EU Commissioner Georgieva: Bulgaria Should Invest in Its People

Bulgaria's EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva (L) with the parliamentary speaker Tsetska Tsacheva (R) at the Friday meeting. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's most important problem is that it does not invest in its human resource, according to Kristalina Georgieva, the Bulgarian EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response.

"We have to catch up because the future of Europe lies in the intelligence growth. If we cannot be cheaper than others, we have to be smarter," Georgieva said Friday at a meeting with the parliamentary speaker Tsetska Tsacheva and MPs from all parliamentary groups.

The main topic of the talks was the annual program of the European Commission for 2011 and the planned activities in Georgieva's sector.

She has expressed certainty that the country will join the Schengen agreement, but did not state a specific date. In her words, she did not have a "crystal ball to read what's written there".

"All European countries have problems, but Bulgaria seems economically stable. Our marcoeconomic policy is stable, our foreign debt is very low – 15% of the GDP. Increase of unemployment could be our concern, but for now we rank in the middle in Europe" Georgieva said.

The EU Commissioner also said that it would be good for Bulgaria to put an end to the scandals with the tapped conversations. She said the country needs to turn the page and start looking at the future.

"I honestly believe that Bulgaria needs to focus on the big problems, which define our nation's future. From the outside, you can see that the time we spend on a subject is inversed to the importance of this subject for Bulgaria's future," Georgieva said.

In her opinion, the most important problems in the country are the ones regarding education, healthcare and administration.

"My hope for Bulgaria is that one day it will become a future-oriented country," Georgieva said.

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