Rumen Radev

President Rumen Radev met today with the President of the United Arab Emirates. A memorandum of strategic partnership between the two countries is about to be signed.

Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva said on Thursday that she is concerned by the information she has received from struggling households and called on Bulgaria's interim government to focus on swift action to financially support domestic customers of natural gas and companies using gas to heat residential buildings.

In order to fill the liquidity hole in "Bulgargaz", loans will also be sought from private banks. This was announced by the Caretaker Minister of Energy, Rosen Hristov. Today, the government decided to grant an 800 million BGN loan from the company's budget, and expects it to pay it back as quickly as possible by taking loans from other institutions.

"'Gazprom' is not just a trader or a supplier, it is a geopolitical weapon of Russia, which is in a severe confrontation not only with Ukraine, but also with the EU and NATO, and with the entire international order on which our way of life rests."

Hundreds gathered at a protest at "Dondukov 2" street against President Rumen Radev and his caretaker government.

Workers at the construction site of the interconnected IGB gas transmission pipeline, starting at Komotini, Greece and ending at Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, March 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/DIMITRIS TOSIDIS.

Issues have arisen over the certification of the project, which prompted interim Energy Minister Rosen Hristov, who is yet to publicly comment on the matter, to block the process. 

"We are not closing the Gazprom chapter as long as there are guarantees that there will be no risks for Bulgargaz if the conditions change."

This is what the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bulgargaz, Ivan Topchiyski, told Nova today. The state company is a public supplier and is responsible for the security of receiving blue fuel in Bulgaria.

GERB-SDS did not take the exploratory mandate to form a government within the framework of the 47th National Assembly. The party's refusal was announced by the chairwoman of the parliamentary group Desislava Atanasova.

GERB and "We Continue the Change" are approaching positions, the difference between them being less than 1 percent. They would get 22.2 percent and 21.5 percent of the votes, respectively, if the elections were held today.

Rumen Radev will hand over the second mandate to GERB-SDS within days. If the choice of the parties is again early elections, the head of state considers it important to hold them at the beginning of October so that a new parliament has legitimacy.