Latest news with #BoykoBorissov
Bloomberg
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Bulgarian Ruling Coalition Loses Majority as One Party Leaves
Bulgaria's ruling coalition lost its majority in parliament after a founding party left, signaling that the country's years-long political crisis is set to flare up again. Former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who leads the largest party in parliament, will now have to rely on forces that are formally not part of his ruling alliance after the Democracy, Rights and Freedoms, a faction traditionally representing ethnic Turks, decided to drop out of the coalition.
Euronews
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Velichie's parliament entry puts Bulgaria's coalition majority at risk
The make-up of Bulgaria's parliament has changed, after the country's Constitutional Country ordered a partial recount of votes from October's election. As a result of the recount, the ultranationalist and pro-Russian Velichie party — whose name means 'greatness' in Bulgarian — reached the necessary vote threshold to enter parliament. The party had previously just missed out on the 4% of votes they needed. Following the court's ruling, the Bulgarian parliament welcomed 10 Velichie politicians on Friday as new members of parliament. Their arrival leaves the coalition government with a razor-thin majority. It previously had 126 out of 240 seats in parliament, but this number has now shrunk to 121. The Balkan country has had seven elections in the past four years and is still trying to overcome the consequences of this long political crisis. Observers have warned that another early vote could damage the country's aim of joining the euro area at the beginning of next year. Former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, whose centre-right GERB party leads the current coalition government, claimed his opponents had created 'chaos' by questioning the election results. He criticised President Rumen Radev, who has been at odds with the government over foreign policy issues, for allegedly trying to bring it down. 'The conspiracy has succeeded, and we ended up being robbed. President Radev can't keep pretending that he's not involved because his judges did all this,' Borissov told reporters. The EU has moved a step closer to lifting controls on some genetically modified crops after diplomats in Brussels gave the green light on Friday for final talks with the European Parliament, which has already backed a proposal to split them into two categories. Laboratory techniques developed since the EU put in place its current GMO regulations two decades ago mean new properties can now be conferred by precisely editing a plant's genome, rather than inserting whole genes from another species. Under the incoming rules, the products of new genomic techniques like the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR-Cas9 'genetic scissors' will be placed in a lower 'category 1' and exempted from strict risk assessment and labelling requirements. They would also be removed from an opt-out that has allowed most EU governments to ban – often with broad public support – the commercial cultivation of all GM crops in their countries. Governments have agreed that products of the more modern genetic engineering techniques should not have to be marked as such on supermarket shelves, although seeds would still have to be labelled to allow organic farmers to avoid them. Backers of GM crops, notably powerful agricultural technology and chemicals companies and the intensive farming lobby, argue that such targeted mutations could occur spontaneously or through conventional breeding, so there is no need for any special treatment. Euroseeds, a trade association whose members include European agro-tech giants like Bayer, Syngenta and Cortiva, welcomed the EU Council's agreement and called on MEPs and governments to agree an 'innovation friendly' legal text in upcoming final talks. 'This means treating conventional-like NGT plants and products similar to conventional breeding without discriminatory labelling or traceability requirements,' secretary general Garlich von Essen said. But opponents of the deregulatory move argue that even small tweaks to a plant's genetic code could create unpredictable risks that would be all but impossible to contain once the new breed is in the wild. Mute Schimpf, who leads food campaigning at Friends of the Earth Europe said the intergovernmental deal marked 'a dark day for consumers, farmers and the environment'. 'EU governments have voted on the side of a handful of big corporations' profits, instead of protecting farmers and consumers' right to transparency and safety,' Schimpf said. The German GMO watchdog Testbiotech pointed out that as well as waiving risk assessment and traceability, governments in the EU Council had also agreed to allow the patenting of all GM plants, even those derived from most wild species. 'New developments such as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and new possibilities for more risky changes of plant characteristics are not taken into account,' the NGO added. The new regulation will now be discussed behind closed doors by MEPs, government delegates and the European Commission. A likely sticking point is the parliament's call, in a negotiating mandate adopted a year ago, for a total ban on patenting of new-generation GMOs in order to avoid large farms creating monopolies.
