UK Prime Minister David Cameron arrived yesterday in Sofia in order to make Bulgarian authorities acquainted with the demands of London for reforms in the EU. Topics of discussions were also fighting against terrorism and the refugee crisis. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov held a closed meeting with his UK counterpart. This has been the first visit of a UK Prime Minister in the past 16 years, according to statistics.

Cameron arrived in Bulgaria hours after the British parliament gave a green light to UK forces for launching air strikes against Islamic State in Syria. It is important to destroy the Islamic State where it exists – in Iraq and Syria, said Cameron in Sofia and called for increasing the exchange of information related to fighting terrorism. In this respect Cameron also praised Bulgaria for raising its military budget. Borisov expressed hope that London would continue to support cohesion policy and infrastructure projects in this country.

Speaking about the refugee crisis the guest said that strengthening the external borders of the EU was necessary, and vowed that the UK would take important part in solving this problem.

But back to the main reason for choosing Sofia for one of the stops of Cameron in Europe - his plans for EU reforms and renegotiating the European principles. The UK Prime Minister showed he was a realist and said that an agreement between the UK and the other 27 EU member states was unlikely to be reached during the summit in Brussels in mid-December. "I want Britain to remain part of a reformed European Union, but this would not be easy," Cameron said. This way he made it clear that the so-called Brexit was still possible.

But what are the requirements of London? Weeks ago, the UK Prime Minister voiced a number of requirements that would allow the UK to stay in the EU.

One of the most important ones is recognizing that the EU is a community with many currencies and taxpayers of countries outside the euro area should not be involved in financial operations that support the euro. As we know, Britain is nota part and has no intention of becoming part of the Eurozone. Another request coming from London, which concerns this country directly, is immigrants on the island coming from newly welcomed Member States, including Bulgaria, to qualify for social rights only after working for four years in the UK. Such a request is contrary to the principle of non-discrimination, which is fundamental to the EU and provides for equal treatment of European citizens. On the one hand Cameron feels the pressure by his party, which insists on imposing this restriction, and on the other hand, most Member States reject calls for such restrictions.

The position of Sofia in relation to the demands of London is not clear yet. At least it did not become clear from statements made during Cameron’s visit to Sofia. Let's hope that the Bulgarian authorities would shake off inferiority complexes and would stand in defense of the interests of Bulgaria as a Member State of the EU.

English: Alexander Markov