News today

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic stated today that combating organised crime and corruption is one of the state’s priorities.

Speaking at a roundtable discussion regarding the first year of the implementation of the Law on the confiscation of property obtained through crime, Dacic stressed that international cooperation and good cooperation among Serbian organs are the basic precondition for a successful fight against organised crime.

Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration and national coordinator of Serbia's cooperation with the EU in the Danube region Bozidar Djelic said today that of 24 municipalities in the Danube area only nine have submitted projects, although the financial construction of the Danube strategy will soon be closed.

Opening the conference “Danube strategy, ideas and projects”, Djelic pointed out that there is no justification for such inertia in these municipalities, especially bearing in mind that the proposed projects would be the sources of funding.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic said today that the support of Hungary and Croatia is of great importance for Serbia's European integration, which is of central strategic priority for our country.

Jeremic said at a news conference after talks with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Balazs and Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic in Budapest that the cooperation between Serbia, Hungary and Croatia is of great importance for the stability of the region.

Bulgaria's right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) party had initiated a probe of the State-run energy companies, the party leadership informs Tuesday.

DSB have appraised last Friday the Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, of evidence for large-scale violations at the Thermal Power Plant (TPP) Maritsa – Iztok 2 and the Maritsa Iztok mines, committed between 2004 and 2007.

On Monday, the file has been submitted with the State Agency for National Security (DANS) and Chief Prosecutor, Boris Velchev. Velchev had ordered the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office to take over the probe to avoid conflict of local interests if the Prosecutor's Office in the city of Stara Zagora does the investigation.

Bulgarian producer prices on the domestic market rose 2.5% in February on annual basis, National Statistical Institute data showed on Tuesday.

While price reductions of 7,3% were reported in the production and distribution of electricity, heat and gas, the extractive industries have experienced the largest index growth of 5.7%.

Price increases in manufacturing on annual basis were reported by the statistics office. Prices in the manufacture of tobacco products rose by 23.3%, the increase in the production of basic metals was by 16.2%, and the production of vehicles, (except for car production) experienced a price growth of 6.1%.

The staff reductions at consular offices are impeding the processing of data for the new personal ID cards and passports of Bulgarians living abroad.

The information was reported Tuesday by the spokesperson of the Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Ministry, Vesela Cherneva. Cherneva said 111 applications have been submitted Monday at 15 consular offices around the globe, adding there have been problems in the process.

Bulgaria's ruling political party, GERB, and its chairman, PM Boyko Borisov, are firmly behind the constitutional reasons for impeaching President Georgi Parvanov.

The party has confirmed this position on Tuesday, in reply to a challenge thrown down by Yane Yanev, leader of the Order, Law and Justice (RZS) party to the Prime Minister.

Yanev demanded on Monday that PM Borisov should refute his own Sunday statements that the President would be impeached for criticizing the cabinet. Yanev had declared the rebuttal a condition for his party's support for the impeachment procedure, in which his small party votes are crucial.

Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic stated today that the Serbian government has huge expectations from managers of Serbian companies when it comes to increasing the competitiveness of the economy and reducing unemployment.

Opening the Vivaldi Management Forum in Mokra Gora on Mt Zlatibor, Cvetkovic stressed that one of the key government goals is to improve citizens’ living standards, the precondition for which is economic recovery.

Bulgaria registered the greatest labor and non-wage costs growth in the EU in 2009, according to data of Germany's Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

In spite of that, however, the country remains the EU member state with the lowest labor costs in the 27-nation bloc.

The ranking of the Federal Statistical Office features two main components of labour costs: gross wages and salaries and non-wage costs. Employers’ social contributions, that is above all the statutory social security contributions payable by employers and the expenditure for company old-age pension schemes, constitute the main component of non-wage costs.

The company Roche Bulgaria had fully adhered to the law in the contract for the supply of the anti-viral flue medicine Tamiflu during the public tender announced by Bulgaria's cabinet.

The company issued an official declaration Tuesday in connection with prosecutor's charges against the Health Minister, Bozhidar Nanev, which stem precisely from the above said contract. Nanev resigned just hours after being called to the Prosecutor's Office.