Bulgaria

President Rosen Plevneliev assured that Bulgaria will continue supporting the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Montenegro.

Plevneliev said this after his meeting with the President of Montenegro Filip Vujanovic in Sofia on Thursday, the website of the president informs.

Strenghtening banking supervision and evaluation of banks' assets are key to successful reform of Bulgaria's banking sector, a nominee for a new chief of the country's central bank has said.

According to Dimitar Radev, the collapse of Corporare Commercial Bank, or KTB, has shown that Bulgaria is lacking tools for the restructuring of banks.

Bulgaria should keep its currency board system until adopting the euro, and join the EU's Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) immediately after Bulgarian banks pass stress tests, a nominee for a new chief of the country's central bank said on Thursday.

Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev said on Thursday that nine of the country's nineteen MiG-29 fighter jets need repair.

Nenchev added that progress was being made towards the signing of the maintenance contract with Poland, where the engines are to be repaired.

Bulgaria's recently opened National Gallery Square 500 announced that it will admit visitors free of charge every second Thursday of the month.

The management of the gallery has declared every second Thursday as open doors day, when visitors will be able to admire the exhibitions for free.

The rhetoric exchanged between the executive, magistrates and prosecutors is sharpening amidst a debate on a judicial reform aimed at boosting the efficiency of the justice systems.

Between January and April, Bulgarian exports to the EU increased by 12.3 % compared to the same period in 2014.

According to preliminary estimates of the National Statistical Institute (NSI), which were released on Thursday, exports in this period amounted to BGN 9.3 B.

Romania and Croatia are two of the worst governed countries in Europe according to a new study by the Bertelsmann Stiftung's Sustainable Governance Indicators project.

The platform surveyed 41 European and OECD countries in six sectors: economic, social and environmental policies, quality of democracy, executive capacity and executive accountability.

The Bulgarian men's national football team dropped six positions in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, which was released on Thursday.

At present, Bulgaria occupies the 68th place with 489 points, being behind the team of Norway and ahead of the United Arab Emirates.

There have been no record of losses incurred on account of the Greek crisis, so there should be no excessive dramatism on the topic.

The statement was made by Bulgarian Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski, as he was asked on his expert opinion regarding the consequences to Bulgaria of a possible Grexit, BGNES reported.