First Day of School in Bulgaria
BULGARIA in Brill’s Encyclopedia of Global Pentecostalism
Brill’s Encyclopedia of Global Pentecostalism (BEGP) provides a comprehensive overview of worldwide Pentecostalism from a range of disciplinary perspectives. It offers analysis at the level of specific countries and regions, historical figures, movements and organizations, and particular topics and themes. The online version of the Encyclopedia is already available
For some of you it has been a long time ago that you submitted your article(s) for BEGP, for others it was a bit more recent, but I am very happy to announce that this Summer the print edition of Brill’s Encyclopedia of Global Pentecostalism will finally see the light. With this we can proudly close this chapter and proceed to see what the reception of the volume will bring! Thank you for being part of this great project!
To celebrate, we will organize an online symposium on September 16th, with presentations from the editors as well as 3 experts who will comment on BEGP: Amos Yong, Birgit Meyer and Néstor Medina. You can find more detailed information in the attached flyer. Please be welcome.
Registration is free (but necessary to receive a link); we will raffle one free copy of the print edition among the registered participants. For registration and questions, please send your message to begp@brill.com, mentioning Symposium in the subject line.
We hope to see you then!
BULGARIA with a NEW Caretaker Cabinet until July
World Wires on Bulgaria: Caretaker Cabinet Will Have to Tackle Pandemic, Ensure Fair Elections
Bulgaria‘s President Rumen Radev called a snap parliamentary election on Tuesday for July 11 and appointed Stefan Yanev, his close security and defense adviser, as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed.
The European Union’s poorest member state is heading to the polls again three months after an inconclusive election in April resulted in a fragmented parliament that failed to produce a government.
Yanev, 61, who was a deputy premier and defense minister in the first caretaker government Radev appointed in 2017, will be tasked to manage the coronavirus pandemic and ensure a fair election, the president said in a statement, confirming an earlier report by Reuters.
President Radev is a harsh critic of long-serving prime minister Boyko Borissov.
Yanev’s government will also have to decide whether or not to submit a national plan to Brussels on how Sofia plans to use more than 6 billion euros from the EU’s coronavirus Recovery Fund.
In charge of the country’s finances will be Assen Vassilev, 43, a graduate of Harvard University, who served as caretaker economy and energy minister in 2013. Vassilev was part of the team that prepared Radev’s proposals for projects to be financed with EU recovery funds.
Borissov’s incumbent center-right GERB party again emerged as the largest party after the April vote, but it had lost seats due to popular anger against entrenched corruption and was shunned by other parties for a coalition government.
After Borissov failed to form an administration, so too did attempts by a new anti-elite party led by TV host Slavi Trifonov, and by the third largest party, the Socialists.
Analysts say the fresh election in July is likely to produce another fragmented parliament that could complicate the formation of a government. A recent opinion poll showed Borissov’s GERB and Trifonov’s ITN (There is Such a People) party running neck-and-neck.
SPRING in BULGARIA
Bulgaria: SECOND Party Returns Cabinet Mandate within a WEEK
Bulgaria’s President Will Hand 3rd Cabinet Mandate to the BULGARIAN SOCIALIST PARTY
At a short ceremony President Rumen Radev expressed the opinion that Bulgaria needs a viable and efficient government. His words come in response to the decision of the second large parliamentary party There Is Such a People to return the mandate to form a government that they received.
“In response, I would like to state that it is in a crisis like we have today that Bulgaria needs a regular and effective government, and therefore every mandate is viewed with special hope. But I also understand your motives, because a sustainable and effective government cannot be created on the basis of unprincipled bargains and cannot be a commitment of only one party,” Radev said. According to the President, Bulgarian society has been waiting for years for parliament to make concrete decisions and make the electoral process more transparent.
“Sustainability in social and economic policy in times of crisis is also no less significant. In this regard, some decisions of the Bulgarian Parliament are particularly important.
They must be taken independently of the procedure for designating the executive power. We must seek balance between the procedure for forming a government, the legislative activities of the National Assembly and the important challenges our country is faced with. Along with all the proposals that are received and considered in the Bulgarian National Assembly, the most important thing is missing – the outgoing government has not submitted a proposal for an update of the budget and deprives Bulgarian pensioners, citizens and businesses of support in case the NA is dissolved and a caretaker government is appointed”, Radev said.
Bulgaria Added to Russia’s List of “Unfriendly States”
US Supports Bulgaria
Bulgaria’s President Will Hand 3rd Cabinet Mandate to the BULGARIAN SOCIALIST PARTY
President Rumen Radev will service the third exploratory mandate for the formation of a government to the prime minister designated by the third largest parliamentary group in the 45th National Assembly – BSP for Bulgaria. This will happen on May 5, 2021, at 11:00 a.m., at the President’s Office. BSP for Bulgaria floor leader and socialist leader Kornelia Ninova told a news briefing in Parliament that a decision about what to do with the mandate will be made by the BSP‘s collective bodies.
“I will call an extraordinary meeting of the BSP‘s Executive Bureau which will set the date and time for convening the party’s National Council which will discuss the situation and will make a decision about what to do with the third mandate,” said Ninova. Asked about which parliamentary groups BSP will negotiate with about a possible cabinet, she said that this will be decided by the BSP‘s National Council. “Of course, negotiations with GERB are out of the question,” she said.
