Emil StoyanovMember 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.

Today, at its meeting the Committee on Culture of the European Parliament adopted the report of Marie-Thérèse Sanchez-Schmid "Unlocking the potential of cultural and creative industries". Mr. Emil Stoyanov made two amendments to the report. The first amendment dealt with the creation of new and innovative financial instruments, both on European and national level, which should be adapted to the specific needs of these industries, was adopted by large majority.

The second proposal, inviting the European Commission and Member States to discuss the possibilities of establishing a European and national funds aiming to subsidize these industries generated debate and very few votes were needed in order to adopt this amendment.

Mr Stoyanov commented "I think the creation of this fund is extremely important for future support and development of cultural and creative industries because due to their commercial nature they need special funding, which banks can not provide. I am convinced that in near future this idea will mature and will be accepted."

CEETV’s Yako Molhov met in Brussels with Emil Stoyanov, Member of the Commission on Culture, Education and Media at the European Parliament. The two talked about EU’s role in regulating and stimulating the development of media, digitalization and creation of content.

Each euro is important for Bulgaria, especially in times of crisis, stated the member of the European Parliament Emil Stoyanov during a meeting of a group of Bulgarian MPs from Plovdiv, he invited in Brussels with the Bulgarian commissioner Kristalina Georgieva. The challenges ahead of a better adoption of the EU funds in Bulgaria were the focus of the meeting that took place in the premises of the European Commission.

"It is of great importance for Bulgaria at these times of financial crisis, to be in the position to use 100% of the EU funding", Emil Stoyanov said.

Plovdiv's regional mayors from GERB Peter Petrov, Zdravko Dimitrov, Rayna Petrova and Ina Filipova and the member of the Bulgarian national assembly, Stefan Dedev visited Brussels following the invitation of the member of the European Parliament Emil Stoyanov.

The last Parliamentary session before the recess saw Members approve crucial steps that will cap banker's bonuses and set up a Europe system to regulate Europe's financial markets. The week also saw more rights for boat passengers and tighter rules on industrial emissions. Spain's EU Presidency also bowed out and Belgium took over at the helm. A ban on food from cloned animals was also endorsed by the House.