Liberal MRF-New Beginning joins conservatives' CoE group
MRF-New Beginning of oligarch Delyan Peevski is now part of the European Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance (EC/DA) group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CoE). The decision to accept Peevski's party in the conservatives' group was taken during the CoE regular parliamentary session in Strasbourg, France, this week and communicated to the representative of the MRF-New Beginning group, Atidzhe Veli and Zsolt Nemeth, a Fidesz MP from Hungary.
The news comes after the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE) announced at the end of 2024 that it would expel Peevski's party. Then, ALDE said that Peevski was "a controversial figure who has been sanctioned under the global Magnitsky Act by the United Kingdom and the United States for large-scale corruption," despite failing to notice this in the past three years. Peevski himself anticipated the decision and announced that his party would leave the alliance on its own accord because of differences between his views and those of ALDE. "MRF is leaving ALDE! There is a value rift between us - we work for the people, while the liberals only care for their own interests," Peevski wrote at the time.
Cabinet to renovate Terem plant where Strykers are to be assembled with 17.6 million lev
The Council of Ministers approved on Wednesday the increase of the capital of Terem Holding LTD - the conglomerate of military repair plants under the Ministry of Defence - by 17.6 million levs. The money will be used for the renovation of Terem - Ivaylo in Veliko Tarnovo, where the new Stryker combat vehicles purchased by Bulgaria from the USA will be assembled. At the end of 2023, the parliament ratified an international agreement between Bulgaria and the USA, under which Sofia is to acquire nearly 200 modern NATO combat and support vehicles for the needs of the infantry in a deal worth about 2.5 billion levs, to be paid in five annual instalments between 2023 and 2027. Another 166 million levs is to be paid for ammunition for the Stryker and Javelin anti-tank missiles with which to equip them.
Under the contract, the final assembly of the combat equipment is to be carried out in Bulgaria, with the first units to be ready and delivered to the army as early as this summer. The 17.6 million levs will be used for the final reconstruction of the halls of the Terem Ivaylo plant, which must be brought in line with the requirements of General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) - Canada - the defense company that produces the Stryker combat vehicles. The installation of the combat domes of the Norwegian defense company Kongsberg on the wheeled chassis of the US armored personnel carriers will most likely be carried out in Terem-Tarnovo, too.
Industrial production shrinks by 4.6% in February
The index of industrial production contracted by 4.6% year-on-year in February 2025, and there was a monthly decline of 0.7%.
The most significant year-on-year declines were recorded in manufacturing, down 7.1%, and in particular in the production of basic metals, which contracted by 36%, textiles and textile products by 23.6%, and paper and paperboard and paper products by 19.3%. There was an annual increase in the production of vehicles excluding motor vehicles, by 54.6%, and in the production of tobacco products, by 37.5%. Mining and quarrying contracted by 1.8% and electricity, heat and gas production grew by 11.2%.
The index of construction output in February grew by 7.4% year-on-year and by 0.2% from a month earlier.
Liberal MRF-New Beginning joins conservatives' CoE group
MRF-New Beginning of oligarch Delyan Peevski is now part of the European Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance (EC/DA) group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CoE). The decision to accept Peevski's party in the conservatives' group was taken during the CoE regular parliamentary session in Strasbourg, France, this week and communicated to the representative of the MRF-New Beginning group, Atidzhe Veli and Zsolt Nemeth, a Fidesz MP from Hungary.
