With Poland holding the current Presidency of the Council of the European Union, CSD and the Polish Embassy in Bulgaria organised a roundtable discussion on 28 April 2025, gathering EU ambassadors, diplomats and policy experts to explore strategies for strengthening Europe's security, competitiveness, and resilience amid the growing geopolitical uncertainty.
Ruslan Stefanov, Program Director at the Center for the Study of Democracy, and Maciej Szymanski, Ambassador of Poland to Bulgaria, highlighted the need for bold, cohesive reforms to reinforce Europe’s global standing and to protect the well-being of its citizens.
Dr. Jarosław Pietras, Associate at the Polish Centre for International Relations and former Secretary of State and Head of the Office of the Committee for European Integration of Poland, presented the report A Better Europe: Reforming the European Union – How to Revitalize the European Project that will contribute to debates during the upcoming EU Think Tank Forum in Warsaw. Building on previous landmark EU reform proposals, the study stresses the need for a more coherent and integrated approach to EU reform, focusing on four interconnected areas: geopolitics, enlargement, effectiveness, and deepening of the European project. Among the key proposals are the creation of a Covenant for Security among willing Member States and partners, the professionalisation of the European Commission by limiting political appointments, the establishment of a permanent rotational Council Presidency, and the wider use of flexibility mechanisms under the Lisbon Treaty. Further, the EU should simplify the acquis, introducing a European Paperwork Reduction Act, and put in place stronger institutional mechanisms to amplify the voices of smaller Member States and small and medium-sized enterprises.
During the discussion, CSD’s Rositsa Dzhekova, Director of the Democracy Shield Task Force and Martin Vladimirov, Director of the Geoeconomics Program, Kirsti Pohjankukka, Ambassador of Finland, Miguel Alonso Berrio, Ambassador of Spain, and Traicho Traikov, Mayor of Sofia’s Srеdets District, stressed the need for a rapid EU-wide response mechanism in coordination with NATO and national agencies, better public understanding of algorithmic manipulation, and regulatory measures to counter the malign use of artificial intelligence. In addition, efforts to decouple Europe from Russian malign influence must continue decisively, regardless of the trajectory of the war in Ukraine, as persistent weaknesses in sanctions enforcement and financial oversight continue to expose vulnerabilities across the Union.
Among the participants were Natasha Bergelj, Ambassador of Slovenia, Marcello Apicella, Ambassador of Italy, Antonia Bierbaumer, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Austria, Alexandru Dodan, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Embassy of Romania, and Dimitrios Michas, Head of the Office for Economic & Commercial Affairs at the Embassy of Greece.
