On 16 and 17 October 2003 Regional Development Minister Valentin Tserovski attended a meeting of the ministers responsible for regional affairs in Rome on “The Role of the Regions in the European Union”.

On 16 and 17 October 2003 Regional Development Minister Valentin Tserovski attended a meeting of the ministers responsible for regional affairs in Rome on “The Role of the Regions in the European Union”. It was organized within the framework of the Italian Presidency of the European Union and was attended by ministers, deputy ministers and senior civil servants of all EU member, acceding and candidate states, as well as by representatives of the European Commission, the Committee of Regions and the regional authorities in Italy. The meeting was hosted by Italian Regional Affairs Minister Enrico La Loggia. The purpose of the two-day ministerial in Rome was to hold a political discussion on enhancing the role of the regions and the local authorities as an equal partner of the Union Institutions and the national governments in the process of decision making and as a mediator between the bodies of power and civil society. In his address to the participants in the Ministerial Tserovski outlined the guidelines of Bulgaria’s regional policy and expressed the Bulgarian Government’s support for strengthening the role of the regions and of the local authorities both in decision making and in implementing the policies of the European Union. At the end of the forum the participants adopted a political declaration for regulating the role of the local and regional authorities in the elaboration and implementation of the policies of the European Union. Within the framework of the Rome Ministerial Tserovski held bilateral meetings with the leaders of the delegations of different countries and gave interviews to the correspondents of the BBC and Deutsche Welle. Full text of Tserovski’s address PR and International Activities Directorate