Italy's Ambassador to Bulgaria Gian Battista Campagnola was born in Rome. He graduated Political Sciences at the University of Rome. His diplomatic career began in 1982 at the State Protocol Office. Ambassador Campagnola has covered various diplomatic positions in Tokyo, Brussels, Miami, San Jose (Costa Rica), Belize. He has also been Head of Secretariat and co-ordinator of the economic activity of the Direction General of the Economic Affairs of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and worked as advisor for foreign affairs of the Minister of Foreign Trade and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Crafts. Ambassador Campagnola has also visited lecture at the "Brookings Institute" of Washington on Transatlantic questions, and guest speaker at the University of Miami and the Florida International University on Italian-USA relations. Before being nominated for Italy's Ambassador to Bulgaria, Gian Battista Campagnola was Head of the Department for Relations with the Parliament of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Ambassador Campagnola answered questions of Sofia News Agency Editor-in-Chief Milena Hristova *
Q: Do you see the timely accession of Bulgaria to the European Union as the end of a success story?
A: This is not the end, but the beginning of a success story. From this moment on the verb to be used will no longer be "adhere", but "integrate". Integration has always proved to be the most complex and important effort that a new state has to cope with. Bulgaria did its utmost to be as prepared as possible to this date. Nevertheless, just like Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and UK several years ago, Bulgaria has to start a dynamic process to implement all of Europe's rules and share its experience with Europe.
Q: How can Bulgaria silence those who doubt it is ready to join the block?
A: The European Commission decided on September 26 that Bulgaria can be welcomed into the block on January 1, 2007. This is a good indication that the minimum standards prerequisites were met. Is Bulgaria finished with this job? No! Bulgaria will knuckle down to it on January 2, 2007. I am sure that Bulgarians energetically and with determination will get through this dynamic process, which will be beneficial to Bulgaria, to Europe and to the people.
Q: Where do the main risks of failure and safeguard clauses lie?
A: I do not want to even think about it! Bulgaria managed to prove, mainly in the course of the last three years, that it is able to cope with a need every time it is requested or urged. When I say the country, I mean certainly the government, but mostly the parliament and the people.
I arrived in Sofia in May 2003 and on the following month became a rotative president of the European Union for Bulgaria. When Mr Verheugen requested Bulgaria to make constitutional amendments within two months, I thought it would be impossible. I was greatly surprised, just as Mr Verheugen was, that in the middle of September the parliament, whose session I personally attended, voted unanimously - all the 240 MPs present - in favour of the amendments. This is an indication that if the country believes in what it is doing, it can get it.
Q: Do you expect the Italian government to approve measures to curb jobseekers from Romania and Bulgaria after the two countries join the European Union in January? How would you justify that decision?
A: Italy's Vice-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Famiano Crucianelli and Interior Minister Giuliano Amato recently paid a visit to Bulgaria. The visit of President Amato, at the initiative of Interior Minister Rumen Petkov, came at a very delicate moment when Italy was deciding on its approach towards the movement of citizens from the newly acceded countries. He had already given some indication about Italy's approach towards the Bulgarian citizens. Italy does not see the presence of Bulgarians, numbering about 80,000-90,000, as a problem. There are bad exceptions, of course, but they exist everywhere. The majority of the Bulgarian community are very good, hard-working migrants, who are not only doing something for their own experience, but for the good of the country as well. Italy's position towards the Bulgarians is favourable. Of course this favourability may translate into a non-application or limited application.
The presence of Romanians in Italy is much larger and the matter in their case will probably be more complex. Yet I am an optimist and believe that we will have the best possibilities for both Bulgarians and Romanians.
Q: How would you comment the proposal the rapporteur for Bulgaria Geoffrey Van Orden for a delay in the decommissioning of the nuke units, due on January 1? What was the political message that the proposal sent? Could Bulgaria benefit from it even though it was rejected?
A: The matter is very complex. A diplomat is always accustomed to make his evaluation on political and diplomatic facts. The closure of the two units was a prerequisite for the start of the negotiations and in 1999 Bulgaria took an engagement to this effect. There were conflicting reports about the safety of the two units. I am not an expert, nor am I a technician. What I can do now is only look at the engagement that Bulgaria took and tell you that the safety design is a precondition that the two units did not meet. Yet I do not discard another approach, justified by an evaluation of the economical factors. But I would not comment further on that.
I applaud Bulgaria for keeping the engagement to close the units 3 and 4 despite the changes of governments. I applaud Bulgaria for the work that Kozloduy and the ministries have done in meeting all the requirements of the European Union for the transitional period.
Q: Do you think Bulgarian politicians did their best to spell out the impact of EU accession to the average Bulgarian?
A: This is a very important question about a very complex and difficult matter. It has to relate to different levels of people and culture - from the farmer to the diplomat. It is easy when one deals with politicians, diplomats, professors, but it is a different story when one has to explain the changes to less educated people. It was the same in Italy. We faced huge problems when we had to explain to farmers that the assistance should have been overtaken by diversifying cultures and products.
Did the Bulgarian government do enough? I am a witness of the process in the course of 2003-2005. I traveled a lot, together with Bulgarian politicians, and addressed audiences that were able to receive the matter - universities, chambers of commerce. What I told them was that the engagement starts on January 1, 2007. Certainly, the engagement will be diversified for the different sectors, professions or economical structures, but the real work starts now. People has to be educated about what are the good aspects and privileges that the accession to the European Union will bring, as well as the rules which this involves.
Q: Do you share the opinion that the European Union is "doomed" to continue its expansion?
A: Have you ever seen a body living without a heart? Some of the countries, which have to have the European perspective, represent the heart of Europe. Without them, Europe is dead. Europe went through difficult times over the last two years. The fifth enlargement, unfortunately, became a reality at the same time when certain factors of the so-called euro-skepticism affected the idea of Europe, e.g. the constitution, the referenda. I know that there were countries that had a balanced approach towards the fifth enlargement. At the same time more and more countries voiced the opinion that a sixth enlargement should be taken with very great precautions. I believe that two approaches are not contradictory. It would be inevitable that other countries have the European perspective. Italy's Prime Minister Romano Prodi made it clear at the latest European Council summit that his country wants to see the Western Balkans reach forms of agreement and forms of negotiations to pave the way to their accession. The euro-skeptics will not have political longevity because Europe means prosperity, peace and development. If we don't want to have problems within Europe, we should offer the European perspective to more countries.
* The interview was done before the decision of Italy's government to apply an one-year transitional period for the internal labour market access of Bulgarian and Romanian citizens
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Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)
