100 posts
CEZ condemns critical journalist to freeze in the dark
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The good news is that the critical journalist is still alive, I spoke to him yesterday. But the bad news is that his life is in danger, as my 68-year old colleague who has cancer lives without electricity in an apartment in Sofia when the only source...
Bulgaria had spent 27,48% of EU Structural & Cohesion Funds by 30 September 2012
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Source: www.eufunds.bg Tags: BulgariaAbsorption ratesAttachment: Absorption Rates Bulgaria_September_2012.pdfCountries_2: BulgariaTopics_2: Absorption Rates...
A Shore Never Reached – Bulgarian Integration Policies since MIPEX III
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By Zvezda Vankova, researcher at the Open Society Institute Sofia, MIPEX national partner for Bulgaria** Two years after Bulgaria has been assessed with the MIPEX for the first time, positive developments are registered only in two areas regulated by...
Bulgaria: “Are You a Terrorist?”
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Bulgarian NGO “Forum for Arab Culture” tweeted [bg] a photo of the “Are you a terrorist?” quiz that appeared in the national daily “24 chasa,” asking if it was right for a newspaper to publish materials like this.
Bulgaria butts into Scots booze plans
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MINIMUM pricing plans for booze have come under fire from the Bulgarian Government. The 50p minimum unit price for alcohol was passed by MSPs in Holyrood earlier this year. But the Bulgarian Government has objected to the European Commission about th...
Bulgaria: Sofia, “Past&Present”
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To celebrate the Day of the Bulgarian capital Sofia on Sept. 17, Alexander Nikolov posted a photo project called Past&Present. Each photo in this project combines an old and a new image of selected locations in the city. Written by Ruslan Trad &...
Hard times, hard cash
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On August 31st Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission took the metro to European Union: a stop on Sofia’s new metro line, which he had come to inaugurate with Boiko Borisov, the Bulgarian prime minister. As EU funds had paid...
Bulgaria Shrugs Off the Euro
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In early September 2012, Reuters reported that Bulgaria had “abandoned plans to adopt the single currency in response to deteriorating economic conditions and rising uncertainty over the prospects of the European Union. Finance Minister Simeon Djan...
Bulgaria: Independent Journalists Demand EU Intervention
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A group of Bulgarian NGOs and individual journalists issued an open letter [bg, en] to Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission, asking for a public meeting because “the situation of the media in Bulgaria is a threat not only for...
Bulgaria Shelves Plans to Join Ailing Euro Bloc
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Bulgaria, the European Union's poorest member state and a rare fiscal bright spot for the bloc, has indefinitely frozen long-held plans to adopt the common currency, marking the latest fiscally prudent country to cool its enthusiasm for the embattled...
Bulgaria: Syrian and Iraqi Refugees on Hunger Strike
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Bulgarian newspaper Dnevnik reports [bg] that 25 asylum seekers (21 Syrians and four Iraqis) went on hunger strike to protest the slowness of the asylum-granting procedures at the detention center for foreigners in the Bulgarian village of Lyubimets.
Bulgaria: Don't Dismantle the Train Services!
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Bulgarian blog “Работнически глас” (Worker's Voice) publishes [bg] a few photographs of a protest on Sofia's Central Railway Station. Held on August 9, this flashmob gathered around 100 people who chained a “...
Bulgaria: Thousands of Trial Records Go Open
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The Bulgarian section of the Open Knowledge Foundation announced [bg] the release of 580,049 court decisions and 607,656 additional documents, including motives. Although all those are already publicly accessible in the courts and some of them are br...
Is the EU losing Bulgaria and Romania?
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When you’re in an air balloon and it looses altitude, you have to dump some ballast. Or when your boat risks capsizing, you throw in the sea whatever is at hand and is not essential. The EU has enough problems handling the eurozone crisis. The euro...
EU: Bulgaria and Romania fail the corruption test again
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Over the past months, the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union (EU), has been exasperated with Bulgaria’s failure to put corrupt senior officials and crime bosses behind bars. Meanwhile in neighbouring Romania, trouble has...
