BULGARIAN MFA EAGER TO KEEP TRADE TREATIES, BUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SOFIA 000043

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2016
TAGS: ETRD EUN PGOV BU
SUBJECT: BULGARIAN MFA EAGER TO KEEP TRADE TREATIES, BUT
NEEDS AMMUNITION TO HOLD OFF BRUSSELS

REF: A. SECSTATE 470


B. 06 SOFIA 1613

Classified By: DCM Alex Karagiannis for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)


1. (C) We delivered ref. A points to MFA's Emilena Popova,
Director of the International Cooperation Directorate, and
Ivan Danchev, Head of the U.S. and Canada Department in the
Americas Directorate, on January 8. Popova was glad to hear
that the USG agreed to discontinue the 1938 Treaty on
Certificate Legalization and asked when the GOB may expect
our return diplomatic note.


2. (C) On the 1995 IPR agreement and the Bilateral Investment
Treaty (BTA),Popova said that while the MFA would also
prefer to keep and modify the agreements, Bulgaria is under
pressure from the European Commission (EC) to abandon them.
With EU accession, Bulgaria has "surrendered its sovereignty"
on trade matters to Brussels, she said, and discussions on
bilateral treaties should be between the USG and the EC. We
pushed back with the argument that EU membership has not
stopped thirteen of the original members and many of the 2004
accession countries from maintaining such bilat treaties with
the U.S. Popova was visibly relieved to hear that a
precedent exists and was eager to receive our written
arguments. She admitted that the EC's approach to Bulgaria
is stricter and more demanding than to the previous accession
countries.


2. (C) We particularly stressed the importance of keeping
the IPR agreement as part of the GOB's overall IPR protection
regime, highlighting that it would send the wrong message to
abandon it while Bulgaria is trying to increase its efforts
against pirates. Both Popova and Danchev were receptive to
our arguments, but suggested that we will have to engage
directly with the Ministry of Economy, the lead agency on EU
treaty compliance. We agreed that Popova will relay our
points to the Ministry of Economy, and we will follow up with
the Ministry of Economy's expert to drive home our arguments
and seek clarification on legal incompatibilities between the
BTA and IPR agreements and EU law.
BEYRLE