“It is essential to reopen the debate on the future of the EU, on our ambitions and aims, and what mechanisms and resources we should use to attain them,” said President Rumen Radev at a discussion on the future of the EU organized by the Economics and International Relations Institute and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

“If the EU wants to play a leading role in the world it has to change and accelerate the decision-making mechanism. The EU makes decision that are sustainable over time, but is inefficient against strategic players who act very quickly. They are sprinters, the EU is a marathon runner,” Rumen Radev commented.

Bulgaria must be fully integrated within the Lisbon Treary, Schengen and the Eurozone, the  President said, adding that he is a Eurooptimist.