Rumyana Bachvarova

The Associations of Honorary Consuls in Bulgaria has said it is deeply offended by the way the government evaluates their work in the country and by its plans to cut certain privileges they use.

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova is firm that the fence at the border with Turkey will be completed by the end of June.

During a hearing at the internal security and public order parliamentary committee on Wednesday, Bachvarova expressed satisfaction with the efforts made by the government to contain the migrant influx.

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova assured that the new migrant routes currently being developed do not pass through Bulgaria.

Bachvarova said this on Wednesday in a response to a question posed by MP on whether any of the new routes could see migrants crossing the Black Sea.

The Bulgarian government has said it is starting checks of driving licenses that could be "subject to manipulation".

Measures related to "fake examination protocols" have been discussed by officials at a Friday meeting to root out practices that call into question the proper issuance of a number of licenses in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumyana Bachvarova has fended off suggestions there might be "foreign fighters and terrorists" operating in the country.

Bachvarova has told journalists, in the weekly Q&A session of ministers with Parliament, that security services are working on any alerts that might be received on EU partner agencies.

The director of Europol, Rob Wainwright, will discuss measures to tackle the present challenges to security and law enforcement with Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in Sofia on Thursday.

The Bulgarian capital will host the 16th edition of the European Music Festival, which will last between March 28 and June 8.

The festival will begin with a concert by prominent Israeli violinist and conductor Shlomo Mintz who will perform at Bulgaria Concert Hall at 19:30 o'clock (EET) on Monday.

The Bulgarian government decided to allocate slightly over BGN 5.1 M for the purchase of equipment to be used by the specialised police forces and the gendarmerie.

This was announced by the deputy chief secretary of the interior ministry Georgi Abadzhiev at a briefing on Friday.

Large-scale anti-terror training, which had been planned two months ago, began in the Bulgarian capital late on Tuesday.

The training was aimed at assessing the capacity of state institutions to react in the event of crisis situations.

Bulgaria responded to Tuesday's terrorist attacks in Brussels by heightening security measures across the country.

A large-scale anti-terrorism training, which has been planned two months ago, will be held in Sofia in the late hours on Tuesday in order to assess the capacity of different state structures to react in the event of crises.