2018 is going to be a big year for nature in Europe. Both the communication on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the legislative proposal for a reformed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are expected later in the year. The Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU could not have taken place at a more critical junctur.

The political discourse in Brussels and across Member States is buzzing with these hot topics - and the outcome of these debates will have a profound impact on all fields of policy, including environmental protection and nature financing. In this regard, the CAP is currently under pressure to better address the negative effects of agriculture on nature and biodiversity and there is the need to shift the CAP towards a more targeted and results based policy post 2020. This debate is the opportunity to ensure that the European Union going forward serves both people and nature.

4 June, 10:00-18:00, National Museum “Earth and Man”: in parallel to the Informal Council on Agriculture and the Meeting of the EU Nature directors, the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) and the association ‘Europe and we’, together with BirdLife Europe & Central Asia and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), are hosting a workshop on the current implementation and the future of the CAP and nature financing in Bulgaria.

‘Unity Makes Strength’: with the motto of the Bulgarian National Assembly now finding echo in the Bulgarian Presidency, we take a closer look at a country where almost a third of its biodiversity-rich territory is protected as Natura 2000 areas and ask - is the lesson here that ‘Unity in sustainability Makes Strength’? What lessons can be learnt from the current situation? How would new, alternative solutions affect Bulgarian nature and the farming community? What solutions do we need for the wider EU? Together with scientists, farmers, civil society and policy makers we want shed light on these questions.