On Thursday fires continued raging as Bulgarian firefighters joined colleagues in N. Macedonia to fight blazes. Cabinet negotiations in Parliament remained just as heated, with promises by There is such a people (TISP) that they will fulfil the mandate of the President by the deadline on Friday afternoon. This would mean that their proposed Prime Minister and cabinet would be voted on by the National Assembly next week.
Karate fighter Ivet Goranova earns first Olympic gold medal in 13 years for Bulgaria
The 21-year old karateka Ivet Goranova, from Pleven, broke the 13-year long dry spell for Bulgarian Olympic participants by winning gold in the 55 kg series of the kumite karate discipline - one of the brand new additions to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Additionally, three other Bulgarian women won medals this week, including Antoaneta Kostadinova (silver medal in air pistol), and Taybe Yusein and Evelina Nikolova (bronze in wrestling).
Finance Ministry seeks to appoint new management for the Fund of Funds
One of the main structures responsible for the allocation of EU funds - the Fund Manager of Financial Instruments in Bulgaria, better known as the Fund of Funds, would likely be restructured by its principal, the Finance Ministry under caretaker minister Assen Vassilev.
On Thursday, the Council of Ministers announced it has launched a procedure to change the board of directors of the fund, whose main goal is to allocate targeted public funds from EU programmes and national co-financing, using special financial instruments. Mr Vassilev's attempt to change the way the fund is operated comes after his criticism in the very first days in office when he attacked the lack of oversight in the institution.
Market Links: GERB loses momentum, TISP on the rise
First post-election polling by the Market Links agency found more public support for the biggest parliamentary party, TISP, and a simultaneous loss of momentum for their main opponents from GERB. About 20,7 percent of those certain to vote say they would support TISP if elections were today while GERB gets just 18,1 percent.
In the last elections, the difference between the two parties was less than one percent, leading to a difference of just one MP in the current National Assembly. BSP remains third with 16,4 percent support, followed closely by Democratic Bulgaria (15,7 percent). Market Links established that the same number of parties would have passed the threshold into Parliament if elections were today. Yet it also notes that fewer Bulgarians (48 percent) have said they would certainly vote if a third round of elections were to take place now.
On Thursday fires continued raging as Bulgarian firefighters joined colleagues in N. Macedonia to fight blazes. Cabinet negotiations in Parliament remained just as heated, with promises by There is such a people (TISP) that they will fulfil the mandate of the President by the deadline on Friday afternoon. This would mean that their proposed Prime Minister and cabinet would be voted on by the National Assembly next week.