Bulgaria: Security Services “Do Not Serve the Public”
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Maya M of Maya's Corner comments on today's deadly bus explosion in the Bulgarian city of Burgas: “[…] While I understand that even the best intelligence can overlook the preparation of a terror act, I am angry, because our “...
Bulgaria: “When You Sack the Person of the Year…”
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On July 12, the Bulgarian Supreme Judicial Council dismissed Judge Todorova, the head of the biggest and most powerful union and the winner of the "Person of the Year" prize by the human rights watchdog the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee. Todorova's sa...
Bulgaria: How to Become a Prostitute in 1888
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The blog “Живот Мой” (”My Life”) published [bg] the 1888 local legislation on how to become a prostitute in the Black Sea coastal city of Varna. The bill contains the requirements for women willing to become prostitute...
Bulgaria: Budget Expenses in Open Access
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On July 3, the Bulgarian government voted [bg] for a national roadmap compliant with the Open Government Partnership Initiative requirements. As an integral part of this action plan, the Ministry of Finances launched its transparency plan [bg] and st...
Absorption rates Bulgaria - May
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Tags: BulgariaAbsorption ratesAttachment: Bulgaria absorption rate_ May 2012.pdfCountries_2: BulgariaTopics_2: Absorption Rates...
"Youth Unemployment Trends in Bulgaria" by Yordan Dimitrov
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This is a brief presentation of the latest developments of youth unemployment in Bulgaria. It aims to address whether or not the recent trends are a continuation of the impacts of the economic crisis on youth participation in labour markets. The only...
Bulgarian documentary “Goryani” (2011) reveals Bulgarians’ resistance against communism
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At the end of 2011 Andrey Kovatchev, Vice-chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament and Member of the Reconciliation of European Histories Group, supported the distribution of th...
Russia behind shale gas protests in Bulgaria
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Today Bulgarians have witnessed concrete examples of Gazprom´s - and probably also the Russian intelligence service´s - efforts to prevent the American-led shale gas revolution from reaching Europe: Approximately 1,000 people have gather...
A Schengen plan for Bulgaria and Romania
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Later this week the European Commission will put forward its plan to reform the passport-free Schengen area, as we detailed in our paper edition some weeks ago, and again today. But its proposals won’t address what to do about Bulgaria …Conti...
Bulgaria to enshrine satrapy
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Euractive are flagging up (thanks vihargg) a turning point for Bulgaria as a nation.EU newcomer Bulgaria became the first country to try to adopt internally a series of measures emulating the EU 'Competitiveness Pact' proposed by France and Germany,...
The (Un)Importance of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism
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The new set of reports under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) for Bulgaria and Romania were published by the Commission. The mechanism is used by the Commission to monitor the progress of both countries in the fields of judicial ̷...
Romania and Bulgaria, the R&B countries
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We were already familiar with PIGS, that is, the faltering and overspending Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. Now here is a new acronym. People from the inner circle of Former Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn say he used to call Romania and Bulgar...
Schengen Wars
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After France and Germany sent a letter to the EU opposing the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen zone (a decision each Schengen member state has a veto on), Romania has hit back with suggestions that it will delay Croatian accession (o...
What is Going on in Bulgaria, Really?
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Taped conversations, published by a Bulgarian newspaper, allegedly expose a cover-up of smuggling schemes by the Bulgarian Minister of the Interior, Tzvetan Tzvetanov. The full transcripts of the tapes reveal pressure on part of Tsvetanov on Customs...
The State of the Media in Europe: Hungary and Bulgaria
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An update on the state of the media in Europe with a special focus on the cases of Hungary and Bulgaria No related posts.
Why they're cheering for Dilma in Sofia
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Bulgaria celebrates the election of Brazil's new president...
The Shape of Bulgarian Things to Come
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As the IMF say in their most recent staff report on the country, the aftermath of the recent severe economic crisis leaves us with the question as to whether potential output growth in Bulgaria in the years to come is going to be markedly lower than...
On the Conflict between the Bulgarian Government and the Bulgarian Judiciary
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A lot can and should be said on the problems of the Bulgarian judiciary system. But the recent attacks by the Bulgarian government against the Bulgarian courts in particular may prove to be really harmful. The courts have a very … Continue read...
