00:00With me here in the studio is the Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Tana Spekhanov,
00:04who's in Brussels today for those very budget talks. Welcome to Brussels and welcome to Europe
00:09today. First question about that long-term budget. Is a compromise feasible? Good morning and thank
00:15you for the invitation. We are at a crucial point for Europe. We have to decide the budget that will
00:21also decide our future and we have to address the issues at hand. We are in a very tense
00:26geopolitical situation, changing circumstances, changing technologies. So Europe has to do more,
00:32has to do better on competitiveness but it also has to retain its traditional policies. Cohesion
00:37policy for us is a traditional, important and very beneficial EU policy and for Bulgaria as well as
00:44the member states which are part of our group of countries of friends of cohesion it is important
00:49that no further cuts are done to cohesion policy. But that's where it's going to get tricky. We've
00:54already heard the German Chancellor he wants to cut 400 billion euros from the budget calling the
00:58current proposal impossible and cap and cohesion funds they feel like something of the past. The
01:03future is all about defence. We hear these concerns by our partners of course but let me say clearly
01:08cohesion policy is not a gift from some member states to others. It is an investment in a functioning
01:13single market. It makes the infrastructure that then enables firms across Europe to extend to get
01:20new markets, to get new consumers. It also creates new opportunities for European industries. In
01:25Bulgaria many of the vendors for very important projects for goods and services, high quality
01:30projects have enabled also European industries to deliver these projects. So Bulgarian citizens receive
01:36the extension of the subway, one of the most popular projects, European funded projects in Bulgaria,
01:42delivered also by a lot of European companies. But Bulgaria of course is a small country, you receive more as
01:47well from the kitty than you contribute. So is your voice even heard in a debate like this?
01:52We believe that how we organised in the France of Cohesion will make it feasible that we make our voice
01:59very clear and loud in this discussion. It is an important discussion because it will enable either
02:05Europe to thrive or it will lead us to a situation where maybe we are already at with a competitiveness
02:11lack towards some of the other member states. And the two goals, competitiveness and cohesion,
02:16they don't go against each other. You have to have excellence in Europe. This is what we are going
02:21to talk about today also at the budget conference. But this excellence cannot be focused in one or two
02:25places. It has to be equally distributed across Europe.
02:28And this budget battle could take months. It could go into next year. Will they find a deal by the
02:33end of
02:33this year though, ahead of the next year with all those elections taking place?
02:37It will take months. It will be hard negotiations. There is no doubt about it. Of course it is better
02:41to reach a
02:42solution fast. We would like also to start planning how all these funds will be used then next year.
02:47So it will be beneficial for everybody if we find a solution this year.
02:50And Bulgarians joined the Eurozone back in January, reluctantly. I remember the protests. How is the
02:55economy doing now?
02:56In the longer term, the Euro will bring benefits to Bulgaria, strengthen credit worthiness and
03:02strengthen credit ratings, more trust in our country on financial markets. In the short run,
03:08however, there have been some, I would say, pressures, pressures on the inflation side.
03:12Unfortunately, with the start of the war in Iran, this also contributed. One could say that some
03:18firms coordinated and increased their prices. This is something we are worried about. Inflation in
03:23April and May was double the Euro area average, which is very concerning and concerning for citizens.
03:29So on that, we have taken first steps once we stepped into office in May to strengthen the
03:34regulators to see if there were some malpractices on side of some firms in some sectors, because we
03:39don't want the Euro adoption to weaken our price competitiveness. We see that, for example, in some
03:45sectors, these price increases, of course, then they can transmit lower demand. So on this, there are
03:50some concerns. The deficit has also increased. There have been some capital expenditures that have been
03:56delayed in recent years. They have to be done this year. So that we address this issue, we are also
04:02taking
04:02steps to further implement and finalize the recovery plan. This is my portfolio, the Bulgarian National
04:08Recovery and Resilience Plan, something that was lagging because of the political instability. We
04:14managed to unlock the fourth payment after a visit that we had with President von der Leyen and
04:19delivering on the important rule of low milestones that were expected for Bulgaria for many years.
04:24Okay, Deputy Prime Minister, thank you so much for joining us here this morning on Europe Today.
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