Sat, Nov 21 2009
Bulgaria would buy two Gowind corvettes, made by French defence firm Armaris, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said on July 4, after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Dnevnik daily reported, quoting Bulgarian news agency BTA.
Stanishev, who is in Paris on a two-day working trip, is also scheduled to sign a memorandum of strategic co-operation, which he said would become the framework for the development of relations between the two countries.
Armaris was picked as the winner in a public procurement tender for four modern warships in 2005, but since then the process has been frozen, with Bulgarian authorities repeatedly saying that the country could not afford the purchase.
An attempt to resurrect the deal was made in October 2007, when Sarkozy visited Bulgaria, but at that point Bulgaria once again declined to exercise the option.
The haste with which Bulgaria has now decided to buy two ships has given rise to speculation that the Government was attempting to secure the good will of France, which took over the rotating presidency of the European Union on July 1, in light of the interim report the European Commission is due to publish on July 23. The report is expected to be highly critical of Bulgaria's efforts to fight organised crime and corruption.
Bulgaria contemplates the purchase of two new minesweepers, amidst the French Armaris corvette deal which has dragged on for years.
The European Commission is taking Bulgaria to court for delays in providing Sofia with adequate waste disposal facilities.
James Warlick is the spouse of Mary Warlick, director of the office of Russian affairs at the US state department, who has been nominated to serve as ambassador to Serbia
Bulgaria’s Health Ministry announced on November 20 2009 that the flu epidemic declared two weeks earlier is at an end as rates of infection decline. The announcement coincides with reports of two deaths from A (H1N1) flu in Bulgaria.
Acting on allegations by Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria leader Ivan Kostov, prosecutors and Government officials are to probe deals by which Movement for Rights and Freedoms leader Ahmed Dogan acquired various properties.
Prosecutors allege that a deal agreed by the former defence minister caused losses of 12.9 million leva.