"Fatherland, how beautiful you are, how wonderfully infinite your blue sky is." With this quote from the Patriarch of Bulgarian literature Ivan Vazov, in clear Bulgarian language,President  European Council President Donald Tusk addressed the guests to the Ivan Vazov National Theater during the ceremony marking the official start of the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council.

As President of the European Council and as a Polish, I understand how much strength and determination European successes cost your homeland. Nobody has given you anything for free at all. You are the creators of these "new, newer beauties," Tusk continued in Bulgarian.

It is good that one of the priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency is the Western Balkans, Tusk said. According to him, the history of the Balkans was more dramatic and more interesting than "Game of Thrones."

According to him, people in the region deserved stability, security and prosperity. Who, if not the descendants of Spartak, are the ones to achieve that. You have never lost a battle flag and I believe that your presidency will be as much effective for the EU as Hristo Stoichkov was for the World Cup a quarter of  a century ago, Tusk added.