EC’s Reding in appeal for political consensus in Bulgaria
European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding, due in Sofia for a July 22 visit that was scheduled to include talks with President Rossen Plevneliev, said that she would ask the head of state to do everything he could to achieve political stability and national consensus among political parties.
Reding is something of a hero among the country’s tens of thousands of anti-government protests who perceive her as a supporter of the protests, which have endured for more than a month in a campaign for a government that they see as utterly discredited to step down forthwith.
Plevneliev has praised the creative and peaceful conduct of the protests and made clear his frustration at the lack of proper political dialogue to resolve the current political crisis. Earlier in July, in a public address, he said that the only way out of the crisis was early elections.
Reding, due in the Bulgarian capital city for events linked to an EU-wide campaign to encourage direct communication between the bloc’s citizens and its institutions, said that it was highly important for a society to be built on the grounds of a balance among political parties.
“That is why I would like to make an appeal for political stability and national unity. I believe that the political parties in the country should gather together and find the needed solutions,” Reding, Vice President of the European Commission and European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, was reported as saying by public broadcaster Bulgarian National Radio.
She said that reforms in the justice system undertaken by Bulgaria were at an initial stage and should continue not so as to satisfy any of the European Commissioners, but for the sake of the rights of citizens, their trust in the state and the national economy.
(Photo: EC Audiovisual Service)
