Six months after the visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry to Sofia, Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov is on a working visit to the USA for a review of the strategic dialogue between both states. In January Kerry and Mitov agreed that the dialogue should take place within the frameworks of 4 working groups – on security and defense, on energy security, on the superiority of the law and on education.

The talks of the minister are working ones and the information is yet quite scant. Still, some of his statements have clearly confirmed the pro-American politics of the government. Yet before the visit Daniel Mitov pointed out that the relations with the USA were into one of their best and most serious phases. It terms of geopolitics this country is situated on a crossroad between two conflicts – one in the Ukraine and the other in the Middle East. The head of the Bulgarian diplomacy clarified at the US Center for Strategic and International Studies that Bulgaria supported the sanctions, imposed on Russia due to the Ukrainian conflict. The illusion on the opposite has recently emerged due to some discrepancies in the statements of President Plevneliev and PM Borissov on the issue. The first stated before public that he upheld the sanctions’ continuance, while Borissov said he wanted their dropping. In Washington the foreign minister of this country made it clear that Russia’s behavior was a serious threat to Bulgaria’s security and the sanctions should be kept, no matter their real or illusory disadvantages. This whole line of speeches makes it clear that despite the losses suffered by the sanctions, Bulgaria will adhere to the western stance while the argument between Russia, the USA and the EU is not settled.

In Washington Minister Mitov pointed out that Bulgaria’s energy policy was partially successful also due to the partnership with the USA. That partnership is seen by some circles as mainly trying to limit this country’s extreme energy dependence on Russia. Some recent events have questioned the Russian gas supplies dramatically, but Minister Mitov has assured from Washington that those won’t be ceased, as they have been contracted up to 2030. The task now is new interconnectors to be built up, supporting the diversification of gas supplies, thus reducing its price. It still remains unclear whether Russia’s intention to cease for good the Ukrainian transit in 2019 has been taken into consideration. Some 90 percent of the gas for Bulgaria comes from there. Minister Mitov’s assurance that Bulgaria upholds the TTIP agreement between the USA the EU has also made strong impression. Europe still hasn’t got a joint stance on the agreement. A part of the government in Sofia thinks that it won’t harm small states like Bulgaria, but will protect them. Vice Premier Ivaylo Kalfin says, however that the current version of the agreement shouldn’t be supported. The subject still remains open and while Minister Mitov is in the USA, Sofia has found out that European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström will visit Bulgaria in September for further discussions at a governmental and non-governmental level. In the meantime the US visit of the foreign minister continues.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev