Meeting Zigmar Gabriel, Vice-Chancellor and Minister of economy and energy of Germany in Lisbon, Sergei Stanishev, Member of the European Parliament, asked for the support of Germany for Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen area. ‘We have fulfilled the criteria. It is not fair that our country is constantly faced with new conditions. This is already a matter of trust and credibility of the European Union and its institutions’.

 

In Lisbon MEP Sergei Stanishev took part in an international parliamentary conference of the Progressive Alliance on ‘Quality Jobs and Education’. Socialist parties from 42 states participated in the conference as well as the leadership of the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament.

 

Stanishev expressed his firm support for António Costa’s Socialist Party in Portugal and Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Workers’ Party in Spain ahead of upcoming general elections in both countries. ‘Both parties have significantly contributed for the modernisation of their countries. After years of austerity policies, the EU now needs modern Left ideas to restore justice. Victory for socialists in Spain and Portugal will be a victory for the Left in Europe. After today’s conference in Lisbon, a Leaders meeting will take place in Madrid in February 2015′, Stanishev said.

 

During the conference Stanishev spoke on education as key to social and economic development. ‘Access to free quality education for all is the cornerstone of every just society and of our vision for the European social model. Europe needs a growing economy with highly-qualified labour force. We need to invest in the future and take Europe to a leading position in high-tech sectors such as green energy, IT technologies and medicine’. He added that the Erasmus programme is one of the biggest achievements of the EU and more than 2 million young European citizens have benefited from it so far.