About: Bulgarian Presidency Archives

Finland’s Ville Itälä and Bulgaria’s Ivailo Kalfin were shortlisted by the European Parliament on Monday (16 April) for the post of the new Director-General of OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud office.

There could be no stronger incentive to overcome regional disputes and normalise relations than if the region would receive a clear message that all six countries will join the EU at the same time, writes Bekim Çollaku.

Russia is the undisputed master of engineering ‘frozen conflicts’ that prevent countries in its neighbourhood from building closer EU relations.

As Bulgaria prepares for a Western Balkan summit in May, seen by many as the centrepiece of its EU Council Presidency, Sofia has realised that not all its guests want to sit at the same table.

Three months of Bulgaria’s EU presidency have elapsed. So how is the bloc’s poorest member faring in its debut at the helm?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrives in the Bulgarian port city of Varna today (26 March) equipped with video footage that allegedly illustrates Ankara’s claim that EU countries host terrorists and do nothing to fight them.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has told his Bulgarian colleague Boyko Borissov in no uncertain terms that he has a problem with the Western Balkans summit in Sofia, scheduled for 17 May, and may not even come if Kosovo is participating.

Bulgaria’s foreign ministry told Turkey on Tuesday (13 March) that internationally agreed borders cannot be changed, reacting to a statement by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who said on Sunday the Bulgarian city of Kardzhali finds itself “in the spiritual boundaries of Turkey”.

The European Parliament debated on Monday (12 March) the problems facing a landmark convention on protecting women from violence, which several member states, including Bulgaria, have yet to ratify. But Bulgaria, the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, was notable in its absence.

Austria plans to use its upcoming presidency of the European Union this year to shift the bloc's focus from resettling refugees within the EU towards keeping further waves of migrants outside the bloc's external borders, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Friday (9 March).

Unusually low fuel prices in Bulgaria are probably the result of cartels, or contraband, Bozhidar Danev told EURACTIV.com in an exclusive interview, saying the authorities have  so far been unable or unwilling to address the issue.

The idea of "Efficiency First" is on the line in ongoing EU talks. Member states must realise that this is no mere slogan but a real necessity, write Jan Rosenow, Richard Cowart and Edith Bayer.

Ten days ago Macedonian PM Zoran Zaev went to Mutti Merkel to seek her support in trying to untangle the eternal name dispute with Greece, a mess that has for many years prevented his country from joining NATO and starting EU accession negotiations.

Current Europe-wide policies on renewable energy are not linked closely enough to rural development, according to a report by the European Court of Auditors, which took the Commission and member states to task for failing to take local needs into account.

An upcoming summit with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the Bulgarian city of Varna in March will be a "heavy experience", Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told journalists on Friday (23 February), ahead of the informal EU summit.

The European Union has been urged by its Bulgarian presidency to ease proposed new regulations on foreign banks within the block to bring them in line with US requirements, EU documents showed yesterday (22 February).

Cartoonist Hristo Komarnitski and his colleagues had no illusions: launching a satirical journal was always going to be tricky in Bulgaria, new holder of the EU presidency but also ranked as the bloc's worst press freedom violator.

Turkey's sentencing of five journalists to life for involvement in a failed 2016 coup shows that the country's judiciary cannot make independent decisions, the president of the Association of European Journalists said on Monday and urged the Council of Europe to take action.

In just one day, Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, has embroiled himself in a spat with the country's president, been offered Russian citizenship and seen some of his pet projects crumble before his eyes.

Serbia will need to accept the independence of Kosovo, its former province, in order to join the European Union, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel reiterated in Pristina late yesterday (14 February).

The presidents of the European Commission and Parliament have personally expressed support to Ska Keller, co-president of the GREEN/EFA group in the European Parliament, following her extraordinary and unpleasant experience in Bulgaria, the country that holds the rotating EU Presidency.

The next European elections will take place in May 2019 and pressure is building to change the electoral law, which has been the same since European elections were held for the first time in 1976.

EU diplomats expect Turkey to press the issue of visa liberalisation during the upcoming summit in Varna on 26 March. It is still unclear if this is a real priority for Ankara or just negotiating tactics as part of a bigger picture.

While Bulgaria hosted a forum on Eco-innovation for air quality this week, its citizens are denied the right to clean air. Bulgaria has some of the dirtiest in Europe, yet its citizens are not allowed to go to court and claim their right to clean air, warns Ugo Taddei.