Rosen Plevneliev

NATO will increase its presence in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region, its Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Friday, while on a visit to Bulgaria.

Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev criticized the tightening of the country's defense budget and urged for its immediate increase. 

“The country must increase its defense budget to at least 1.5% of GDP and to bring it back to the 2%, which we had before the start of the economic downturn,” Plevneliev said after his meeting with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. 

Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev, outgoing NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and former foreign minister of Bulgaria Solomon Passy took a selfie. 

Passy, who is also the founder of Bulgaria's Atlantic Club, convinced Rasmussen to take a selfie minutes after he was awarded the Stara Planina Order by President Plevneliev. 

Passy tweeted the selfie shortly.

Leaders of Bulgarian Reformist Bloc, a coalition of democrats, will meet with President Rosen Plevneliev to discuss the extraordinary situation the country is facing.

Bulgaria's ultra-nationalist Ataka party is organizing an anti-NATO protest in Sofia on Friday, 11 AM.

The demonstration will be held at the square in front of the Presidency building, where President Rosen Plevneliev will be meeting with NATO's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Plevneliev will award Rasmussen with the Stara Planina Order.

NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen arrives on a two-day visit in Sofia on Thursday afternoon. 

On Friday he will receive the Stara Planina Order by Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev and will have a private meeting with him, said the President's press office. 

Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, arrives on Monday in Bulgaria upon the invitation of Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev.

Prince Edward is the chairperson of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and will arrive in Bulgaria on the occasion of the centenary of the start of World War I. 

The Sofia City Court sentenced Filip Zlatanov, former Chair of the Commission on Prevention and Ascertainment of Conflict of Interest (CPACI), to three-and-a-half years in prison.

The trial, which started on March 31, involved a covered-up probe of President Rosen Plevneliev and delayed decisions on two other cases, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio.

Bulgaria urgently needs to modernize its air force, in the light of the situation in Ukraine, said Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin. 

According to him, the country needs to reorganize its military air force and buy new type of fighter jets, in order to terminate its dependence on Russia for their technical maintenance. 

President Rosen Plevneliev discussed the situation of Syrian refugees in Bulgaria at a meeting with EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy in Brussels.