European Union

Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin has reiterated Bulgaria's support for the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Speaking Friday in Parliament, he noted that Bulgaria backed the efforts to find a peaceful solution of the crisis in compliance with the principles of international law.

BELGRADE - Young Serbian opera singer Tijana Djuricic will take part in the music and stage performance entitled Music Soul of Europa, which will be held at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa on Friday and include musicians from Italy, Poland and Russia.

Non-adherence to the law might lead Bulgaria to losing its voice within the EU, President Rosen Plevneliev said on Friday.

Speaking in Parliament, he reminded that a roadmap had already been approved by Brussels listing a set of conditions on which a member state could be deprived of its voting rights regarding EU decisions or, even worse, could be expelled from the union.

BELGRADE - Head of the EULEX mission in Kosovo Bernd Borchardt stated that there are no secret indictments against Serbs charged with war crimes committed in Kosovo.

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday in London to discuss the situation in Crimea.

The meeting will be a last attempt to bring the conflicting sides closer, ahead of Sunday's referendum on the future status of the autonomous Ukrainian peninsula, Euronews reports.

Romanian prosecutors on Thursday detained 10 people on suspicion of tax evasion and money laundering, by trafficking meat and animal products not fit for human consumption.

The suspects allegedly sold expired food, or meat mixed with other products in abattoirs, and then sold on the black market.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has announced that the European Parliament elections will be held on May 25.

Speaking Friday in Parliament, Plevneliev presented a summary of the results of a month of talks with the four political parties represented in Parliament.

Ukraine crisis significant for Chinese investment in Europe

Beijing has made clear that it wants to retain good relations with the new, pro-Western coalition government in Kiev.

(From left) BiH Prime Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta pose for a photo at a November summit in Bucharest. [AFP]

EU rejects Crimea-Kosovo comparisons

Threats of genocide spurred Kosovo's separation, but no such threat lies in Crimea.

Propaganda billboards in Crimea draw comparisons to Nazism to persuade voters to separate from Ukraine. [AFP]

BERLIN - Gregor Gysi, leader of the socialist left-wing political party The Left, said in the Bundestag on Thursday that NATO and the EU are partially responsible for the current situation in Ukraine because of the policy they pursued in previous years.