Kristalina Georgieva

Bulgaria and Romania should not aspire to have the EU monitoring dropped, but should rather remove the reasons leading to its introduction, EU Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva has said.

The biggest event of last week for Turkey was, without question, the terror attack in Istanbul.

As long as measures are not taken following such an upsurge in attacks by various terror groups in Turkey, such attacks are regrettably unlikely to end soon.

A blast has been hear at a metro station close to EU institutions in Brussels, shortly after loud explosions at the Brussels airport of Zaventem.

Bulgaria is much more prepared than other countries to react in the event of a heightened migrant pressure on its borders.

This was stated by European Commission Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva in an interview for private NOVA TV on Thursday.

Georgieva reminded that Bulgaria was the first country to experience the migrant influx as a problem.

Giovanni Kessler, the head of EU anti-fraud authority OLAF, has had his immunity from prosecution lifted, EU authorities have confirmed.

He is to be inquired by Belgian authorities in relation to a lobbying scandal dating back to 2012 in which he is suspected of involvement for unlawfully recording a phone conversations.

Bulgaria could also benefit from the new financial instrument announced by the European Commission earlier this week, Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva said on Saturday.

Seeking to counter Irina Bokova, the Bulgarian government's official candidacy for UN chief, Washington and Berlin might nominate "possibly even another Bulgarian", the Sunday Times has opined.

Bulgaria has nominated Irina Bokova, director of UNESCO, for the post of UN Secretary-General, the Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.

"With her biography and experience, Ms Bokova can be one of the important candidates in the upcoming campaign for a Secretary-General of the UN," the ministry said.

Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov said on Tuesday his institution would put forth all its effort into the campaign of Irina Bokova, the UNESCO Director General, to become the next UN Secretary General.

"We will do everything to contribute to the success of [her] candidacy," he told public broadcaster BNT in an interview.

UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova is now officially Bulgaria's nominee for the office of UN Secretary General, a statement by the Foreign Ministry in Sofia shows.