On a Friday of scorching heat, while Bulgarians awaited the name of the much anticipated nominee for Prime Minister of the There is such a people (TISP), Sofians discovered something else to worry about. German supermarket chain Kaufland's purchase of the Central Hali department store caused tremors on social media. A promised 25-million euro investment to refurbish the landmark building, completed in 1911, did not placate locals nervous about a corporate takeover dominated by small businesses. The investment project is pending approval from the Cultural Ministry.
Plamen Nikolov, obscure economist and TISP MP, is party nominee for Prime Minister
Following rumors that lawyer and honorary console of the offshore zone Barbados Peter Iliev would be TISP's nominee for Prime Minister, party spearheads Todor Yordanov and Filip Stanev stood by another relatively unknown figure at the Presidency to receive the mandate to form a government. This is economist and TISP MP Plamen Nikolov, presented on the party's website as a Doctor of Philosophy, Law and Economics from Sofia University and Klagenfurt Alpen-Adria Universitat, Austria and a "successful manager" in Finis Inc. a US-based swimwear company.
Skopje expects breakthrough with Sofia in September as N. Macedonian parliament passes "red line" bill
N. Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said he anticipates breakthrough in the negotiations between Sofia and Skopje "when a government is formed after 15 August," BGNES agency wrote on Friday.
The news comes a day after the N. Macedonian Parliament passed a national resolution that practically blocks the work of the joint historical committee set up by the two states in the 2017 Good Neighbourhood agreement. It stipulates the uniqueness of the country's language and history as separate from that of Bulgaria - a bone of contention for the Bulgarian side, which claims the two nations share common roots. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry greeted the resolution with a position expressing disappointment.
Assen Vassilev: The state failed to collect 350 million euro in unpaid lottery taxes
Caretaker Finance Minister Assen Vassilev announced that the now disbanded State Commission on Gambling has failed to collect 350 million euro in unpaid taxes by lottery companies between 2014 and 2019. Only the State Lottery Company has paid a 15 percent fee on bets for the games it has been organizing. Private gambling companies have opted for alternative taxation, which has saved them nearly 275 million euro in taxes. This was the reason for the revocation of the licenses of New Games AD, National Lottery AD, Eurofootball OOD and Eurobet OOD related to exiled mogul Vassil Bozhkov.
On a Friday of scorching heat, while Bulgarians awaited the name of the much anticipated nominee for Prime Minister of the There is such a people (TISP), Sofians discovered something else to worry about. German supermarket chain Kaufland's purchase of the Central Hali department store caused tremors on social media. A promised 25-million euro investment to refurbish the landmark building, completed in 1911, did not placate locals nervous about a corporate takeover dominated by small businesses. The investment project is pending approval from the Cultural Ministry.
