Socialist Party

A BIRN Freedom of Information Request has revealed that Prime Minister Edi Rama on 29 September last year appointed his own former spokesperson, Endri Fuga, as head of the newly established Media and Information Agency, MIA. The appointment was not published and was disclosed only recently following the FOI request.

The Albanian Football Federation, FSHF, the country's football governing body, has accused Erion Veliaj, Socialist Party Mayor of Tirana, of using threats against board members ahead of a vote for the head of the Federation.

The leader of 'We continue the change', Kiril Petkov greets fans before the first session of the parliament in Sofia, December 3, 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

The vote put an end to an almost year-long political logjam in Bulgaria, which now sees its biggest political shift in more than a decade.

The CEC, which is tasked with auditing the reports, is still crunching the numbers from the last election, which returned the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama for an unprecedented third term in government.

But data from the financial reports seen by BIRN, compared with the going rate for political advertising on television, gives cause for suspicion.

Former pro-Russian president Igor Dodon quits as Socialist Party leader and flies to Moscow. Experts see his party's disintegration as unstoppable.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry said that state secretary Dan Neculaescu called on Ukraine on Friday to stop recognising Moldovan as a separate language from Romanian.

So far, three parties have officially adopted positions against the new anti-epidemic measures imposed by Health Minister Stoycho Katsarov and have even called on him to resign.

At the same time, mass outrage against him erupted on social media - both against the restriction of movement and visits to various sites, but also because the measures are too late and ineffective.

Albania's Special Court on Monday confirmed the decision by the Special Prosecution Against Organized Crime and Corruption, SPAK, on Friday to arrest the former General Director of Albanian Radio National Television, RTSH, Thoma Gëllçi, for abuse of duty over a tender worth about 708,000 euros.

Activists protest in Tirana against new laws targeting online media on 19 December 2019. Photo: LSA

After the Serbian investigative media outlet KRIK published confirmation of claims that Serbia's Finance Minister, Sinisa Mali, owned a portfolio of property in Bulgaria bought through secretive offshore companies, it has reported that the "Pandora Papers" also shed light on the hidden business activities of another Serbian minister - Novica Toncev, minister for developing poor municipalities.<