Bulgaria Must Back Proposal for European Energy Union - President

Bulgaria should strongly support the establishment of a European energy union, according to President Rosen Plevneliev.

The Polish project for an energy union envisages the creation of a single European body that would buy gas for the whole 28-nation bloc and the establishment of "solidarity mechanisms" through which EU countries will help Member States threatened with gas cutoffs.

"The EU must not allow a recurrence of the retrograde policies of the Great Powers and the periphery between them or destabilizing activities from any direction in Ukraine," Plevneliev declared in a speech on the Bulgarian Army Day, suggesting that the crisis in Ukraine would make Europe rethink its energy policy.

Plevneliev, as cited by mediapool.bg, claimed that the right answer to the existing economic problems, the growing nationalism, and the crisis in Ukraine was "more Europe."

"We must work for a new stage of defense and energy integration, for a stronger EU," Bulgaria's head of state declared in his speech.

He also insisted that modern diplomacy in the 21st century had to be based on the supremacy of law and on human values, not the supremacy of power and the interests of a certain country.

Plevneliev stressed that the crisis in Ukraine had shown that in Europe it was still possible to redraw boundaries, to stir up conflicts, to destabilize countries and to disregard the rule of law.

"These events showed us how important it is to observe the rule of law. Democratic values and national security are not for granted and are not for free," he said.

He described Bulgaria's NATO membership as a major guarantee for the country's independence and national sovereignty.

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