Bulgaria

Bulgaria's state-owned National Electric Company (NEK) has reported a loss of BGN 425 M for the first nine months of 2014.

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The Sofia City Court acquitted Asen Genov and Tsvetelina Sarbinska, accused of hooliganism for painting the monument in front of the Bulgarian Socialist Party offices in Sofia last November.

Austria will support Bulgaria in its commitment to reform, the country's President Heinz Fischer made clear on Friday while meeting caretaker PM Georgi Bliznashki.

Austria's head of state arrived in Bulgaria on Thursday to mark the 135th anniversary since the two countries established diplomatic relations.

Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev is to hold consultations with the left-wing ABV and ultra-nationalist Ataka on Friday.

Under Bulgaria's Constitution, presidential consultations with all parliamentary parties are a prerequisite for handing to a Prime Minister candidate from the biggest party the mandate to form a government.

Conservative GERB and right-wing Reformist Bloc are ready to strike a coalition agreement after tripartite talks with the Patriotic Front at the National Assembly, leaders say.

The PF for its part is likely to support the alliance despite remaining out of it, the Bulgarian National Radio quoted GERB's negotiator Rumyana Bachvarova as saying.

The Producer Price Index on the domestic market increased by 0.2% on the month in September 2014, according to Bulgaria's National Statistical Institute (NSI).

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A meeting of conservative GERB, right-wing RB and nationalist PF, until recently tipped to form the next Bulgarian government, has begun in Parliament.

Bulgaria is to implement 5 energy projects worth over EUR 4 M with EU funding.

The EU funding will go to the design studies for the construction of the Bulgaria-Turkey gas grid interconnection, the construction of the Yadenitsa hydropower plant, and transmission lines from the Maritsa East 1 thermal power plant to different parts of the country.

Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov is to submit early in November demands that seven lawmakers who were sworn in this week be stripped of immunity.

Tsatsarov added Thursday he would also request the immunity of a MEP, the Bulgarian daily Sega reports.

The Chief prosecutors stopped short of giving names, provoking much speculation as to who the lawmakers are.

The efforts of Bulgaria's Interior Ministry have been aimed at countering human trafficking since the beginning of August, according to caretaker Interior Minister Yordan Bakalov.

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