8 October 2002
Prime Minister
Good morning everyone. First of all can I extend my gratitude to the Prime Minister of Bulgaria for coming here and being with us today and giving us an opportunity to discuss the remarkable progress that is being made in Bulgaria today. And I have no doubt at all as a result of the changes that are being made in Bulgaria by the government, as a result also of the tremendous endeavour by the people in Bulgaria, that the vision of a Bulgaria in NATO and the European Union can indeed be achieved. I am confident that at the Prague meeting of NATO that an invitation will be extended to Bulgaria, and certainly we in Britain would support that very strongly.
And secondly, I think that not later than 2007, Bulgaria’s membership of the European Union is not just something that is possible, but I think is something that can well be achieved, and that is a tremendous tribute, as I say not merely to the efforts of the Prime Minister and other members of his government, but also to the people of Bulgaria that have had, I know, a lot of difficulties in putting up with the process of change, but I think it is important to recognise that the rest of Europe is now very confident that Bulgaria will indeed achieve its goal of European Union membership.
For the rest of it, Prime Minister, as I say, I extend a very, very warm welcome to you here today. Many thanks for coming here. Relations between Britain and Bulgaria are strong. We have been co-operating very closely together.
We thank you and Bulgaria for your support in the Security Council on difficult issues that we are handling at an international level at the moment, and all in all I think this is a relationship that can only go from strength to strength.
Mr Saxe-Coburg
Thank you so much Prime Minister, I really most appreciate your words.
And I would also like to convey my gratitude for the Prime Minister’s words which mean a lot to our country and to our public opinion, and I think that we will do our very best also to keep on improving our relations in every possible way.
Question and Answer session
Question:
Mr Blair, did you discuss the possible operation against Iraq, and in particular the possibility to use the Bulgarian base and air space?
Prime Minister:
Obviously we discussed the international situation, although I have to say that most of our discussion really was in relation to Bulgaria and the future of Bulgaria. But of course we discussed the international situation too, and I think we share the same analysis basically which is that we want the United Nations to make its determination very clear to the Iraqi regime and that the Iraqi regime must recognise that the will of the United Nations has to be obeyed and there has to be disarmament of the weapons of mass destruction, the chemical, biological, potentially nuclear weapons.
Question:
Are you ready now to suspend the power sharing arrangements in Northern Ireland and reimpose direct rule from London if that is what it takes?
Prime Minister:
As you know we are in discussions with all the parties at the moment. I am due to meet some of them later today, and I think until I have discussed it with them we are best to keep our own counsel.
Question:
Even if this presents the most serious crisis that has faced the peace process since …
Prime Minister:
Well it is a very serious situation, there is no doubting it at all, and the tragedy is that I believe that the vast majority of people recognise that the Good Friday Agreement, the peace process, offers the best chance of a successful future, if it can be made to work, but it can only be made to work on the basis that everyone accepts the full principles of that agreement, and that is equality and justice on the one side and an end to any form of violence and terrorism on the other.
Now we have got to discuss with the parties the best way through this, but I remain absolutely determined to make sure that there is a way through it so that people in Northern Ireland are given the future they need.
Question:
Did you discuss the future of the Bulgarian nuclear plant and is Britain willing to support Bulgaria in its desire to have new technical expertise for third and fourth reactors of the nuclear plant?
Prime Minister:
This is not an issue we specifically discussed together, but obviously in general terms, as you know, we remain willing to try and help in any way we can with the process of reconstruction and change, but obviously that is primarily a matter for the Bulgarian government.
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