Bulgaria

Bulgaria's Transport Ministry will invest BGN 12 M in Port Burgas in 2015, according to Minister Ivaylo Moskovski.

Moskovski, as cited by Trud daily, made clear that the funding would be used to build a second module of the Burgas Marine Station and to rehabilitate the jetty.

Former Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski has described the suspension of the South Stream gas pipeline project as a loss to Europe, the region, and Bulgaria, stressing that his Cabinet is not to blame for that turn of events.

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Bulgaria's "Mom" Brussels and its "Dad" Washington had warned Bulgaria to suspend its funding if it allows South Stream on its soil, Russian news agency RIA wrote on Friday.

Bulgaria's Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski announced on Sunday Sofia is still waiting for an official notice saying the South Stream project is over.

Lukarski told Darik Radio it was not yet clear how much the country would lose if the project is really scrapped. In his words, Russian President Vladimir Putin's estimate of EUR 400 B is "an ephemeral number".

An unprecedented mechanism to oversee the way Bulgaria is spending funds on its army's modernization, NATO sources claim, quoted by a daily newspaper.

The alliance is now considering to make sure that Sofia will reach interoperability of the armed forces with those of other NATO members, Sega quotes the sources as saying.

DPS leader Lyutvi Mestan ha called on politicians to start a debate on whether and how to keep the recently-introduced preference-voting system in the national legislation preventing any risk of abuse.

Mestan heads Bulgaria's third-largest party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), dominated by ethnic Turks.

Veselin Vuchkov expects criticism over the weakened investigative capacity of the Interior Ministry in the upcoming progress report of the European Commission.

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The Mayor of the southeastern Bulgarian town of Elhovo, Petar Kirov, has urged locals to prepare for evacuation as the water level of the Tundzha River nears the critical level.

The water column exceeds 3.9 meters, the critical level being 4 meters, according to reports of the BGNES news agency.

Rosen Zhelyazkov, the sole defendant in the case for the illegal ballot papers discovered on the eve of the early elections on May 12, 2013, is likely to return to a post at Bulgaria's Council of Ministers.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Rumyana Bachvarova, as cited by the BGNES news agency, Zhelyazkov may work with Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

Neither a long-term gas transit contract nor a complete finance model could be found among the documents signed with Bulgaria on the South Stream project, the government says.

Its statement comes after Prime Minister Boyko Borisov was made familiar with the documents by Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova.