Bulgarian Parliament

The Bulgarian parliament adopted at first reading on Thursday amendments to the Administration Act, which will make it compulsory for high-level state officials to hold higher education.

Bulgarian Prime Minister and leader of the largest ruling party GERB, Boyko Borisov, proposed on Monday to revoke a controversial draft ban on beach camping, which had been tentatively adopted by the Bulgarian parliament two weeks ago.

The Bulgarian parliament adopted at first reading on Thursday draft amendments to the Electoral Code, which pave the way for the introduction of compulsory voting.

The amendments were adopted with 121 MPs voting in favour, 27 being against and 21 lawmakers abstaining, daily Dnevnik informs.

The Bulgarian legislators have imposed an upper limit for the salary of the head of the country's financial regulator, making it equal to the wage of the Speaker of Parliament.

The Bulgarian parliament is expected to dissolve the recently established ad hoc committee of inquiry on allegations of Russian and Turkish interference in the internal affairs of Bulgaria.

This was stated by high-level sources within the main ruling party GERB for Standart daily.

Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev said on Sunday his institution will cancel some "less relevant" public procurement procedures to ensure a more efficient spending and transparency.

The Bulgarian parliament extended on Thursday the powers of the army, allowing it to guard the state borders.

The amendment to the Defence and Armed Forces Act was unanimously approved at second reading with 137 MPs voting in favour, daily Dnevnik informs.

Until now, the armed forces could only provide assistance, such as logistics, to the officials of the interior ministry.

The former speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament, Yordan Sokolov, died at the age of 83.

Sokolov served as the speaker of the 38th National Assembly between 1997 and 2001.

Prior to that, he was interior minister in the government of Filip Dimitrov between 1991 and 1992.

Sokolov was elected three times as an MP, namely in the 37th, 38th and 39th national assemblies.

Bulgaria's Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov has sent to Parliament the report of AlixPartners Services UK LLP report on tracking the assets of insolvent Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB).

An anonymous letter with unspecified death threats against Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has been received at the government headquarters in Sofia, public radio broadcaster BNR reported on Monday.

The unsigned enveleope contained a photograph of Borisov with a bullet attached to it, BNR said. The death threats were written in letters cut from a newspaper.