Bulgarian Blog Version Now Functional
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The Bulgarian version of the European Union Law blog was suspended by WordPress for a little over 24h. Now the blog functions normally. I apologize for any inconvenience. I still haven’t understood what was the reason for its suspension.
Bulgarian Blog Version Suspended // Българската версия на блога е спряна
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The Bulgarian version of European Union Law blog has been suspended by WordPress yesterday. I still do not know why this was done. I will get back to you when I receive any information from the WordPress support team. Българската … C...
The Bulgarian Problem of the European Union
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The European Union has a big problem with Bulgaria, and may not know it. Here is why. The purpose of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) is to investigate the ways in which young people are prepared to undertake their roles...
In praise of Bulgarian journalists
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Last month it was revealed, that the daughter and the wife of the responsible Bulgarian minister at the time were amongst the top-recipients of EU farmsubsidies. Subsidies that were administrated by the very same minister. €700.000 to the daughter...
Bulgaria – the Poorest EU Member State
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This is not hot news, but in case you had doubts – Bulgaria IS the poorest country in the European Union, based on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per inhabitant expressed in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS). We’re poorer than Croatia, Montenegro an...
There is something splendidly 18th Century about this
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Rhineland-Palatinate Minister President forecasts rise in German investments in BulgariaThough I suspect he is just being nice. I cannot imagine that there will be too much of this going on in the near future. It appears it is not just the UK that se...
Bulgaria: Rule of Law or a Police State?
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There is an interesting article by Vesslein Zhelev in WAZ.EUobserver.com talking about the present state of Bulgarian democracy. It is probably one-sided, but asks important questions.
Bulgarian Energy Policy: Tilting Toward National Interest
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SOFIA — Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov announced last Friday that his government cancelled the Burgas–Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project and suspended the Belene nuclear power plant construction. That statement was linked by local a...
Dreadful populism
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The Maltese EU| Commissioner John Dalli is all hot and bothered at the intrangisant attitude of the Bulgarians,“It is a pity that the Bulgarian cabinet has taken such a decision, being apparently driven by populist reasons. I personally would have...
EMU convergence programme Bulgaria
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On 26 April 2010 the Council examined the updated convergence programme of Bulgaria, which covers the period 2009 to 2012: COUNCIL OPINION on the updated convergence programme of Bulgaria, 2009-2012; published OJEU 27.5.2010 C 137/12. The Council o...
The nicest Bulgarian holiday – 24 May
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Congratulations to all the Bulgarians for the Bulgarian Education and Culture, and Slavic Script Day! On this day, I was among my compatriots in Brussels to celebrate this most beautiful of our Bulgarian holidays. I had the honour to hand the diplo...
New Bulgarian Special Criminal Court?
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There are news that the government is planning to introduce new, specialized courts for money laundering, kidnapping, human trafficking, organized criminal groups, EU funds fraud. So far, so good. But the government introduced its plans to a very sma...
A Snapshot of Human Rights Protection in Bulgaria
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The US State Department has issued its 2009 Human Rights Report. The section about Bulgaria has some interesting findings. The report reviews the performance of Bulgaria in various human rights categories. The main conclusions are that there were pro...
No Cancer Drugs for Bulgarian Kids
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I became recently aware of a really worrying problem: it appears that the Bulgarian National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has stopped the delivery of some drugs against cancer for children under 18 years. Let me repeat: we don’t deliver some drugs...
Bulgarian Government Skeptical on South Stream Project
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Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller held talks in Sofia on February 16 “to activate work on the South Stream project in Bulgaria”. Bulgaria is the country most pivotal to South Stream. The pipeline is planned to run from Russia across the Black Se...
On the Benchmarks for Reform and Bulgarian Organized Crime
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There is an ongoing crackdown on organized crime in Bulgaria. This should be good news. But the prosecution will have to prove allegations in court. The benchmark is judgments with res judicata. There’s also the Bulgarian Supreme Judicial Counc...
Jeleva quits
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Breaking news! (to me, at least) NYTimes.com Bulgarian Drops Candidacy for European Commission (January 19,...
