Bulgaria's government

Bulgaria's government on Thursday announced the gas hub Bulgaria was intending to build near Varna, at the Black Sea, would bear the name "Balkan".

A cabinet statement issued Thursday coincides with a meeting of Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova and Klaus-Dieter Borchardt, Director Internal Energy Market at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy.

Bulgarian citizens took to the streets on  Saturday to demonstrate against plans to rise prices for motorway vignette stickers.

Protests were held in several towns and cities such as Burgas, Varna, Vidin, Ruse, Sliven, Blagoevgrad, and Pazardzhik, with Burgas demonstrators severely disrupting traffic.

Bulgaria's government may reconsider a controversial decision to impose pay cuts at the Interior Ministry as early as next year, Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova said on Tuesday.

Bulgaria's government is to issue guarantees worth BGN 215 M (EUR 109 M) for the Interconnector Greece-Bulgarai (IGB) project in 2016, the cabinet's press office has said.

The decision, announced at a Wednesday cabinet meeting, has turned IGB into the single state-guaranteed investment project for which the government will secure funding by taking out more loans.

Bulgarian lawmakers have narrowly turned down a proposal by the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) calling for sanctions against Russia to be reviewed.

Sofia has enforced measures against the Russian Federation in line with the EU and the US policies toward Moscow after the Ukraine crisis began last year.

A special unit tasked with processing flight reservation data is to be established at Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security (DANS), according to a set of legal amendments proposed by the government.

The changes to the State Agency for National Security Act are to be submitted to Parliament.

Although businesses in Bulgaria cancelled a protest scheduled for September 30 due to an increase in electricity prices for industrial consumers, their demands for a road map for reform in the energy sector remain in place.

Businesses have insisted that the implementation of the road map start on October 1, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio.

Bulgaria's parliamentary committee on budget and finance will discuss Thursday a proposed increase in the excise duty on cigarettes.

The measure is envisaged in a set of amendments to the Excise Duties and Tax Warehouses Act, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio.

As of 2016, the excise duty on cigarettes will start increasing, pushing up cigarette prices.

Bulgaria's government on Wednesday approved a draft agreement on cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to update their forms of interaction in view of increased migration flows into Europe in recent years.

A smart system featuring an application for mobile handsets will provide real-time information about the traffic environment in Bulgaria, according to Regional Development Minister Lilyana Pavlova.

The application is to be released in October.