European Union

A general view of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. EPA/JULIEN WARNAND

A "notorious money launderer" who cleaned "the dirty money of the world's foremost criminals" was arrested late last month in Athens, Europol, the EU police agency, has announced.

The arrest, on 31 May, followed a long investigation by Dutch police into the activities of the underground banker, who operated in the Netherlands.

The candidate for Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov presented the structure and composition of his government to the Bulgarian deputies. In the beginning, he warned that the unusual formula of a cabinet with rotating prime ministers was selected because of the difficult situation in the country in an attempt to avoid another election. Among the priorities of his government, he indicated:

The European Commission announced today four criminal proceedings against Bulgaria in the areas of money laundering, the fight against fraud with EU funds, air quality and maritime safety.

Air quality

Brussels has decided to send a reasoned opinion to Bulgaria for failing to remove obstacles to access to justice in relation to air quality plans.

The common inflation in the Eurozone on an annual basis slowed sharply in May to 6.1% from 7% in April, preliminary data from Europe's official statistics agency Eurostat showed.

The biggest lawmaker group in the European Parliament on Wednesday walked out of negotiations on a landmark EU law to protect nature, dealing another blow to the contested proposal.

Spain takes over the helm of the rotating European Union Council Presidency on June 1. As a member of the EU since 1986, this is Spain's fifth EU Presidency.

The European Parliament will on Thursday question Hungary's ability to hold the rotating presidency of the 27-nation European Union next year, citing the country's problems with the rule of law, a draft parliamentary resolution showed.

"Heads of services do not coordinate with partner countries - there is no such legal requirement, nor such a practice". This was stated before the MPs by the chairman of the State Agency for National Security (SANS) Plamen Tonchev.

"Bulgaria is on the final stretch on the road to the Eurozone". This was stated by Iliya Lingorski from the BNB Board of Directors during a forum dedicated to the advantages for business and the economy of the adoption of the euro.