Margrethe Vestager

EU regulators approved on Wednesday a state grant of 120 million euros ($146.48 million) for Greece's national carrier Aegean Airlines to help the airline with damage suffered during the coronavirus crisis.

Brussels- The European Commission has approved the Slovenian aid scheme that covers part of fixed costs of companies affected by the coronavirus crisis. The scheme has been approved on the basis of the Temporary Framework for State Aid, the Commission announced on Tuesday.

The European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, which pools European resources to buy and deploy world-class supercomputers and technologies, announced on December 14 the signature of a contract worth 11.5 million euro for a new supercomputing system in Bulgaria.

With this brand new set of regulations governing the EU's digital market, the Commission intends to clarify and introduce new digital services liability rules and ensure a more competitive digital market where even small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) can compete with the more established players.

At a meeting in the Council of Ministers on June 12, the Government discussed a Draft Protocol Decision on actions taken by Bulgarian Development Bank AD (BDB) to acquire shares from the capital increase of First Investment Bank (FiBank).

The Bulgarian state and an anonymous party participated in the auction for 110 million securities, which allow raising 100 million euros from First Investment Bank - Fibank. The capital increase is a condition for Bulgaria to apply for the waiting room of the Eurozone - ERM-2.    Bulgaria's Minister of Economy Emil Karanikolov has confirmed the purchase, but did not specify in what form it was

The European Union's competition chief Margrethe Vestager has expressed concern about the "huge differences" in coronavirus state aid among member states, saying they were starting to distort the bloc's single market.

The European Union on Wednesday pushed to reopen internal borders and restart travel, although the prospects of reviving tourism ahead of the summer season were mixed as public fears over health and safety weigh heavily during the coronavirus pandemic.

The European Commission is taking the first step in legal procedures against countries that are breaching EU law by not insisting that companies provide cash refunds to customers over cancelled travel or holidays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The European Commission has approved a €150 million (approx. BGN 294 million) Bulgarian scheme to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the context of the coronavirus outbreak. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Framework adopted by the Commission on 19 March 2020, as amended on 3 April 2020.