The Minister of Home Affairs, Daniel Mitov, presented the honorary award “For Bravery and Merit” - 1st degree of the Ministry of Interior to the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Bulgaria to the EU, Ambassador Rumen Alexandrov.

COREPER II reached today preliminary agreement on the draft Council decision regarding the full accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen Area by January 1st 2025, including land borders. The Decision is expected to be finally adopted at the meeting of the EU Council "Justice and Home Affairs" (in the format of Home Affairs Ministers), which will take place in Brussels on 12 December 2024.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in the process of implementing a large-scale project, coordinated in advance with all responsible institutions in Bulgaria and the EU, including the implementation and launch of a new version of the National Visa Information System (NVIS).

On March 8 of this year in the European Parliament, a conference was held on the 80th anniversary of the memorable events related to the rescue of Bulgarian Jews from the Nazi death camps during the Second World War. MEPs Dr. Andrey Kovachev and Prof. Alexander Yordanov organized the event with the support of their colleagues.

On March 8 of this year in the European Parliament, a conference was held on the 80th anniversary of the memorable events related to the rescue of Bulgarian Jews from the Nazi death camps during the Second World War. MEPs Dr. Andrey Kovachev and Prof. Alexander Yordanov organized the event with the support of their colleagues. Among the speakers at the conference were the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Bulgaria to the EU, Ambassador Rumen Alexandrov, and the leader of the EPP group in the EP, Mr. Manfred Weber, the ambassador of the State of Israel to the EU, H.E. Haim Regev, Mr. Daniel Schwammenthal, Director of the Transatlantic Institute at the American Jewish Committee. The special guest of the event was Prof. Dr. Michel Bar-Zohar. The President of the European Parliament Ms. Roberta Metsola sent a written greeting saying that by saving 50,000 Bulgarian Jews during World War II, Bulgaria has shown how one should not remain silent in the face of evil. For his part, Manfred Weber noted that when Jews from all over Europe were being sent to concentration camps, the Bulgarian people dared to stand up to their own government to save their neighbors and friends.

As from 1 March 2020, road vehicles with a total technically permissible maximum weight exceeding 3,5 tonnes circulating on paid road sections in Bulgaria will have to pay for their use distance-based road charges – toll. The toll replaces the electronic vignette for heavy vehicles and buses.

The Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva, together with the ministers of 12 other EU Member States, urged for the speeding up of the European integration of the Western Balkans. The thirteen Ministers (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Poland, Slovakia) called for the opening of accession negotiations with the Republic of North Macedonia and Albania in June 2019.

Deputy Foreign Minister Emilia Kraleva took part in a regular meeting of the General Affairs Council in Brussels on May 21. The next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the preparations for the European Council meeting in June were the key topics on the meeting’s agenda.

The implementation of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change were in the focus of the regular meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council (Development) held in Brussels today. The Bulgarian delegation was led by Ambassador Dimiter Tzantchev, Permanent Representative of Bulgaria to the EU.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva is taking part in the meeting of foreign minister of the EU Member States and their counterparts from the six countries of the Eastern Partnership (EP): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. This initiative of the EU and its six partners to the East, launched back in 2009, is marking its 10th anniversary this year.