2024-07-19 01:42:50
On the first day of the tenth European Parliament in Strasbourg, BTA signed the eighth joint project with European Union (EU) institutions from 2021 until now. This was said by the general director of BTA, Kiril Valchev, who is in Strasbourg at the invitation of the European Parliament (EP).
He recalled that “Europe in the Balkans: Together through knowledge” is a continuation of the “Europe in the Balkans: Common Future” project that ended this summer, carried out by BTA as well as the new project with the support of the European Commission to present Bulgaria’s European cohesion policies and its neighbors in the Balkans.
“The new project will present the common knowledge and skills through which the peoples of Europe come together, as an emphasis will be placed not only on the funds received by Bulgaria and the other Balkan countries from the EU cohesion funds, but also on the Bulgarian contribution to Europe. This will also correspond with the idea of the new joint initiative of BTA, the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) and the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) “14 centuries of Bulgaria in Europe” to celebrate significant anniversaries in Bulgarian history that are of general importance for European history , forthcoming in the coming years until 2032, when 1,400 years will pass since the creation of the first Bulgarian state entity on European territory – Old Great Bulgaria in 632,” said the general director of BTA. The project is worth 269,712.76 euros.
Valchev noted that the renewed and expanded network of 40 national press clubs of BTA throughout Bulgaria, in neighboring countries of the Balkans and in regions with a Bulgarian presence abroad will be used for the events of the project. According to him, this is an opportunity for Bulgarians everywhere in the country, including in smaller cities, as well as Bulgarian communities around the world to join the common European conversations.
The General Director of BTA indicated that he used the invitation to attend the opening of the new European Parliament to talk to Bulgarian MEPs with an invitation to participate in the events of the project according to the possibilities in their program, as such an invitation with a schedule of events will be received by all Bulgarian MEPs .
“The project “Europe in the Balkans: Together through knowledge” is a step towards two of the strategic goals in the development program of BTA in the period 2021 – 2025. “The future of BTA – knowledge and freedom”, Valchev added.
He explained that the strategic goal “Knowledge” is aimed at providing BTA with a variety of real information from the world in Bulgaria and about Bulgaria in the world. “Media and knowledge” will be the theme of the next Twentieth World Meeting of Bulgarian Media, which is planned to be organized again by BTA and opened on May 24, 2025 in Sofia.
“The strategic goal of BTA “Svoboda” took an important step, after the 125th anniversary of its establishment, the national news agency of Bulgaria made access to its news completely free. In order to permanently guarantee freedom of speech, BTA limited the acceptance of additional funding only from organizations of which Bulgaria is a member such as the EU, as is the case with the contract signed by the agency on the first day in Strasbourg of the new European Parliament for the project “Europe of The Balkans: Together through knowledge,” said the Director General of BTA.
Under the project “Europe in the Balkans: Together through knowledge”, the implementation of which begins on November 1, 2024 and will end on September 30, 2025, communication activities are planned to popularize the contribution of the countries of the Balkan Peninsula to the development of the European Union. for the Cohesion Policy of the European Commission in all six regions in Bulgaria and the Balkans. There are 30 hybrid events in Bulgaria – in Sofia, Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Kazanlak, Kardzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Pleven, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Ruse, Samokov, Silistra, Sliven, Smolyan, Sofia, Stara Zagora, Targovishte, Haskovo, Shumen and Yambol.Also included are six cross-border conferences – in Belgrade, Bosilegrad, Bucharest , Edirne, Skopje and Thessaloniki; 3D mapping of the BTA building in Sofia on May 9, 2025, as well as an international conference. At least 70 articles, short videos, animations will be published infographics. A social media campaign is also planned.
BTA has so far implemented three European projects and participates in four others that are in the process of implementation.
In the period from November 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, with the support of the European Parliament (EP), BTA organized a series of discussions “Bulgarian Voices for Europe” with the aim of popularizing the Conference on the Future of Europe and promoting public debate on the topic. The initiative included 22 events, an online and social media campaign, as well as 30 press releases.The European funding for the project was 142,850.35 euros.
