Kristalina Georgieva

For the first time the next United Nations Secretary General should be a representative of the group of eastern European countries in the world organization, Russia's envoy to the UN Vitaly Churkin has said.

There are already "several decent potential candidates from eastern Europe", Churkin said in an interview with TASS.

Two Bulgarian women - UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and European Commission Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva, are among the possible nominees for succeeding Ban Ki-moon as the next UN Secretary-General.

This is suggested by a recent article of The New York Times (NYT) entitled "After 70 Years of Men, Some Say It Is 'High Time' a Woman Led the UN".

Bulgaria must do more to create favorable conditions for investment under the so-called "Juncker Plan", the EU Commission Vice President for Budget and Human Resources has said.

EU Budget Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva and Bulgaria's Social Policy Minister Ivaylo Kalfin discussed on Friday a need to draft a national investment programme similar to the European Commission's Investment Plan 2015-2017.

Bulgaria should work harder on preventive measures to avoid natural disasters, EU Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva has said.

In a statement issued for the anniversary of floods which last year hit the northwestern town of Mizia on August 2, Georgieva has warned that climate changes will bring about more and more disasters.

Phil Hogan, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, has admitted that dairy farmers in the EU, including Bulgaria-based ones, are going through a rough patch not only due to the Russian ban on imports of agricultural production from Western countries, but also the instability of the market.

Bulgaria will contribute EUR 100 M towards projects financed by the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI), the Finance Ministry in Sofia has said.

The contribution will be made through co-financing of projects approved by state-owned Bulgarian Development Bank, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

More than BGN 110 M, or EUR 55 M, of funding earmarked for Bulgaria under the 2014-2020 operational programs are to be set aside for Roma integration, a EU official has said.

"The money is available now, could be used outright and the work [done with it] has to be complex," according to EU Commission Vice President for Budget and Human Resources Kristalina Georgieva.

The European Commission proposed on Wednesday a draft EU budget for 2016, amounting to EUR 143.5 B.

The budget is aimed to support the recovering European economy and help improve lives in Europe and beyond, the Commission's press service reports.

EU Commission Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva was appointed as co-chair of the newly-established UN High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the establishment of the panel on Thursday, the UN News Centre reports.