The European Union will approve today 2004 as an indicative date to conclude the pre-accession talks with Bulgaria. This is what the country's Euro-integration Minister Meglena Kuneva said in an interview for Bulgarian Info radio.
Bulgaria has insisted to get such a date in spite of the fact that no EU applicant has ever had a firm schedule for the end of the negotiations. Sofia aims to close the talks before the bloc hammers out its 2007-2013 financial framework. Bulgaria wants independent financing arrangements so that it can negotiate further on the European funds it will get over the pre-accession period.
Bulgaria has outlined the talks-end-date as one of its main goals for the EU summit in Tessalonica. The country's top statesmen including Euro-integration Minister Meglena Kuneva left Friday morning for Greece to take part in the grand event.