#BULGARIA: Parliament Votes To Buy F16 Fighter Jets

[world politics news]

Bulgarian lawmakers have voted to approve the purchase of eight F-16C/D Block 70 fighter jets for the country’s Air Force. The forthcoming acquisition is to be worth close to $1.3 billion.

The National Assembly, the country’s unicameral parliament, approved the planned purchase by a majority of 162 votes, with 49 members voting against, and 11 abstentions.

The first of eight F16 aircraft that have already been ordered, are scheduled to arrive in 2025. This current order of eight aircraft will arrive in 2027. The two orders will replace outdated MiG aircraft from the Soviet era, which are being withdrawn from service in 2023.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#BULGARIA: Parliament Debates Aid For Ukraine

[world politics news]

Fierce debates over whether Bulgaria should send military aid to Ukraine have dominated the country’s new parliament, complicating future coalition talks.

The election winner, Boyko Borissov’s centrist GERB party, has met with President Radev in a live-streamed discussion where the two sides clashed over the topic. 

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#BULGARIA: Parliament Approves Military-Technical Aid To Ukraine, But No Direct Military Aid

[world politics news]

The Bulgarian parliament has passed a resolution to enable the government to provide necessary military-technical support to war-torn Ukraine.

The parliament also approved a plan that involves repairing Ukrainian heavy military equipment.

Despite this, proposals that included sending direct military aid to the embattled country did not win enough votes, Reuters reported.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#BULGARIA: Restaurants, Bars Threaten To Reopen After Months Closed Due To Pandemic

[world politics news] 

Owners of Bulgarian restaurants and nightclubs  – which were forced to close months ago because of the pandemic – have threatened the unauthorised openings of their businesses after police and health inspectors surprised a series of ‘illegal’ parties in restaurants.

“If within two weeks there is no decision about opening our sector, all establishments will open in one day and work from then on. We have nothing to lose. We will not wait any longer," the Bulgarian Association of Restaurants’ chairman stated.

But Health Minister Kostadin Angelov said the option to open restaurants was not on the table.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#BULGARIA: Gov't Angered By EU's Resolution Praising Anti-Gov't Protesters

[world politics news] 

Bulgaria's ruling coalition has reacted with irritation to a sharply worded European Parliament resolution adopted on October 8 that has cheered the street protesters demanding the government’s resignation.

The resolution cited high levels of corruption, deterioration in media freedoms and lack of diversity in media ownership, Bulgaria’s failure to ratify the so-called Istanbul convention on gender-based violence, or to prevent hate speech on sexual and gender grounds and against Roma people and asylum seekers.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#FRANCE: Pres. Macron Angers Ukraine, Bulgaria With "Insulting" Comments About Its Citizens Working In France; Prefers Africans

[world politics news]

French President Emmanuel Macron provoked a diplomatic scandal following a Nov. 4th interview with the media site “Valeurs actuelles" in which he seemed to insult Bulgarian and Ukrainian workers.

The government has been in a damage-control mode since then, answering to criticism both internally and externally.

"I prefer people who came from Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire [Ivory Coast] who are here and do the job (legally), rather than Bulgarian or Ukrainian trafficking networks," Macron said, triggering harsh reactions in Bulgaria and Ukraine.

Macron was referring to the fact that in France, it is allegedly difficult to find French people willing to wash dishes in restaurants. Many interpreted that France preferred immigrants from its former colonies, rather than from Europe.

After Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said the statement was “offensive," Bulgaria summoned the French ambassador to its capital, Sofia, to provide an explanation. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said Macron, “will find it hard to achieve EU leadership with such unmeasured comments."

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also summoned the French Ambassador in Kyiv. He reportedly explained that there were “no claims against citizens of Ukraine who travel to France” and that the President’s words were taken out of context.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#BULGARIA: Nation Is Close To Joining The Euro Common Currency

[world politics news]

Bulgaria, the European Union’s poorest country, has moved closer to adopting the European common currency, the Euro, after a meeting of Eurozone finance ministers in Brussels. The European Commission and the European Central Bank said an evaluation could be completed in “around a year." "The European Commission welcomes Bulgaria’s efforts to join the eurozone," Latvian Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice President of the European Commission told a news conference.

[FULL STORY HERE]

#BULGARIA: Nation Goes To The Polls In Second Round Of Voting

[world politics news]

Bulgarians vote Sunday to choose a new president in a contested runoff that has become a referendum on the fate of the country's center-right government. In the first round, Gen. Rumen Radev, 53, a former non-partisan chief of Bulgarian Air Force came in first with 25 percent of the vote and leads polls in the second round. The speaker of Parliament, Tsetska Tsacheva, a 58-year-old lawyer and member of Prime Minister Borisov's center-right party won 22 percent. For the first time, voting is compulsory.

#GREECE: PM Tsipras Seeks Closer Ties With Bulgaria After Turkish Coup Turmoil

[world politics news]

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will focus on energy, transport infrastructure and migration, as he seeks to strengthen ties with Bulgaria and stabilize south eastern Europe after the failed coup attempt in Turkey. Tsipras is visiting Sofia for the Greek-Bulgarian High-Level Cooperation Council, his first such visit since he took power. He and his ministers are meeting Bulgarian counterpart, Boyko Borissov, and the country’s President Rosen Plevneliev.

#BULGARIA: Second Round Of Court Reform Amendments Passed

[world politics news]

Bulgarian MPs have passed a second package of amendments to the country’s Judiciary Act, part of the judiciary reform process that started after the constitutional amendments passed last year. The amendments are meant to improve court self-governance, reducing the powers of the administrative heads of individual courts, as well as increasing the accountability and decentralization of the prosecutor’s office.

#BULGARIA: Socialist Plan To Lift Parliamentarian Travel Ban Fails

[world politics news]

Parliament has defeated, in a 49-39 vote, with 39 abstaining, a Socialist-backed plan to encourage the EU to lift a ban on elected leaders visiting Russia, as a result of the eastern Ukrainian conflict aided by Russian soldiers. The Leftist parties said the ban is counter-productive to negotiations and diplomacy.

#BULGARIA: It's Official: Bulgarians Are Now Required By Law To Vote

[world politics news]

Bulgarians will be required by law to vote in elections, after the National Assembly amended the Electoral Code to introduce mandatory voting. In a divisive vote which split several parties, 109 MP's voted for the measure, while 74 opposed. The leader of the opposition Movement for Rights and Freedoms, parliament's third-largest party, said it would oppose the new law in the nation's Constitutional Court, although it ironically might help the party's performance.

#BULGARIA: Party Leader Dumped After Supporting Turkey In Russia Plane Downing

[world politics news]

The leader of Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish party has been ousted from his post and expelled from the party after declaring support for Turkey in its row with Moscow over the downing of a Russian warplane. Lyutvi Mestan, who headed the opposition Movement for Rights and Freedoms Party which represents ethnic Turks, voiced support for Turkey's action last month. Bulgaria has traditionally strong ties with Russia.

#BULGARIA: Battered Socialist Gov't Resigns After Months of Crisis

[world politics news]

PM Plamen Oresharski has resigned.

#BULGARIA: Gov't Set to Fall, Call July Election Over Gazprom Pipeline

[world politics news]

BULGARIA: Gov't Resigns Amid Widespread Austerity Protests [world politics news]