Bulgaria Archives

3Nov

By SHOAHNo Comments

Bulgaria, Europe

Sofia Wants To Be Thessalonнki II but It Lacks Substance and Momentum

NOVANEWS Adelina Marini The Western Balkanswill be a central priority of the Bulgarian EU Council presidency, which starts on January 1st. This is both a very good and a very bad piece of news. Very good because this region is strategically very important for the Union. Very bad because the subject is too big a spoon for the Bulgarian mouth. The big event of 2018 will be the mega summit EU-Western Balkans in Sofia. On May 17, the leaders of the 28 EU member states and of the six Western Balkan countries will gather together in the Bulgarian capital. This was confirmed in the leaders' agenda which European Council President Donald Rusk (Poland, EPP) proposed at the autumn EU summit and was approved unanimously. The ambition of the Bulgarian presidency is the May summit to provide the reg...

1Jul

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Europe

Bulgarian PM Wants a Collective EU Membership in NATO

NOVANEWS Adelina Marini Integration in the Area of Defence - EU's Military Schengen? One of the most controversial topics on the agenda of the June 22-23 European Council is the deepening of defence cooperation, details on which you can read here. To Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borissov the most pragmatic solution would be collective EU membership in NATO as it will allow using the money available to all countries after determining who needs more aircraft, ships or land troops. For example, Bulgaria needs more ships because of the Black Sea, he told reporters before the start of the summer summit in Brussels. This way, he believes, it will come out much cheaper. Otherwise, there will be a new arms race and only Bulgaria will have to spend billions. "Keeping in mind that we all wa...

24Mar

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Bulgaria

The Bulgarian Paradox – How To Stay with Russia and EU in the Same Bed

NOVANEWS Adelina Marini There is something rotten in the European Union and you can feel it for some time now. This feeling led to a desire in some member states to break free from the handbrake that others are pulling on their development. The rottenness is felt the strongest in those countries, which are not quite sure what they are doing in the EU. Such a state is Bulgaria. In many respects it can be defined as pro-European, but that would be a rather simplistic definition. Bulgaria is among the countries where support for EU membership is among the highest, but it does not say enough about what really matters, so that the Union can move in harmony in one direction. It says nothing about values, geopolitical orientation, the rule of law. In recent years, Bulgaria has become one of t...

12Mar

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Bulgaria

Commission Monitoring Mechanism Will Remain for as Long as Necessary

NOVANEWS Adelina Marini Hristo Ivanov: The Cooperation and Verification Mechanism Must Be Upgraded! EC Transfers the Fight Against Corruption to the Victims Themselves A Croatian Perspective on the Bulgaria and Romania CVM Reports The EU Council of Ministers poured some cold water on all attempts of Bulgarian politicians at gaining the removal of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), through which the European Commission monitors the progress in creating an independent judiciary and the fight against corruption and organised crime. The conclusions adopted by ministers on Wednesday (8 March) state twice that the monitoring will remain not only until benchmarks are met, but until it is proved that the reform process is irreversible. Meanwhile, the European Commission obj...

5Mar

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Bulgaria

Hristo Ivanov: The Cooperation and Verification Mechanism Must Be Upgraded!

NOVANEWS Adelina Marini EC Transfers the Fight Against Corruption to the Victims Themselves A Croatian Perspective on the Bulgaria and Romania CVM Reports Boyko Borissov Hopes European Commission Will Lift Its Monitoring Next Year Some will say "Finally!", others - "They are late", and yet third ones will watch in disbelief, but ten years after its accession to the European Union Bulgaria finally has its first party, whose main task is fighting corruption. The party was founded at the beginning of the year, it is named "Da, Bulgaria" ("Yes, Bulgaria") and has the ambition to draw solid boundaries of corrupt behaviour, especially high-level corruption. The establishment of the party happened shortly before the publication of the regular report of the European Commission under the C...

14Nov

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Bulgaria

Euro-Atlanticist course fails in Bulgaria

NOVANEWS Katehon In Bulgaria, the country’s first direct elections in the second round of presidential elections were won by the candidate who has been called pro-Russian. General Rumen Radev won the overwhelming majority of votes. A former chief of the Bulgarian Air Force and the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party, General Rumen Radev emphasizes his independence from both Russia and the United States. Before the second round of the elections, he said: “Until recently, I was flying a Soviet-made fighter. I am a graduate of a US military academy, but I am a citizen of Bulgaria, and Bulgaria is my main priority.” Despite the fact that he is called the pro-Russian candidate due to his policy of lifting the anti-Russian sanctions, reality is different. Moreover, Radev supports h...

14Nov

By SHOAHNo Comments

Bulgaria, Europe

Bulgaria in Turmoil after PM Quits over New Pro-Russia President

NOVANEWS Dan Kitwood/Getty Images by BREITBART LONDON (AFP) – EU member Bulgaria faced an uncertain future on Monday after centre-right Prime Minister Boyko Borisov quit following the crushing defeat of his presidential nominee at the hands of a Moscow-friendly general backed by the Socialist opposition. Critics fear the surprise win could tilt ex-communist Bulgaria, which has long walked a tightrope between Moscow and Brussels, towards Russia’s orbit — a trend seen across eastern and central Europe amid rising euroscepticism. Nearby Moldova also looked set to elect a pro-Russian president on Sunday. “The results clearly show that the ruling coalition no longer holds the majority,” the premier, who was re-elected in 2014 for a second time, said on Sunday evening. “I apologise to ...