Bulgaria's Parliament has adopted at first reading amendments to the Energy Efficiency Act.
The amendments initiated by the government were passed Friday with 79 votes in favor, 3 against, and 14 abstainees, according to reports of the Focus news agency.
The amendments envisage drafting a national plan for increasing the number of nearly zero-energy buildings and the introduction of energy performance certificates of buildings and building components.
During the discussion of the bill,...
Code yellow has been declared for twenty three Bulgarian regions Sunday over the forecast for gusty winds.
The forecast has been issued by the Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, BAS.
Code yellow means potentially dangerous weather, where the forecast is not for unusual meteorological events, but requires people to exercise caution.
Only 5 regions – Vidin, Montana, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv and Smolyan are under code green.
The weather...
In addition to day and night prices of electric power, Bulgaria will introduce soon a seasonal tariff.
The new electric power fees are included in a draft decree of the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation, DKEVR.
The directive is one from a number of administrative acts from the Electricity and Gas Directives requested by the European Commission.
It was reported on January 24 that EC was referring Bulgaria, Estonia and the United Kingdom to the Court of Justice of...
budgets will always be accomplished as planned. Photo by BGNES
Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, admitted he came back to the homeland from the US because of PM, Boyko Borisov.
Speaking Sunday before TV7, Djankov stated that there were still plenty of unaccomplished tasks, but pledged he would quit his ministerial post in case Borisov does not get reelected in the summer of this year.
He commented he has been personally invited by Borisov to...
The Member of the Parliament from Bulgaria's ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, Vyara Petrova, is facing a hearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Conflict of Interests.
The news was reported Sunday by the Bulgarian Pressa (Press) daily.
There are three tipoffs against her, combined in one – conflict of interests committed by her husband, by a company owned by her mother, and the last one is a request for a probe in her activities, submitted...
The "A" sector of the emblematic football field "Georgi Asparuhov" in Sofia will be demolished in a controlled explosion Sunday afternoon.
Over 300 kilos of explosives will be used in the operation, which is scheduled for 4:30 pm.
The football field is used for the host games and training practices of one of the top football teams in Sofia and in Bulgaria – Football Club "Levski."
The explosion will take about 10 to 15 minutes, but there will be significant dust and debris....
A few dozens of Bulgarians came out on rallies in 4 major cities to request that Movement of Rights and Freedoms delegates who severely beat up the assaulter of former party leader Ahmed Dogan face justice.
In contrast, an online petition to the same effect has already gathered more than 10,000 signatures.
January 19, while long-time leader Dogan was delivering a speach at an MRF congress in Sofia, 25-year-old Oktay Enimehmedov walked on stage and pointed a hand gun right at the...
Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikolay Mladenov has held a string of bilateral meetings at the sides of the 49th Munich Security Conference he is taking part in Saturday.
In particular, Mladenov met his counterparts from Macedonia and Kosovo - Nikola Poposki and Enver Hoxhaj - as well as Montenegro's PM Milo Djukanovic.
The Balkan leaders discussed the situation in the region, including the processes of EU integration of countries from the Western Balkans.
Mladenov and...
The 22st edition of Bulgaria's largest and most impressive Kukeri event – the Surva Festival – kicked off in the western city of Pernik on Saturday.
Hundreds of kukeri, or mummers, practitioners of a beloved Bulgarian folklore tradition with roots from Ancient Thrace, have gathered for the weekend event.
Together with numerous international representatives of festival cultures around the globe, the participants of this year's Surva Festival amount to 6,100.
They will have...
Bulgarian customs officers have detained shipments of heroin and fake perfumes in a single truck, worth over BGN 1 M each.
The illegal goods were transported in a railway container carrying empty glass jars from Turkey to the Netherlands.
Upon an inspection at the Svilengrad checkpoint, officers found discrepancies in accounts about its destination and decided to inspect the container's contents.
They the jar holders were found to be masking the center of the container, where...
Bulgaria's Princess Kalina wants to gain Bulgarian citizenship, local media have announced.
