Cohesion fund for Ukrainian refugees
A proposal by Bulgaria for a cohesion fund for refugees from Ukraine so that the EU jointly will bear the costs “and not each country fight alone” has been well received by EU leaders, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov told reporters in Versailles on March 11.
Petkov was speaking after the European Council meeting, at which the Versailles Declaration was adopted.
He said that in coming days, the European Commission would propose mechanisms and options for how the fund would work.
The money would come from residual funds from European programmes and would not be new funding.
“For a start, we talked about 10 billion euro,” Petkov said.
He said that Europe was entering a situation of high oil and gas prices, which were raising inflation and reducing growth. The European Central Bank would reduce the funds circulating in the European economy, reducing the money supply in the EU, and the governments of EU countries would have to stimulate their economies to have growth, he said.
From Versailles, Petkov is leaving for Antalya, where he will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“I have already had the opportunity to meet with all our neighbours, except Turkey,” Petkov said.
“I want this to be an initial meeting with Turkey, to have direct contact to think about common things together. As you know, part of the gas we want to buy, and Azerbaijani gas passes through Turkey, so all these topics are appropriate,” he said.