Visiting institutions, meetings and a tour of Sofia have filled the program of the fourth working day of the participants in the International Summer Academy. Early in the morning young leaders from Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and Bulgaria had a meeting with the Deputy Chairperson of the Bulgarian parliament Ms. Tsveta Karayancheva. They learned more about the history and the activities of the legislative institution.

“By bringing together young leaders, we create our future,” said Mrs. Karayancheva and congratulated the Bulgarian School of Politics for the organization of the forum. “I am sure that today you will learn a lot of interesting things in the Bulgarian Parliament, you will get acquainted with the governmental structure of Bulgaria, the democratic principles that are enshrined in our legislation and you will be able to share them when you go back to your countries”, told the Deputy Chairperson of the Parliament to the Academy participants.
“We live in dynamic times, we have to make adequate decisions, so I think that the academies organized by the Bulgarian School of Politics will help for the development of the Euro-Mediterranean countries and the relations between young people and politicians from these countries”, added Karayancheva. According to her, the Mediterranean region is extremely dynamic and therefore opportunities to raise the level of good neighborhood talks and relations should be searched for. The Deputy Chairperson of the Parliament called for responding to aggression with education, to respect the different traditions and to proactively attract young people to the good side.
The young leaders asked the Deputy Chairperson of the National Assembly what the representation of young people in the Bulgarian politics and the National Assembly is, what is the role of women in politics, what are the challenges for women who want to be part of the political life in Bulgaria, if there are certain quotas for women’s participation in social and political life, etc. Members of Parliament Ms. Maria Ilieva and Ms. Asya Peeva participated in the conversation.The participants in the International Summer Academy met in the Parliament Mr. Tsvetan Tsvetanov and Mrs. Kornelia Ninova and were greeted by the parliamentary chairperson Mr. Dimitar Glavchev during the Friday plenary session.
The second stop of today’s working day was the Sofia Municipality, where the participants were personally greeted by the Mayor of Sofia Mrs. Yordanka Fandakova. Mrs. Fandakova spoke in front of the young political and civic leaders about the thousand-year history of the capital, shared about the most important modern projects such as the development of the metro and the green system in the city. The participants learned that in order for a mayor to be successful, first of all, they must have good management skills that Mrs. Fandakova has developed at the Bulgarian School of Politics.
End of the work schedule was put on Rakovska Str. where the Head of the European Commission Representation in Bulgaria Mr. Ognian Zlatev spoke to the Summer Academy participants about the current topics for Bulgaria and Europe. Young leaders have learned more about the priorities of the Troika of the Presidency of the Council of EU (Estonia, Bulgaria, Austria) that started last week. They also heard about Europe’s refugee crisis policies and the development of the different scenarios of the White Paper presented by Jean-Claude Juncker. The participants were impressed by the fact that the European Union is the largest donor of humanitarian aid in the world.
The day ended with a tour of Sofia, which acquainted the participants with emblematic buildings of the capital, their history and contemporary functions, and also showed them archaeological monuments from ancient Serdika.