Expats

Bulgaria to Finally Ratify Disabled People Rights Convention [Dec 25, 2011] Bulgaria is finally set to ratify the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, a high-ranking MP has announced. "Bulgaria is about to ratify the Convention for the rights of disabled people at the beginning of 2012," MP Svetlana Angelova from the ruling center-right party GERB, a Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Labor and Social Policy Committee, said in Ruse Sunday, as cited by ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria MPs Urged to Ban Life Sentence without Parole [Apr 27, 2011] A proposal for the abolishment of the heaviest sentence in Bulgaria's Penal Code, life imprisonment without parole, has been tabled to parliament by a socialist. "The criminal is a human being and nobody has the right to deprive him of hope. Hope is the last to die," argues Lyuben Kornezov, MP from the Bulgarian Socialist Party, and cites the example set by thirteen EU member states, which have ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria to Turn EU's Poorest Region into 'Tax Paradise' [Apr 21, 2011] Bulgaria's Cabinet intends to take measures to encourage foreign direct investment in the northwestern part of the country, the Severozapaden region, which is the poorest EU region. Finance Minister Simoen Djankov will propose that the state lower the criteria for receiving a "Class A" investor status for companies in investing in Northwestern Bulgaria, MP from ruling party GERB Nikolay Kotsev ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Abstains from Blocking Ex-Communist Agents from Diplomatic Missions [Apr 06, 2011] With most of the attending MP abstaining from voting, the Bulgarian Parliament did not accept the rightist Blue Coalition's propositions to prohibit former communist State Security agents from working in diplomatic missions abroad. The first proposition, which concerned only diplomats, received 16 votes for, 20 against and 61 MP abstained. The second one, which all employees in diplomatic ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria's Ex-Interior Head Vows to Roast US Ambassador [Mar 09, 2011] Rumen Petkov, Bulgaria's controversial ex-Interior Minister has said he will send letters to the US Senate and Congress bashing US Ambassador to Bulgaria James Warlick. In the letters, Petkov, who is currently an MP from the leftist Bulgarian Socialist Party, will 'sketch some typical tendencies in US Ambassador James Warlick's behavior'. Petkov's war against Warlick was triggered at the end of ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Starts Plan to Extend Life of Kozloduy Nuclear Reactors [Mar 08, 2011] Bulgaria's government has initiated a formal plan to extend the life of the only two operational nuclear reactors in the country located in the Kozloduy NPP. "There is a plan for extending the life of Unit 5 and Unit 6 in Kozloduy," announced MP Martin Dimitrov from the rightist opposition Blue Coalition, who is the chair of the Parliamentary Committee on energy. Dimitrov revealed on Tuesday ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Moves to Slash Notorious Danube Bridge Fee [Feb 21, 2011] Bulgaria's government is taking steps to modify the levy for passing through the Danube Bridge linking Bulgaria's Ruse and Romania's Giurgiu. According MP Plamen Nunev from Bulgaria's ruling center-right party GERB, the Borisov Cabinet will include the issue of the Danube bridge passing fee in its weekly meeting agenda either this or next Wednesday. At present there is an EUR 12 fee per car for ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria FinMin Ignorant of Losses from Contraband [Feb 04, 2011] Bulgaria's Minister of Finance Simeon Djankov has admitted he has no exact figures regarding losses to the state budget from smuggling. When asked about that issue during question time in Parliament Friday by socialist MP Mihail Mikov, Djankov said that there is no statistics or official estimates about smuggling. "This makes for a lot of speculations among the public," stated the Minister of ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Istanbul-Based 'Bulturk' Blasts Bulgaria's Ethnic Turkish Party [Jan 18, 2011] Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish party DPS (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) and its leader Ahmed Dogan have been subjected to devastating criticism by Bulturk, the organization of Bulgarian Turkish expats living in Turkey. In a formal statement to the media, Ismail Erdem, deputy head of Bulturk, has slammed DPS and Dogan, voicing similar criticism as DPS MP Kasim Dal, who has resigned from the ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria's Ethnic Turkish Party Slams Resigning Dissenter as Provocateur [Jan 18, 2011] Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish party DPS (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) has accepted the resignation from its leadership of Kasim Dal, who is emerging as a major dissenter. Last week Dal, a MP who is formerly the right hand of DPS founder and leader Ahmed Dogan, declared he submitted his resignation and slammed Dogan accusing him of authoritarian control of the party, abandonment of its ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria to Gradually Up Excise on Raw Tobacco [Nov 07, 2010] Bulgaria will continue in a course of gradual raise in the excise of raw cut tobacco with state budget 2011, which previews a rate of BGN 130 per kg. This was revealed by ruling GERB party MP Dimitar Glavchev, who said that the Parliamentary Budget Committee has fully consulted all stakeholders in tobacco production when determining the rate at which the excise will be increasing. [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria's Ex Deputy Health Minister Said to Have Been Framed [Apr 20, 2010] Bulgaria's former Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev believes the bribery case against ex deputy health minister and a socialist MP is a setup. Ex Deputy Health Minister Emil Rainov and the former head of the Stanishev Cabinet, Veladin Bitolski were charged with bribery on Monday. [via YahooNews] More >>

Impeachment of Bulgaria's President Parvanov Fails (Novinite.com) [Mar 31, 2010] Bulgaria's ruling party GERB and its rightist allies have failed to muster enough MP votes to impeach President Georgi Parvanov. A total of 155 MPs voted in favor of Parvanov?s impeachment while 72 voted against in the first motion in Bulgaria?s history to impeach the acting head of state. [via YahooNews] More >>

Motion to Impeach Bulgaria President Stirs Public Opposition (Novinite.com) [Mar 30, 2010] Some 50 000 Bulgarians have signed petitions against the debated impeachment of Bulgaria's President Georgi Parvanov. The petitions were launched by the local bureaus of a National Initiative Committee chaired by Socialist Party MP Stefan Danailov. [via YahooNews] More >>

Ex Bulgaria Govt Sold Military Properties 'Way Below' Market Price (Novinite.com) [Mar 27, 2010] Bulgaria?s former socialist-led government sold 400 military properties close to the Black Sea for BGN 21 M, way below the market price, a GERB party MP reported Saturday. [via YahooNews] More >>

MP: Bulgaria's Former Govts Looted Army Property (Novinite.com) [Mar 26, 2010] Bulgaria?s former cabinets have committed gross abuses by selling large amounts of Defense Ministry property for scrap, alerted a ruling party MP. [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria GERB Moves Closer to President Impeachment (Novinite.com) [Mar 26, 2010] Bulgaria?s ruling center-right GERB party is expected to table to the parliament on Friday a sign up with MP signatures and motives for the impeachment of Socialist President, Georgi Parvanov. [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria GERB Launches Sign up for President Impeachment (Novinite.com) [Mar 19, 2010] Bulgaria?s ruling center-right GERB party has started to collect MP signatures for the impeachment of Socialist President, Georgi Parvanov. The motives for the demand for impeachment are expected to be announced later on Friday. [via YahooNews] More >>

MP Abadzhiev Nominated as Bulgaria Nabucco Representative (Novinite.com) [Mar 12, 2010] Ex RZS MP Dimitar Abadzhiev has reportedly been nominated to represent Bulgaria in the Nabucco Gas Pipeline International company. [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria President Scandal Turns into 'Foreign Policy Disaster' (Novinite.com) [Mar 11, 2010] The transcript scandal involving Bulgaria President Georgi Parvanov and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov, could grow in to a colossal foreign policy scandal, Blue Coalition MP Asen Agov says. [via YahooNews] More >>