Kalina met with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Justice Minister Diana Kovacheva on Friday.
The Bulgarian Princess is expected to join the Bulgarian national equestrian team.
41-year-old Kalina is the youngest of former Bulgarian King Simeon Saxe-Coburg and wife Margarita's five children, who were all born in exile in Spain.
Throughout her youth she cultivated a name for herself as...
By Neil Buckley and Theodor Troev
Ralitsa Behar from Sofia, Bulgaria, spent a happy four years studying at Edinburgh university.
But when she graduated, Ms Behar chose to return to her home country.
"I believe Bulgaria provides more opportunity for businesses," the 23-year-old wrote in an open letter to Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence party.
Angered by "inaccurate and offensive" remarks by Mr Farage on the BBC, she invited him to see Bulgaria for himself as a guest of...
From The Guardian
By Helena Smith
People in Bulgaria and Romania don't think British streets are paved in gold and would rather remain home, many say
This week, a young woman known as Ralitsa Behar wrote a letter on behalf of her fellow Bulgarians. Barely a thousand words long, the missive has taken her country by storm, being reproduced in national newspapers, winding its way through the internet and igniting debate that even its recipient, Nigel Farage, may have found hard to...
Israel is offering a stipend to the daughter of Mustafa Kyosev, the Bulgarian bus driver killed in the terror act in Burgas.
Salihe, 11, will receive assistance until she reaches majority, bTV informed Friday.
The bus bombing at the Burgas Sarafovo airport on July 18, 2012 killed a total of seven, including 5 Israeli tourists, their Bulgarian bus driver, and the perpetrator of the attack.
bTV aired a report where people close to the family of the late driver say his wife has not left...
Sofia residents and visitors can now use the subway parking lots free of charge with a personalized public transportation card.
The free period applies for the metro business hours – from 5 am until midnight. During the night, the fee is BGN 0.5 per hour.
The offer is effective already and applies to holders of personalized monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual cards. One vehicle per card is allowed.
Other public transportation cards or metro fare tickets allow free parking...
A controversial referendum on whether to build a new nuclear power plant in Bulgaria appears to have been invalidated by low turnout.
An exit poll put turnout at around 20% - far below the 60% required for the poll, which was called on the basis of an opposition petition.
The opposition Socialists want the centre-right government to reverse its decision not to build the plant.
The poll has been seen as a barometer for elections later this year.
It was also important as a measure of...
Bulgaria's new Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov will make his first visit to Brussels accompanied by Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov and Justice Minister Diana Kovacheva.
Tsatsarov will meet with EC Secretary-General Catherine Day and OLAF Director General Giovanni Kessler on January 29, according to the press office of Bulgaria's prosecuting authority.
Meanwhile, Tsvetanov will take part in a high-level international conference on countering violent extremism organized by Home...
Bulgaria's Education Minister, Sergey Ignatov, has resigned from the post.
Ignatov has submitted his resignation on the request of Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, the Cabinet's press office informs Monday.
The news broke just hours after the resignation of the manager of Bulgaria's embattled and scandal-ridden Scientific Research Fund, Hristo Petrov.
Petrov's resignation was also immediately accepted by Borisov.
The manager deposited his resignation after it emerged that a probe of...
Bulgaria's next referendum should be on an important environmental topic, according to Finance Minister Simeon Djankov.
In a Monday interview for Nova TV, he suggested that the next referendum could involve the statute of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.
Djankov informed that he had abstained from voting at the January 27 nuclear referendum because the issue required expert knowledge and could not be sold through a plebiscite.
He claimed that the only good thing about Sunday's referendum...
Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, is proposing to the Cabinet to dismiss from the post the Chairman of the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation, DKEVR, Angel Semerdzhiev.
The proposal is connected with the delay and lack of a number of administrative acts from the Electricity and Gas Directives, requested by the European Commission.
It was reported last Thursday that EC is referring Bulgaria, Estonia and the United Kingdom to the Court of Justice of the European Union...
Bulgaria Translation