Bulgarian President Rumen Radev is the current favourite to win a second term in the 14 November elections, conducted together with parliamentary elections. However, the problematic COVID-19 situation and discontent over the recently introduced Green certificate might influence the outcome.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has been using a range of different yet seemingly innocent means to achieve his political goals, both literally and figuratively, Serbian journalist Darko Čačić reports for EURACTIV Bulgaria.
A sanctioned Bulgarian businessman and media tycoon will run for parliament in the November elections on the slate of the predominantly ethnically Turkish “Movement of Rights and Freedoms” (DPS), whose leader Mustafa Karadaya is in the race for president.
Commission's First Vice President Frans Timmermans advised Bulgaria to phase out coal production and said the EU would help if it reactivates a previous nuclear power plant project. EURACTIV Bulgaria reports.
Amid growing state media capture and decreased journalistic freedom in the Western Balkans, a former chief of the BBC World Service said on Tuesday (12 October) he regrets the closure of the world’s largest international broadcaster in the region.
At the Western Balkans summit in Brdo, Slovenia, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev told North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev that the "subtle erasure" of Bulgarian identity in the neighbouring country must stop before Bulgaria lifts its veto on Skopje’s EU accession negotiations. EURACTIV Bulgaria reports.
Bulgaria has filed three appeals with the Court of Justice requesting a full or partial repeal of the EU legislation that has become known as the Mobility Package. The court cases pit Bulgaria against major EU countries, including France and Germany. EURACTIV Bulgaria reports.
The European Commission acknowledged for the first time on Thursday (16 September) that it had not done enough to help fight high-level corruption in Bulgaria. EURACTIV Bulgaria reports
Bulgarians head for the third parliamentary election for this year, hoping that this time a new political force could become the game-changer and break the political deadlock. EURACTIV Bulgaria reports.
Hungary, whose government has been at odds with Brussels for a long time, has emerged as a major pro-Serbian lobbyist within the EU and this special "illiberal" relationship was formalised on Wednesday (8 September), Serbian journalist Darko Čačić reports for EURACTIV Bulgaria.
Bulgaria will head to its third national election this year, after the Socialists became the third political party to refuse to lead a government following July's inconclusive parliamentary election.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has compared himself to Donald Trump as a politician victimized by Twitter, after the social media took the decision to tag many of the media organisations which support him as “pro-government”.
Membership of the EU remains Serbia’s strategic goal, as two thirds of its trade exchange is with the EU. However, Serbia has become increasingly close to China in recent years in a plethora of areas, writes Serbian journalist Darko Čačić.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić bases his power largely on media influence. In this respect, state-owned cable and broadband provider Telekom Srbija is used as a political weapon, writes Darko Čačić.
The EU has lost the battle for the Balkans, where Russia and China are offering bonuses without asking for reforms, geopolitical experts told an online conference organised by EURACTIV.bg this week, proposing increased cooperation and a Balkan common market as the best way forward.
TV showman Slavi Trifonov, whose party narrowly won Sunday’s snap general elections in Bulgaria, surprisingly proposed on Monday (12 July) a minority government led by a former minister in Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha's cabinet.
The anti-elite party “There is such a people”, founded by Bulgaria's popular TV showman Slavi Trifonov, is in pole position ahead of Sunday’s (11 July) snap parliamentary elections. EURACTIV Bulgaria reports.
Serbia's progress towards the EU should not be expected as long as Aleksandar Vučić is the most powerful politician in the country, writes Darko Čačić, in an article he submitted to EURACTIV Bulgaria.
In the two months before the 11 July parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, a series of corruption scandals have shed light on the country’s governance during the rule of Boyko Borissov’s GERB party. According to the latest polls, support for GERB is falling.
In Serbia, corruption is investigated only in rare cases when it suits the country’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, as the Krušik arms export scandal shows, writes Svetla Miteva.
Fish stocks in the Black Sea are dwindling and commercial fishing is causing more and more environmental damage, causing concern that has grabbed the attention of NGOs and EU lawmakers. EURACTIV Bulgaria reports.
The European Parliament is taking a close look at China's high-tech present to Serbia, a mass surveillance system that involves the installation of thousands of smart surveillance cameras equipped with facial recognition features, MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Greens/EFA, France) told EURACTIV in an interview.
United Group, a leading multi-play telecoms and media provider in South-East Europe, announced in April it was launching a daily newspaper in Serbia with a responsible editorial concept, to counter the bad situation with print media in the country. However, no printing house in Serbia has so far accepted to print the new daily, called Nova.
Bulgaria could take advantage of financing available under the EU Green Deal to solve the most pressing challenge the country is currently faced with – the demographic crisis. But is it really that simple? EURACTIV Bulgaria discussed the issue with leading economist Krassen Stanchev.
