Sofia, Bulgaria: The Prime Minister of Bulgaria – Kiril Petkov, met with his Belgium counterpart yesterday, May 31, 2022. The meeting between both dignitaries holds great significance as it comes prior to the summit of the European Council.
Both the Prime Ministers held discussions on several significant matters, including cooperation in energy and infrastructure.
Prime Minister Petkov tweeted, “Very pleased to meet Belgium PM Alexander De Croo ahead of EUCO. We have discussed cooperation in energy and infrastructure”.
Diplomatic ties between both countries were established in the year 1879 and since then shared a friendly relationship.
What is EUCO?
Officially known as European Council (EUCO) is a body which is responsible for directing the overall political direction as well as priorities of the European Union.
EUCO comprises the heads of state or government of the EU member states, the President of the European Council, and the President of the European Commission.
The meetings of EUCO are also attended by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The former Prime Minister of Belgium – Charles Michel, is the current President of EUCO. The European Union gained official status as an EU institution after the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007.
The council recently made an agreement on oil sanctions to be imposed on Russian Federation. Supporting the decision, President of EU – Ursula von der Leyen stated, “I welcome the EUCO agreement tonight on oil sanctions against Russia. This will effectively cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year”.
Following the above statement, “I am glad that tonight leaders agreed in principle on the sixth sanctions package. This is an important step forward. We also agreed to work on a mechanism to provide Ukraine with a new, exceptional macro-financial assistance package of up to €9 billion”.