that "we should make an additional effort not to separate the different arguments for enlargement because when we talk about solidarity and the transformative power of enlargement, that means business case; that means new opportunities for business, for investment, how we can increase the attractiveness."

"For me, enlargement in that case is always about shared values. We need to talk about this because it's something that we share in this difficult world: rule of law, democracy. It's also our capacity to respond to global challenges. That's enlargement. That is what we need to address. Okay, what are those global challenges? How can we tackle them? I think we immediately have some examples; it's not only digitalization, it's not only climate. It's energy; it's infrastructure; it's young people. It's the region's development. And of course, for me that means concrete benefits for citizens."

Addressing Davos, Gabriel stressed the need to make an additional effort to give much more visibility to the success stories. "If we show to our citizens that in their daily life there are benefits, we will be much more able to convince them", she said.

"So, I think on one side we have to always put a little bit more visibility on the strengths. On...