Emil StoyanovMember of the European Parliament

On 21st and 22nd June in the European Parliament took place Digital Agenda Assembly of the European Commission, where were discussed ways to foster the economic growth and development of the single digital market.

On 21st June the Assembly started with 8 workshops on different topics: 1. "Anytime, Anywhere, Any Device? Converged Media Platforms", 2. "High-speed connections", 3. "Trust What You Buy, Choose How to Pay? The Future of e-Commerce in Europe", 3. "Trust What You Buy, Choose How to Pay? The Future of e-Commerce in Europe", 4. "Social Media: Social Networking for Economic Recovery, Jobs and Growth", 5. "Data", 6. "Clouds for Europe: From Cloud-friendly to Cloud-Active", 7. "Security: Secure Digital Future: building on growth, innovation and confidence", 8. "Innovation and entrepreneurs".

The President Rosen Plevneliev is expecting, in November this year, the first draft of the National strategy for Bulgarians, who live abroad, which will be discussed at the conference 'Policies for Bulgarians, who live abroad' in the European Parliament, organized by the Vice-President Margarita Popova and Emil Stoyanov, MEP and Member of the Committee on Culture and Education of the European Parliament. The announcement was made by President Plevneliev during the first session of the Council for Culture, Spiritual Development and National Identity, that was dedicated to our compatriots abroad.

The interview of Emil Stoyanov with Diana Petrova for '24 hours' newspaper was published on 18th of June 2012.

Mr. Stoyanov, why are you organizing a conference dedicated to the problems, which Bulgarians are facing abroad?

The idea was born in the beginning of the year in a conversation between the Vice-President Margarita Popova and myself. The topic of the conversation were Bulgarian schools outside the country. Their future and the future of around one million Bulgarians that live abroad, gave us an insight that it is time to start a purposeful European policy for Bulgarians abroad. We considered the fact that by uniting the large number of opportunities and the authority of the Bulgarian President Institution with the capabilities of the European Parliament, there is no way that we cannot be successful. That is how the conference 'Policies for Bulgarians living abroad' was born, organized by the Vice-President Margarita Popova and myself, being a Member of the European Parliament.

Following the invitation of the MEP Emil Stoyanov the 8 representatives of the Committee on Culture, together with the Chair of the Committee Doris Pack will visit the city of Plovdiv in October.

Today a confirmation from the Ministry for Culture and from the Ministry of Sport of Republic of Bulgaria, that the two respective ministers - Vejdi Rashidov and Svilen Neikov - will meet the delegation from the Culture Committee of the European Parlaiment. The meetings will take place on the 10th of October in Plovdiv.

The representatives of the European Parliament will meet also with the Mayor of Plovdiv Ivan Totev and with leading figures from cultural and educational institutions.

In the beginning of November, the European Parliament will welcome representatives of the Bulgarian communities that live abroad. The host of the grand scale conference is the MEP Emil Stoyanov. The conference 'Policies for the Bulgarians living abroad' is organized jointly with the vice-president of Republic of Bulgaria Margarita Popova and it is part of establishing a long-term strategy for Bulgarians abroad. Our compatriots, that live and work abroad, represent around 15% of all Bulgarians, where the largest communities are situated in the US, Spain, Ukraine, Moldova and Germany. Bulgarians abroad usually are well educated and enjoy a successful career in the countries they live in.

'For the first time such a conference is taking place in the European Parliament and I am very pleased, that we can figuratively speaking show the long and successful road, that took Bulgaria from the socialist camp to the European union in the last twenty years' – said Emil Stoyanov, Member of the European Parliament

Shortly before the Bulgarian national day over 90 students from the Rhodope Mountain and from the Bulgarian Diaspora in the Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia and Macedonia, as well as young musicians from the University of Stara Zagora and winners of prizes of the "Stoyan Kambarev" took part in the great celebration in the European Parliament in Brussels. This event was realized following the initiative of the Bulgarian Memory Foundation with the assistance of Bulgarian MEPs from the EPP and under the patronage of the President of republic of Bulgaria Rosen Plevneliev. Among the official guests of the event entitled "Bulgaria: Country of spirit and letters" were the Vice-President of Republic of Bulgaria Margarita Popova, Commissioner Georgieva and Vice-President of the European Parliament Rainer Wieland.

The second week of June was marked by the European debate on Schengen, which was so intense and strategic for the common European future that it managed to oust even the dramatic topic of the financial crisis in Greece, Portugal and Ireland.


At first glance, the debate concerned the entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the Schengen area but the debate was actually much deeper; it raised the question of the future protection of European borders in general. The immigration pressures which Europe is facing today can only be compared to the stresses of the global financial crisis. Both phenomena threaten the very functioning of major systems of the European Union. It became clear that, as in the case of the financial crisis, the European Union has no developed strategy or response mechanism for the current immigration crisis.

The full article by Emil Stoyanov, published on euobserver.com:
The second week of June was marked by the European debate on Schengen, which was so intense and strategic for the common European future that it managed to oust even the dramatic topic of the financial crisis in Greece, Portugal and Ireland.
At first glance, the debate concerned the entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the Schengen area but the debate was actually much deeper; it raised the question of the future protection of European borders in general. The immigration pressures which Europe is facing today can only be compared to the stresses of the global financial crisis. Both phenomena threaten the very functioning of major systems of the European Union. It became clear that, as in the case of the financial crisis, the European Union has no developed strategy or response mechanism for the current immigration crisis.

On March 23 representative of the European Commission responded to the request of the Member of the European Parliament Emil Stoyanov, dated March 16, that several measures in regards to the adopted amendment to the 2011 Budget, submitted by Emil Stoyanov and Andrey Kovachev and tackling the introduction of civic education on the European Union in secondary schools. Firstly, the European Commission intends to publish in May under the framework "Lifelong Learning", and particularly the programme "Jean Monnet", a call for proposals aiming to support projects for teaching of European Union in general education.The next action will be taken in the second half of 2011, when the Commission will launch a study to examine in which Member states, such training already exists, to what extent and in what form it has been introduced in national education systems.

THE CONCEPTS OF East and West bear different geographical, historical and political context for different countries. For Bulgaria the East is associated with Russia and with the Soviet Union, and the West with Western Europe and the USA. Despite the fact that Russia’s heart is in Europe, the country includes a much Asian territory: this is often incomprehensible to Europeans (and vice versa). Although the United States is geographically far from Europe, politically and culturally the two have always been very close. Bulgaria, a medium-sized southern European country (with a population of eight million and 111,000 square kilometres of territory) has always been carefully observed by both the East and the West – though, given the country’s Orthodox Christianity and Slavic roots, perhaps more from the East.