Washington, DC — January 12, 2003 — Nadezhda Mihaylova, former foreign minister of Bulgaria and current member of the Bulgarian parliament, told IRD staff today that the biggest problems facing her country to become a member of the EU are reform of the judicial and intelligence systems, and the low living standard.

However, Mihaylova, who is vice president of the European People’s Party, was confident that Bulgaria would join the EU by 2007 or 2008. “We have lots of problems, but I have high hopes that we will cope with the requirements to join the EU,” she said.

She is visiting the United Sates to discuss her non-governmental organization, the Institute for Democracy and Stability in eastern Europe, with U.S. experts and possible funders. She commented that the Institute is working to create a Balkan policy with a European perspective. “Solidarity among all the Balkan states is a good beginning,” she said. “Our goal is to work together on common projects in the region and also come to agreement on political issues that affect the region.”

She said that the key to building democratic states in the Balkans is “freedom of movement and freedom to find jobs, the procedure you have here in the United States. We want to avoid the ghettoization of people, which was the method used for so long in Europe.”