About: Bulgaria Archives

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s GERB party (EPP-affiliated) won the European elections on Sunday (26 May), despite a number of scandals in which it was involved in recent months.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who has governed the country with small interruptions for ten years, said on Wednesday (8 May) he will not resign following the European elections. According to opinion polls, Borissov’s GERB party (EPP-affiliated) may lose to his arch-rivals, the socialists.

Pope Francis urged Bulgarians to open their hearts and doors to refugees as he began a visit to the European Union's poorest country, where the main Orthodox Church snubbed holding joint prayers with the pontiff.

Vĕra Jourová, the EU Commissioner for justice, said on Friday (26 April) that the Juncker Commission will not lift the monitoring on Bulgaria under the so-called Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM).

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday (25 April) that he was in favour of renegotiating the internal-border-free Schengen area, even if the result would be a “Schengen space with less countries”.

In many countries, it is already possible to guess, with a good degree of certainty, who the next MEPs could be. All political forces have published their lists, and opinion polls give a snapshot into the balance of power in each country. What is more challenging, is to imagine future coalitions.

Reporters Without Borders published their flagship annual ‘World Press Freedom Index’ on Thursday (18 April), revealing that worldwide, authoritarian regimes continue to tighten their grip on the media, while in Europe, decline of press freedom goes hand in hand with …

Bulgarians will be able to cast their vote for a new pro-European and pro-reform force in the European elections: ‘Way to the young’, led by London-based lawyer Rumen Cholakov, who contributed this op-ed exclusively to EURACTIV.

The 960 inhabitants of the Bulgarian village of Brashten, nestled in the hills and forests on the Greek border, don't normally pay much heed to international politics.

Sergei Stanishev may be the leader of the Party of European Socialists (PES), but his authority in his home country Bulgaria is under pressure.

The future of Europe is a return to patriotism, Bulgarian MEP Angel Dzhambazki told a conference on the 'Future of Europe' in Sofia. Dzhambazki is expected to be the lead candidate of the Bulgarian nationalist VMRO party in the European elections in May. EURACTIV’s partner Dnevnik reports.

A recent meeting of government officials and big energy companies in Azerbaijan signalled ambitions about doubling the capacity of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), and of more European countries becoming clients.

Despite being one of the most beautiful countries in the European Union, despite having talented and educated people, despite a favourable tax environment, Bulgaria is likely to stay as the poorest in the EU, and to continue losing its population, writes Blaga Thavard.

Veselin Mareshki, a Bulgarian businessman and leader of the party ‘Volya’ (‘Will’), will lead the list of candidates for the European elections in May, for a new far-right coalition that hopes to join forces with France’s Marine Le Pen.

The European Commission will warn that schemes in EU states to sell citizenship or residence to wealthy individuals could help foreign organised crime groups infiltrate the bloc and increase the risk of money laundering, corruption and tax evasion.

European Union countries that undermine the bloc's democratic principles could lose EU funds, under a draft law backed by the European Parliament on Thursday (17 January).

Bulgaria's transport minister has claimed that Central and Western European countries want to push out Bulgarian transport businesses, demanding changes to a new package of EU rules that his government says will hurt the country's economy. EURACTIV’s partner Dnevnik reports.

Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev slammed on Sunday (6 January) the government of Boyko Borissov for having “perverted” the procedure for the acquisition of new fighter jets.

The yellow vests in France and Belgium may be only the tip of the iceberg of a major social upheaval ahead of the European elections, with a common denominator: people protesting their worsening living standards do not want to be represented by the existing political forces.

Bulgarian minister Temenuzhka Petkova has said her country preferred paying a multi-million euro fine rather than follow a Commission injunction. Such a reform, in her words, would have threatened the country's national security. EURACTIV checked the facts.

Three EU members voted against, five abstained and one didn’t vote during the formal ratification on Wednesday (19 December) in New York of the Global Compact on Migration.

The Commission imposed on Monday (17 December) a multi-million fine on Bulgaria’s BEH for blocking access to key natural gas infrastructure in the country. Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the fine could have been avoided, had Sofia decided to follow another negotiation strategy.

Bulgaria needs a plane capable not only of patrolling, but conducting combat operations and winning, and that means buying F-16s, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told journalists on Friday (14 December), adding that he didn’t want to influence an ongoing tender in the country.

The passports-for-bribes scam may look like an embarrassment for Bulgaria, but Prime Minister Boyko Borissov turned it around on Thursday (13 December), saying he had  received compliments for the way Bulgarian law enforcement had put an end to the practice.