European Parliament elections in Bulgaria

A fight has broken out in Bulgaria's Parliament following a bitter dispute between the two nationalist parties, government supporter Patriotic Front (PF) and opposition Ataka.

The fist fighting began on Thursday afternoon, after Dimitar Bayraktarov, from PF, accused Ataka's leader Volen Siderov of "defending the US" in an article dating back in the 1990s.

The Bulgarian Parliament approved on Wednesday the ratification of the contract for the issue of new debt of BGN 16 B.

The ratification was approved by 161 MPs, with 50 MPs voting against, while 12 abstained, BGNES news agency reports.

Bulgarian PM Boiko Borisov and his former colleague, currently Party of European Socialists (PES) leader Sergei Stanishev have both agreed on the issue of the accession of Bulgaria in the Shengen area, a press release stated on Thursday.

Borisov's center-right party GERB is also a member of the European People's Party (EPP) holding majority in EU parliament. 

Protesters from the Southwest Bulgarian village of Banya came to the streets on Friday to express their disagreement with a government project to build a landfill close to a historic monument.

Public dissatisfaction is caused by the fact that the landfill will be located next to a 17th century church of historic importance near the village of Debar.

Four Bulgarian members of parliament leave the Bulgaria Without Censorship (BWC) party due to the inconsistency of their leader Nikolay Barekov.

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Nikolay Barekov, MEP and head of Bulgaria without Censorship party, is to step down from the leadership structures of the coalition centered around his party.

In a press statement Barekov argues the coalition was set up with "electoral" purposes.

Nikolay Barekov, a Bulgarian MEP, is renouncing unconditional support for the parliamentary group which is centered around his own Bulgaria without Censorship party.

Barekov said in a press statement this week's votes in Parliament on the amendments to the Interior Ministry Act and the pension reform had prompted him to cause the move.

Bulgarian MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk, and fellow members from his parliamentary group ALDE, posed an enquiry to the European Commission on the effective application of the principle of free access to the labour market in the EU.

Bulgaria is only a transit country for combatants of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organisation the European counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchoves and Europol head Rob Wainwright said in European Parliament.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev is set to meet officials from nationalist Patriotic Front and from Bulgarian Democratic Center as government consultations continue on Monday.

Bulgarian Democratic Center (BDC) is the parliamentary group of a coalition led by MEP Nikolay Barekov's party Bulgaria without Censorship which came sixth in the October 5 early elections.