Bulgaria

Bulgaria runs the risk of having just EUR 22 M under Operational Program Environment locked for 2014, compared to EUR 205 M in the previous year, the country's Environment Minister has said.

Ivelina Vasileva told reporters on Monday Sofia was putting in effort to speed up absorption procedures and to avoid all corrections.

The foreign direct investment (FDI) in Bulgaria in the period January - November 2014 are lagging behind with 20 % compared with the same period for 2013.

According to the preliminary data of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), FDI amounts to EUR 1.224 B for the period.

The investments increased during the first quarter of 2014, but dipped sharply in the second quarter.

SOFIA/BELGRADE - Serbian Armed Forces troops are participating in the Platinum Lion military exercise in Bulgaria alongside US, Bulgarian and Romanian colleagues.

The exercise, held from January 12 through 23 at the Novo Selo training range, involves 30 Serbian Armed Forces troops, as well as over 300 members of the US, Bulgarian and Romanian armed forces.

The forthcoming EU Commission report under the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification (CVM), will be more positive for Romania than for Bulgaria, European sources say.

Bucharest should expect a text suggesting improvement in 2014 compared to 2013, according to the information cited by Mediafax and Romania Insider.

Chairman of the State Agency for the Refugees Nikola Kazakov announced on Monday that two new centres for the accommodation of refugees will be built in southern Bulgaria.

Kazakov explained in an interview for the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) that an information campaign will be carried out in order to calm the citizens.

Bulgaria's No.1 male tennis player Grigor Dimitrov started successfully his participation in the first Grand Slam tournament for the year - the Australian Open on Monday.

In just over an hour Dimitrov defeated Dustin Brown from Germany with 6:2, 6:3, 6:2 in the first round of the men's singles competition in Melbourne, electronic daily Dnevnik reports.

Bulgaria's ruling coalition has merged parts of the executive and the legislature into a new body - the Council for development.

This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister for Coalition Policy and Public Administration Rumyana Bachvarova in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) on Sunday.

Bulgaria, a country playing a "central role in Europe's emerging energy picture", is becoming "the latest wishbone in the struggle between Moscow's efforts to to assert its energy dominance over Europe and the West's efforts to cage that gassy bear," according to Foreign Policy.

Britain's outgoing Ambassador to Sofia Jonathan Allen has praised Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov for having "a flair" despite not being a professional politician.

In his last interview before departing for the UK later this month, Allen has said Borisov is "a man with a difficult job, a unique man, a unique Prime Minister."

Fritz-Joly Joachin, a French citizen who was detained in Bulgaria this week while trying to make it into Turkey, said the terror act at Charlie Hebdo weekly's offices last week had caught him by surprise.