Valeri Simeonov

The nationalist coalition Patriotic Front (PF) will insist on a social debate on whether the capital punishment should be reintroduced, its co-leader Valeri Simeonov has said.

PF, which back the current Bulgarian government, has stressed the need for the country to overcome a looming "ethnic crisis" and tackle hundreds of cases of "robberies and beatings" on pensioners.

The Patriotic Front (PF), one of the parties backing the coalition government, announced that it is not going to support the ratification of the contract for the issue of new BGN 16 B debt.

This was announced by the co-chairperson of the PF Valeri Simeonov during his statement in the parliamentary chamber on Wednesday, daily Dnevnik reports.

Parliamentary debates regarding the possible new debt issue of BGN 16 B will be postponed after the majority of MPs voted in favor of the proposal on Thursday.

The proposal came from the leader of nationalist Patriotic Front party, Valeri Simeonov. He added that in order for a decision of that importance to be taken, more clarifications will be needed.

Bulgarian members of parliament from the four parties constituting the ruling coalition, tabled amendments to the Public Procurement Act in the National Assembly on Thursday.

A demonstration targeting discrimination and racism is to be staged in Bulgaria's capital Sofia on Sunday afternoon.

The event has been organized as a response to what civil rights groups describe as "racist" remarks of politicians.

Voting should be made compulsory as early as in 2015, the co-chair of nationalist coalition Patriotic Front has said.

Patriotic Front, a nationalist coalition supporting Bulgaria's minority government, will not withdraw its support for the cabinet.

The coalition will be granted two official positions in return and will be able to send a Deputy Defense Minister to the cabinet and also to have a Deputy Governor of Sofia.

The daily news bulletin delivered in Turkish by the Bulgarian National Television is to be rescheduled, an official from the governing coalition has said.

Velizar Enchev is leaving the parliamentary group of nationalist formation the Patriotic Front.

In a Sunday interview for Nova TV, he made clear that he was leaving the party due to the massive fraud that was being committed by its leadership.

Enchev's decision to quit the Patriotic Front leaves it with a total of 18 MPs in Parliament, according to reports of Sega daily.

Bulgarian Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova has expressed hopes that her deputy, Branimir Botev, will step down.

Speaking Thursday in Plovdiv at the opening of the annual international meeting of tour operators, she suggested that Botev had been appointed Deputy Tourism Minister at the insistence of Valeri Simeonov from nationalist formation the Patriotic Front.