Farmers offered subsidies after threatening with new blockades
The government will offer two solutions to farmers who threaten a nationwide protest for the second time in the span of half a year. This was announced after the meeting between the two sides today.
Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov announced that aid will be offered to loss-making grain producers. They will have to prove their losses by submitting annual returns to the National Revenue Agency by February 29. The other group of farmers - producers of milk, meat, fruits, vegetables, honey, rose, vineyards, have been offered BGN 150 million in subsidies for incurred losses.
Yesterday, the Agricultural Ministry said that they could provide about half of the BGN 550 million requested by the farmers.
Full Schengen membership remains an elusive goal: think tank
Global policy research group EIU published an analysis claiming there is a risk that the full membership of Bulgaria in the Schengen free travel zone would likely be postponed until after 2025. According to the latest breakthrough from January, Bulgaria will become a partial member of the Schengen area, via sea and air, from March.
According to the forecast, until the parliamentary elections in Austria in September, the negotiations on the matter with Vienna will be on halt. The main reason is that the subject of migration is sensitive for the Austrians, especially in a pre-election environment.
The abolition of passport controls at land borders will become even more problematic after the vote, as there is a strong chance that the now-ruling conservative Austrian People's Party of Chancellor Karl Nehammer will form a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party.
Anti-corruption Fund calls for an investigation of the killing of shadowy mediator
The rule-of-law NGO Anti-corruption Fund (ACF) calls for the creation of a parliamentary commission to verify the facts and circumstances surrounding the activities of Martin "the Notary" Bojanov, who was killed on January 31 in Sofia.
The organization said over the weekend that the man who was shot and killed owned a private club, frequented by magistrates, mostly from the now closed specialized court and prosecution, where they informally resolved VIP's problems with the judiciary.
Several judges have come forward in the past days to argue that Bojanov used to have a large impact on the judicial system via racketeering.
Farmers offered subsidies after threatening with new blockades
The government will offer two solutions to farmers who threaten a nationwide protest for the second time in the span of half a year. This was announced after the meeting between the two sides today.