In addition, in partnership with the EP, BTA organizes training for young journalists from the national and regional media in Bulgaria on topics of European institutions with a focus on the European Parliament. The total duration of the program is four years – from December 13, 2022 to December 13, 2026, and the trainings are held twice a year. Their aim is to contribute to a better understanding of how the European Union (EU) works, the importance of the European Parliament, parliamentary democracy and the values it protects. The European funding for the project is EUR 158,000.00.
From November 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023, with the support of the European Commission (EC), BTA implemented the project “Europe in Bulgaria: Common Future” to promote the Cohesion Policy of the EC in all six planning regions in Bulgaria. The initiative included 30 hybrid events throughout Bulgaria, radio campaign, 30 articles in the press, 30 short videos, 60 animated infographics and a campaign on social networks.The topic of discussions were the innovations in the EU Cohesion Policy for the period 2021-2027 and the results achieved during the period 2014 -2020 European funding for the project was €273,292.27.
From November 1, 2023, the “Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future” project for the European cohesion policies of Bulgaria and its neighbors in the Balkans is being implemented. It includes 29 hybrid events throughout Bulgaria, six cross-border conferences – in Belgrade, Bosilegrad, Bucharest , Edirne, Skopje and Thessaloniki, and an international conference in Albena, Bulgaria. Within the initiative, 70 articles, videos, infographics and as many animated infographics as well as a social media campaign are planned is implemented with the support of the EC, is September 30, 2024. The European funding is 259,903.00 euros.
BTA is also a partner of the European News Room (ENR) initiative. The leading partner of the project is dpa – the German news agency.
In the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023, the project included the opening of a common editorial office of 16 news agencies in Brussels, the creation of a common information platform and of EU-related news, daily information related to EU activity, training of fact-checking journalists. The project is financed by the European Commission with 1.76 million euros and aims to support the fight against disinformation, as well as the general efforts for a diverse news view of Europe. Since the beginning of cooperation in the project are: AFP (France), ANSA (Italy), ADJERPRESS (Romania), APA (Austria), ATA (Albania), BELGA (Belgium), BTA (Bulgaria), DPA (Germany), EFE and EUROPA PRESS (both from Spain), FENA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), HINA (Croatia), MIA (North Macedonia), STA (Slovenia), TANYUG (Serbia) and TASR (Slovakia).
Within the next two years – from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2025, the second stage of the project envisages the maintenance of the common editorial office created in the previous period of already 23 information agencies in Brussels, the integration of artificial intelligence into the created common information platform , creating EU-related news, daily information related to EU activities. The new participants are ANA-MPA (Greece), ANP (Netherlands), CTK (Czech Republic), PAP (Poland), LUZA (Portugal), RITSAU (Denmark) and TT (Sweden).
The European newsroom is located in two places in Brussels – near the headquarters of the European institutions and in the building of the Belga news agency. A total of 45 workstations are available for correspondents of participating agencies. The agencies DPA, ANSA, ADJERPRESS, HINA, STA and TT form the management board of the project. The Ukrainian agency UKRINFORM is part of the European Newsroom as part of the Partnership for Solidarity.
The European Newsroom is funded by the European Commission. The BTA budget for the first period of the implementation of the European News Room project was 77,040.00 euros, and for the second it was 82,925.00 euros.
From December 14, 2021, BTA is a partner of the European Commission’s initiative to create more beautiful, sustainable and inclusive forms of living together “New European Bauhaus”. The agency is working on several projects that will transform the central office, located in one of the most polluted places in Sofia, near Orlov Most. One of the main tasks of the agency is to make the BTA building energy efficient by reducing the consumption of electricity and heat energy by introducing energy efficiency measures and building facilities for the production of electricity from renewable sources.
After Bulgaria’s entry into the EU, BTA reinstated a permanent correspondent in Brussels, who has been Nikolay Zhelyazkov since 2011. Before him, the correspondent was Atanas Matev, who was also the first correspondent of the agency in the 1980s. From the beginning of the 90s of the 20th century, when the correspondent was Hristo Petrov, until the entry of Bulgaria into the EU, BTA did not have a permanent correspondent in Brussels.
BTA covers the opening and the first session of the new EP with five special envoys in Strasbourg – Iva Toncheva, Ivan Lazarov, Nikolay Zhelyazkov, Martina Gancheva and Petra Kurteva, whose materials can be used freely by all media with reference to BTA.