Party of European Socialists

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) will hold its 48th National Congress at the National Palace of Culture on Sunday, starting at 10 am.

The socialists have gathered for a debate under the slogan ''It's time for justice''. After a series of poor results on local, parliamentary and presidential elections, the party members will be discussing the upcoming changes of the code of BSP.

The Parliament in Chisinau will discuss on Friday a draft bill granting a status of a 'national-cultural region' to Taraclia, an area in southwestern Moldova with predominantly ethnic Bulgarian population, BGNES reported.

Taraclia is home to more than 30,000 ethnic Bulgarians - the largest ethnic Bulgarian community in Moldova.

Bulgaria's former Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev holds no ambitions of returning to the leadership of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

Stanishev, who is currently one of Bulgaria's 17 Members of the European Parliament (MEP), will focus on his leadership of the Party of European Socialists (PES).

The European Parliament has moved to lift the immunity of Sergey Stanishev, a former Bulgarian PM and current leader of the Party of European Socialists (PES).

Stanishev earlier reported that he had requested the European Parliament to take the step in a fast-track procedure.

The former PM is facing charges at home, but could not be indicted due to his immunity as a lawmaker.

Bulgarian PM Boiko Borisov and his former colleague, currently Party of European Socialists (PES) leader Sergei Stanishev have both agreed on the issue of the accession of Bulgaria in the Shengen area, a press release stated on Thursday.

Borisov's center-right party GERB is also a member of the European People's Party (EPP) holding majority in EU parliament. 

BELGRADE - A delegation of the Democratic Party (DS) headed by party leader Bojan Pajtic has taken part in a working meeting of the Presidency of the Party of European Socialists (PES), where they expressed their support of a view that pursuing economic policies relying exclusively on savings measures needs to come to an end as soon as possible.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Ankara deputy Gülsün Bilgehan, has been elected as Chairperson of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, becoming the first Turkish politician ever to be selected to the top post for a second time.

The Danube Transport Corridor is crucial but its capacity is not sufficiently utilized, according to Sergei Stanishev, President of the Party of European Socialists (PES).

BELGRADE - Leader of the Democratic Party (DS) Bojan Pajtic participated in the Party of European Socialists (PES) presidency session on Thursday and visited the European Parliament within his two-day stay in Brussels.

According to the DS release, during his Pajtic met with MEPs interested in the situation in Serbia and the country's progress on its EU path.

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.