Few whiffs of Bulgarian doo-doo as Barroso forms new Commission
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There are some who say the forced withdrawal of Rumiana Jeleva as Bulgaria’s candidate for the European Commission on Tuesday was a blow to Commission president José Manuel Barroso. After all, didn’t Barroso make public a letter in s...
So Minister Jeleva is gone
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It seemed so boring... Dozens of Commissioners appeared in front of the parliamentary committees and were repeating nice briefings prepared by the Commission staff. Some had even some charisma: I mean Mr Oettinger, Ms Hedegaard. But still after the n...
Kristalina Georgieva – the New Bulgarian Commissioner Designate?
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Rumiana Jeleva has withdrawn her candidature for commissioner on international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response. Kristalina Georgieva – a vice-president of the World Bank, may be the new commissioner designate. In any case the appr...
Bulgarian Commissioner-Designate Jeleva not right for the Job
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The European Parliament may be about to ask Barroso to reconsider one of the Commissioners-Designate. The Designate in question is the Bulgarian nominee, an EPP candidate from Bulgaria called Rumiana Jeleva. Her portfolio was to be International...
The Hearing of Rumiana Jeleva – the Facts
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Yesterday I observed with great care the hearing of commissioner designate Rumiana Jeleva in the Development Committee of the European Parliament (you can watch the record online here; a summary is available here). The hearing can be divided in two t...
Bulgarian Customs Explain Everything with EU Regulation
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There was a ripple of discontent in Bulgaria over a recent change in customs rules that requires to pay VAT for import of goods over 15 EUR. A Bulgarian journalist, Elenko Elenkov, described in an article how he had to wait for 4 hours at the Bulgari...
Approval Vote Can Be Postponed over Jeleva?
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Euractiv reports that according to a source in the group of the Alliance for the Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE) in the European Parliament has said that if Bulgarian commissioner designate Rumiana Jeleva were to seem problematic following th...
Bulgaria Retreats from Comments on Turkey
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In what has become a fashion, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has distanced himself from earlier comments by the minister for Bulgarians abroad, Bojidar Dimitrov. Dimitrov said that Bulgaria could block the accession negotiations with Turkey o...
Journalist’s Murder: Bulgaria Must Put Its House In Order
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Tuesday’s murder of Bobi Tsankov, a young Bulgarian journalist who wrote about his country’s over-mighty gangsters, took place in broad daylight in a crowded street in the centre of Sofia. As a statement about the power of organised c...
Bulgaria Blocks Turkish Accession over Compensation?
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EUobserver reports that Bojidar Dimitrov, minister without portfolio who runs the country’s Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, has said that “one of the three conditions of Turkey’s full membership of the EU is solving the problem of the rea...
Rumiana Jeleva vs Die Welt
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The German “Die Welt” says that that the current Bulgarian Foreign Minister and commissioner designate, Rumiana Jeleva, has made a staggering career but describes her husband as a member of the mafia. Mrs. Jeleva says that she will sue the newspa...
Déjà vu – the Bulgarian Idea for Referendum on Turkish News
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I am in a state of déjà vu – after the Swiss referendum on the ban of minarets, now we have an idea for a national referendum on whether to continue allowing the broadcast of Turkish language news on Bulgarian national television. Just as for the...
Bulgarian Plan for Restructuring of Steel Plant Failed
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The European Commission has found that the Bulgarian steel producer Kremikovtzi did not implement the business plan established for its restructuring, which had been agreed by the Commission in 2006 on the basis of a special steel protocol to the Eur...
Problems with the Hearings for Bulgarian Commissioner?
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Dnevnik reports that Joseph Daul has acknowledged that there will be “problems” during the hearings for the Bulgarian commissioner designate, Rumiana Jeleva. Daul has said that the EPP is in a difficult position due to the “gossips” about Jel...
The Bulgarian Interface for Abuse of Human Rights
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The Bulgarian Electronic Communications Act is about to be amended. The amendment will provide unlimited, direct access to the personal data of Bulgarian users of Internet and telecommunication services for the Ministry of Interior. This data will be...
Bulgaria: US, Russia Relations Revisited Via Pipeline Politics
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Having visited Washington and New York a couple of times in the last months Rumiana Jeleva, Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister and now Europe’s potential European Commission Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis...