Euronews
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Vote recount changes political landscape in Bulgaria
The make-up of Bulgaria's parliament has changed, after the country's Constitutional Country ordered a partial recount of votes from October's election. As a result of the recount, the nationalist and pro-Russian Velichie party — whose name means 'greatness' in Bulgarian — reached the necessary vote threshold to enter parliament. The party had previously just missed out on the 4% of votes they needed. Following the court's ruling, the Bulgarian parliament welcomed 10 Velichie politicians on Friday as new members of parliament. Their arrival leaves the coalition government with a razor-thin majority. It previously had 126 out of 240 seats in parliament, but this number has now shrunk to 121. The Balkan country has had seven elections in the past four years and is still trying to overcome the consequences of this long political crisis. Observers have warned that another early vote could damage the country's aim of joining the euro area at the beginning of next year. Former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, whose centre-right GERB party leads the current coalition government, claimed his opponents had created 'chaos' by questioning the election results. He criticised President Rumen Radev, who has been at odds with the government over foreign policy issues, for allegedly trying to bring it down. 'The conspiracy has succeeded, and we ended up being robbed. President Radev can't keep pretending that he's not involved because his judges did all this,' Borissov told reporters.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bulgaria's ruling coalition is left with a slim majority after vote recount
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — New lawmakers were sworn in on Friday to Bulgaria's parliament after a court ordered a partial recount of the October early general election, which changed the makeup of the legislature. The ruling by the Constitutional Court added new dynamics to the fragmented political landscape as another party — the nationalist and pro-Russian Velichie ('greatness' in Bulgarian) will now share parliamentary seats with eight other groups. The recount found that Velichie, which had initially missed the 4% barrier by just a few votes, had reached that threshold and will now have 10 seats in parliament, which led to a shift in the other parties' share of seats. After seven elections in the past four years, the Balkan country is still trying to overcome the consequences of the political crisis. And the latest court ruling will weaken the current coalition government as its support in the 240-seat chamber shrinks from 126 to 121 MPs. Observers have warned that another early vote carries risks for the country's intentions to join the euro area at the beginning of next year. Former prime minister Boyko Borissov, whose center-right GERB party leads the current coalition government, accused his opponents of creating 'chaos' through questioning election results. He criticized President Rumen Radev, who has been at odds with the government over foreign policy issues, for allegedly trying to bring it down. 'The conspiracy has succeeded, and we ended up being robbed. President Radev can't keep pretending that he's not involved, because his judges did all this,' Borissov told reporters.
Associated Press
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Bulgaria's ruling coalition is left with a slim majority after vote recount
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — New lawmakers were sworn in on Friday to Bulgaria's parliament after a court ordered a partial recount of the October early general election, which changed the makeup of the legislature. The ruling by the Constitutional Court added new dynamics to the fragmented political landscape as another party — the nationalist and pro-Russian Velichie ('greatness' in Bulgarian) will now share parliamentary seats with eight other groups. The recount found that Velichie, which had initially missed the 4% barrier by just a few votes, had reached that threshold and will now have 10 seats in parliament, which led to a shift in the other parties' share of seats. After seven elections in the past four years, the Balkan country is still trying to overcome the consequences of the political crisis. And the latest court ruling will weaken the current coalition government as its support in the 240-seat chamber shrinks from 126 to 121 MPs. Observers have warned that another early vote carries risks for the country's intentions to join the euro area at the beginning of next year. Former prime minister Boyko Borissov, whose center-right GERB party leads the current coalition government, accused his opponents of creating 'chaos' through questioning election results. He criticized President Rumen Radev, who has been at odds with the government over foreign policy issues, for allegedly trying to bring it down. 'The conspiracy has succeeded, and we ended up being robbed. President Radev can't keep pretending that he's not involved, because his judges did all this,' Borissov told reporters.
