CAFÉ EUROPE - Negotiations as a schedule for reforms I

CAFÉ EUROPE Negotiations as a schedule for reforms Silvana Lyubenova and the free movement of goods Kristof Bender 19 January 2010 Silvana Lyubenova Photo: Courtesy of Silvana Lyubenova When, with a degree in computer science from Sofia University in her pocket, Silvana Lyubenova joined the Ministry of Industry in 1992, it was the only part of Bulgaria’s administration to have a unit devoted to Eu. [...] So if we could not manage to agree at the expert level, we went to the deputy minister level; and if the deputy ministers could not agree, then the ministers would need to talk, sometimes involving also the minister for European affairs or the chief negotiator … and then the job is finally done. [...] There was, for example, a ten year war between the ministry of health and the ministry of agriculture about who would have the leading role on food safety.” At the end of 2006, on the eve of Bulgaria’s EU accession (on 1 January 2007), Lyubenova counted all the directives and amending directives that needed to be implemented for the “free movement of goods” chapter. [...] It was difficult to convince them that they didn’t need to check the documents, that they didn’t need to approve the technical specifications of a product. [...] This is the main role of standards – to help the industry exchange products that are comparable.” Silvana Lyubenova is still head of the European Integration Department at the ministry of economy and energy (as the ministry is now called).