Romani people

Residents from the municipality of Garmen issued a new ultimatum to Bulgarian authorities on Monday.

The residents tabled a petition with 720 signatures to the Council of Ministers, giving the authorities a deadline of one week to take an action against the illegal Roma dwellings.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg has ruled that the practice of the Bulgarian subsidiary of power distributor CEZ of placing electricity meters in districts inhabited predominantly by Roma higher than in other areas constitutes discrimination.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has called on Bulgaria to immediately stop evictions of Roma and address the problem of anti-Roma rhetoric.

The media statement of the OSCE was issued several days after the European Court of Human Rights demanded the suspension of the demolition of two illegal buildings in the village of Garmen.

The demolition of the first four illegal buildings in the Roma neighbourhood of the Bulgarian village of Garmen should begin on Monday.

According to schedule, another two illegal houses should be demolished on July 13, daily Sega reports.

Swiss Ambassador to Bulgaria Denis Knobel and Bulgarian Social Minister Ivaylo Kalfin signed agreements with the municipalities of Burgas, Ruse and Sliven that will be aimed at stimulating the social inclusion of Roma and other vulnerable ethnic groups.

Bulgarian Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova has said her ministry is starting a program to hire more employees of ethnic Roma origin.

This comes after weeks of tensions between Bulgarian and Roma residents of the village of Garmen, in the country's southwest, and more recently in the Orlandovtsi neighborhood of the capital Sofia.

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.

Macedonia is to allow migrants legal passage through the country, after encountring criticism for putting them at risk of being robbed, kidnapped or killed while hiding from the authorities.

The bill adopted by the government on Tuesday is expected to pass in parliament on Thursday.

The Bulgarian Interior Ministry has revoked the information that police specialized teams have been sent urgently near Sofia's Novi Han.

Roma people in the Bulgarian village of Garmen have not yet started to remove buildings erected illegally in the Kremikovtsi neighborhood,  officials say.

According to the Ministry of Regional Development, all buildings have remained intact since mid-May when tensions started to build up in the southwestern Bulgarian village.