European Parliament elections

Daniel Laurer will be one of the two candidates for Bulgaria's European Commissioner. The decision of Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov is for GERB-SDS to nominate a candidate as well.

So far, the coalition has not commented on who they will nominate. It is possible that they nominate Eva Maidel.

Eva Kaili, the MEP charged over her involvement in the Qatargate scandal, will not attend the plenary session of European Parliament in Strasbourg this week, for "personal, objective reasons which cannot be made public," her lawyers said in a statement on Monday. 

Greek MEP Eva Kaili, a suspect in connection with the "Qatargate" scandal, has been released from house arrest, AFP reported.

Today, May 9, is Europe Day - a celebration of the European Union, of the unity and peace of the Old Continent. It marks the date when French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman read the historic declaration of unification in Europe.

In the wake of allegations that she was involved in the so-called Qatargate kickback scandal, Greek MEP Eva Kaili is also being investigated for misappropriating European Parliament funds, Politico has reported.

Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon and her Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani committed to further cooperation between the two counties in the management of illegal migrations as they met in Ljubljana on 17 March. They said they were in agreement about the need for the issue to be addressed at the EU level.

Roberta Metsola achieved a number of firsts when she was elected president of the European Parliament a year ago.

She was the first person from Malta, the smallest European Union country, to hold the job; the first woman in 20 years; and, at 43, the youngest president in the Parliament's history.

The Bulgarian MEP Elena Yoncheva was unable to win the post of Vice-President of the European Parliament.

The MEP from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, Elena Yoncheva, is one of the candidates for the position of Vice President of the European Parliament, which until recently was held by Eva Kaili, Politico reports. The group will elect her deputy today at a closed meeting.

The main article of French daily Le Soir focuses on the Belgian MEP Marie Arena, in the investigation it is conducting on Qatargate. The MEP who belongs to the Socialist group has been in the press on other occasions for her possible involvement in the Qatargate scandal, however she is not included among the MEPs for whom the lifting of immunity was requested.