Words of the ESC Vice President Bogomil Nikolov on the Council work during the year

Bogomil Nikolov has been a member of ESC for many years and since last year he is elected as Vice President as a representative of the third group. Mr. Nikolov is chairman of the Bulgarian National Association “Active Consumers”

– How would you summarize the work of ESC for the past 2021?
The last year was very difficult to keep working on for any representative and collective organizations as ESC, due to the pandemic COVID-19 and all the challenges that come with it. Among the members of ESC, we have lost forever respected colleagues, which is not easy to forget. Hopefully this year is going to be better, and we will return to normal working process.
– Which ESC initiatives would you define as the most significant for this period?
The most important issue that is ahead is related to the programming of EU funds through the Partnership Agreement for the period 2021-2027 and the Recovery and Resilience Plan for Bulgaria. These two are very important as it largely outlines the country’s development projects for the current decade. ESC is working very actively on these issues, and we should be pleased to note that several specific proposals made in the ESC’s opinions and resolutions were reflected in the final drafts.
– What do you think should be improved, so that the ESC’s initiatives are even more useful in deepening the dialogue and cooperation between organized civil society and the government?
ESC’s vast expertise should be used more actively by the main institutions as the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers, and the Presidency. It seems that the institutions still underestimate the potential of ESC and therefore rarely turn to us for opinions. The practice in the European Economic and Social Committee, as well as in many national councils, is quite different – most of the opinions are adopted at the request of the institutions.