Bulgarian president calls for EU unity, integration

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev here on Wednesday at the official opening of 12th Meeting of the heads of state of the Arraiolos Group called for European Union (EU) unity and integration.

"Today Europe faces more problems than it ever did in the post-World War Two period," Plevneliev said before the eyes of the presidents of Germany, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Hungary and Finland.

The EU is undergoing currently not one but 11 crises such as migration, terrorism, Brexit, "and the worst of all crises -- a moral crisis of challenging the European values and lack of solidarity and unity in finding sustainable solutions," Plevneliev said.

None of the crisis can be managed by the nation-state alone, he said.

Unfortunately, at this crucial time, the EU looked weak and divided, he added.

"Today, more than ever before, we need European unity. The EU is a family, and during hard times, the family unites, each member contributing to the process," Plevneliev said.

The EU must launch new integration projects "because the only weapon we have is European unity and integration," he said.

Examples of such new European integration projects were the European energy union, the European defense initiative, the European digital union, and the EU enlargement to the Western Balkans, the Bulgarian president said.

Today's crises highlighted the pressing need for better long-term and coordinated decision-making, Plevneliev said. "Cooperation is no longer a matter of choice but of necessity," he said.

Arraiolos Group, an informal forum for a top-level political dialogue of the parliamentary republics in the EU, was established in 2003 in the Portuguese town of Arraiolos. Endit