Patriotic Front (PF)

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who is in Brussels for a leaders' meeting over the refugee crisis in the countries along the Western Balkans migratory route, congratulated his party, the coalition partners and the opposition for their results in the local elections held in Bulgaria on Sunday.

Bulgarian Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov expressed hope on Friday that the government budget for 2016 will allocate more funds for spending on defence, education and infrastructure.

Goranov added that the draft government budget for 2016 will be tabled to parliament until October 30, the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) quotes him as saying.

Bulgarian Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov said in parliament on Friday that a debate on increasing the country's military spending is forthcoming.

However Goranov expressed doubt whether Bulgaria will be able to fulfill the commitment to its NATO allies according to which the country has to increase its military spending to 2 % of its GDP.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov assured on Thursday that the anti-corruption bill, which was rejected by parliament at first reading, will be resubmitted in three months.

The parties supporting the coalition government will be convinced to vote in favour of the bill and some corrections will be introduced to it, daily Dnevnik reports Borisov as saying.

The Bulgarian Parliament rejected on Thursday the bill aimed at preventing corruption among high-level public officials at first reading with 101 MPs voting in favour, 38 voting against and 72 abstaining.

Independent lawmaker Velizar Enchev has announced he is to put forward in September a bill that would allow for cannabis to be used for medical purposes.

He has warned that "thousands of people suffering in Bulgaria" could find a means to alleviate their pain if they are able to use a mouth spray and has underlined that legalizing smoking has never crossed his mind.

The Bulgarian Parliament is to hold an election of the country's new ombudsman on Thursday.

There are two candidates for the position - the incumbent ombudsman Konstantin Penchev, who was nominated for a second term by the Reformist Bloc (RB) and Maya Manolova, who is a nomination of her colleagues from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

The referendum, which has been proposed by Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, will feature only the question concerning the introduction of remote electronic voting.

This was decided by the Bulgarian Parliament on Tuesday with 131 MPs voting in favour, 41 voting against, while three abstained, daily Dnevnik reports.

Two protests will take place in front of the parliament building, as Bulgarian MPs are to debate the judicial reform on Friday.

Citizens participating in the so-called "coffee drinking" protest demand a judicial reform without compromises and are opposed to the joint project, which was agreed by most of the parliamentary represented parties on Thursday.

The Bulgarian Parliament will elect at an extraordinary plenary sitting on Tuesday the new governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB).

The parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee held hearings of the four candidates on July 9.