Ministry of Justice

A total of 116 222 foreigners have received Bulgarian citizenship in the period between 2001 and May 2015. The information has been confirmed by the Ministry of Justice.

Out of them, 113 647 people have been granted citizenship on account of their origins. The total number of candidates for the same period was 185 447.

Bulgaria's Ministry of Justice has published its draft proposals to introduce changes to the judiciary.

Amendments put forward by Minister Hristo Ivanov include changes to the structure and organization of the Supreme Judicial Council (VSS), a top watchdog often labeled "the government of the judiciary".

The Government passed on Wednesday the bill on the establishment of the National Agency for the Management of Seized Assets, which will report to the Ministry of Justice.

Photo credit: (c) Liviu SOVA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Ireland became the first country in the world which voted (62.3% for) in a referendum which allows for same-sex marriage, turning its back to conservativism. Now the Greek Ministry of Justice is putting the final touches on the agreement of the law which allows same-sex couples to live together, while it also extends the rights of different-sex couples living together.

The German Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection, Heiko Maas, on the occasion of a meeting with his Romanian counterpart, Robert Cazanciuc, appreciated the activity of the Romanian Ministry of Justice of the last two years, appreciation he said he also expressed during his bilateral meetings with other counterparts, reads a release of the Ministry sent to AGERPRES.

The Ministry of Justice created a draft bill to abolish high-security prisons. The bill was passed in principle at Thursday's evening by the votes of the ruling Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) party and its junior coalition member, the Independent Greeks (ANEL). Those who voted against it were the main opposition conservative New Democracy (ND) and the socialist PASOK parties.

EU has "no new conditions for Serbia"

BELGRADE -- There are no new conditions for Serbia on its path towards the EU, the organization's representative in Serbia Michael Davenport has said.

The opening of the first chapter in the membership negotiations can be expected later this year, according to the head of the EU delegation in Belgrade.

The judges of Basic Courts in Kosovo have been on strike for three weeks now, with no sign that the government intends to meet their request for a pay hike.

"The funds to meet the demands of the judges have been set aside, so the deadlock is incomprehensible," Hamdi Ibrahimi, president of the Basic Court of Pristina, said.

BELGRADE - European Commission's (EC) Director General for Enlargement Christian Danielsson and Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic discussed alsinging standards in the field of justice in Belgrade on Wednesday.

Danielsson said that progress of the entire society was conditional on the quality of justice and the rule of law, according to a release from the Ministry of Justice.

Based to the bill by Ministry of Justice, maximum security prison of Domokos (type C) soon to be a thing of the past.

At the same time prison gates open up for Savvas Xiros who has been sentenced to life in prison for his participation in the terrorist organization 17 November and has a high disability rate (93%), due to injury when a bomb exploded in his hands.