Ministerial Council

A new incentive and reward system for public sector employees was presented by the Interior Minister Niki Kerameus and Deputy Interior Minister Vivi Charalampogianni during the Ministerial Council meeting Monday. 

The government approved the composition of the Bulgarian delegation for the NATO Summit on July 11-12 in Vilnius. The delegation led by Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov includes Minister of Defense Todor Tagarev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tihomir Stoychev and Chief of Defense Admiral Emil Eftimov.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev (R) receives a folder with the names of ministers from prime ministerial candidate Nikolay Denkov in Sofia on June 5. EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

The move is likely to bring an end to two years of political turmoil which has seen five parliamentary elections held in Bulgaria.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Dec. 2 discussed bilateral relations and regional challenges with Russian top diplomat Sergey Lavrov in Stockholm.

In the meeting, our bilateral relations and regional developments including Syria, Libya, Ukraine and the Caucasus were discussed, according to a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry. 

People at an anti-government protest in front of the Council of Ministers in Sofia, July 10, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

The probe comes after the release of video footage dated July 10 2020, acquired from the cameras of the Ministerial Council, which has caused fresh concerns about unsanctioned police brutality during the 2020-2021 protests.

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias is on Friday scheduled to participate in the 27th Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The meeting will be held via video teleconferencing and Dendias will join it from the Cypriot capital of Nicosia, which he is due to visit.

Turkey on March 5 rejected recent decisions by the Arab League which contained unfounded allegations against the country.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said "Turkey completely rejects all baseless claims and decisions" taken at a Ministerial Council meeting held on March 4 in Cairo, Egypt.

Dacic and Lavrov are in Vienna, Austria today for the 24th OSCE Ministerial Council.

Tanjug reported that Dacic took the opportunity to speak with Lavrov for a few minutes before the start of the Council's plenary session.

The parliament of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) voted in principle the bill to expand the use of the Albanian language.

In favour of the bill voted 66 MPs (coming from the ruling Social Democratic Union/SDSM of Zoran Zaev and Ali Ahmeti’s DUI) while 41 MPs voted against (coming from VMRO-DPMNE’s main opposition party, Nikola Gruevski).

The Secretariat of the Energy Community has resumed the proceedings against Serbia over the agreement with Russia on natural gas deliveries.

The agreement did not comply with the competition acquis, and Serbia now has two months to correct the irregularities, Beta has reported, citing EurActive.