President Rumen Radev further has started to constitute the caretaker government, which has emerged as inevitable. Surely the prime minister in it will be Gen. Stefan Yanev. Harvard alumni Assen Vassilev is the second well known person in the future government, Maritsa daily reports.
Vassilev was already minister of economy, energy and tourism in the caretaker government of Marin Raykov in 2013.He was also part of the team that prepared the proposals of President Rumen Radev for projects to be financed under Bulgaria’s Recovery and Sustainability Plan.
Government Elections in Bulgaria (2005-2021):
2005 Parliamentary Elections
2006 Presidential Elections
2007 Municipal Elections
2009 Parliamentary Elections
2009 European Parliament elections
2011 Presidential Elections
2011 Local Elections
2013 Early parliamentary elections
2014 Early Parliamentary Elections
2015 Municipal Elections
2016 Presidential election
2017 Parliamentary elections
2019 European Parliament election (23-26 May)
2019 Bulgarian local elections
2019 Municipal Elections
2021 Parliamentary elections
AS WE HAVE PREVIOUSLY PROPOSED, THIS PUTS BULGARIA BACK ON THE “RED LIGHT OF 30 YEARS OF COMMUNISM…” AS IN 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 AND 2020…
Bulgaria Hosts Multinational Military Exercises in 2021
Sofia, April 25 – Bulgaria will host and share in a series of multinational military exercises in 2021 so as to enhance its armed forces’ operational capabilities, the Bulgarian Defence Ministry said in a press release on Monday.
Between March and mid-June, over 30,000 troops of 26 NATO Member States will hone interoperability in simultaneous defense operations at 30 training areas in 14 countries during a series of interconnected exercises codenamed DEFENDER-Europe 21, which will be led by the U.S. Army Europe and Africa.
DEFENDER-Europe 21 is associated with a key training event: NATO’s Steadfast Defender 21 (mid-May through early-June), led by the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), in which Bulgaria will mainly contribute logistical support as a host country for forces transit.
DEFENDER-Europe 21 will encompass several linked exercises, including Swift Response, Saber Guardian, Immediate Response, and Defender Europe.
From mid-May to mid-June, Bulgaria, alongside Germany, Romania, Hungary, the Republic of North Macedonia and Albania, will host Exercise Saber Guardian, in which more than 13,000 service members from 16 countries will conduct live fire and air and missile defense operations, plus a large scale medical evacuation. In Bulgaria, Saber Guardian will encompass three national exercises with international participation: Strike Back
21, Balkan Sentinel 21 and Shabla 21, and a special operations exercise called Trojan Footprint – South. Bulgarian military elements will participate in Exercise Decisive Strike in the Republic of North Macedonia, which, too, is part of Saber Guardian.
Swift Response (early to mid-May) will include airborne operations in Estonia, Bulgaria and Romania involving more than 7,000 troops from 11 countries.
In Exercise Immediate Response (mid-May through early-June), more than 5,000 troops from 11 countries will spread out across 31 training areas in 13 different countries to conduct live fire training.
In June, approximately 1,500 personnel will stage Defender Europe, a command post exercise seeking to drill the
headquarters’ ability to command multinational land forces in a joint and combined training environment while maintaining real-world operations across 104 countries, including Bulgaria, on two continents.
Pentagon: US Should Deploy More Troops in Bulgaria as Tensions Rise between Ukraine and Russia
Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper says the United States should deploy more troops along the Black Sea in Bulgaria and Romania to deter potential aggression from Russia as tensions between Moscow and Washington heat up.
Esper, now a fellow at the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University, said “I think we need to continue to stand up to Russia and trying to deter their bad behavior.”
Washington should look to reassure European allies and boost the NATO alliance by deploying more forces in Poland, “into the Baltics, if it makes sense, and places like Romania and Bulgaria, if not on a permanent – on a rotational basis,” Esper said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday.
President Joe Biden called on Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to reduce tensions stirred by a Russian military build-up on Ukraine’s border and proposed a summit of the estranged leaders to tackle a raft of disputes.
Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and fighting has increased in recent weeks in eastern Ukraine, where government forces have battled Russian-backed separatists in a seven-year conflict that Kyiv says has killed 14,000 people.
When he was running the Pentagon last year, Esper advocated a similar shift as former President Donald Trump announced his intention to cut the U.S. troop contingent in Germany by about a third, saying Berlin had been taking advantage of the United States while not meeting financial obligations to NATO.
The United States announced on Tuesday that it will ramp up its forces in Germany amid the latest tensions with Russia over Ukraine, abandoning Trump’s plan to withdraw around 12,000 of the 36,000 U.S. troops there.
BULGARIAN ELECTION: Bulgaria: Prime Minister and Cabinet Step Down
Government Elections in Bulgaria (2005-2021):
2005 Parliamentary Elections
2006 Presidential Elections
2007 Municipal Elections
2009 Parliamentary Elections
2009 European Parliament elections
2011 Presidential Elections
2011 Local Elections
2013 Early parliamentary elections
2014 Early Parliamentary Elections
2015 Municipal Elections
2016 Presidential election
2017 Parliamentary elections
2019 European Parliament election (23-26 May)
2019 Bulgarian local elections
2019 Municipal Elections
2021 Parliamentary elections
AS WE HAVE PREVIOUSLY PROPOSED, THIS PUTS BULGARIA BACK ON THE “RED LIGHT OF 30 YEARS OF COMMUNISM…” AS IN 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 AND 2020…
According to Article 111(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov submitted to the newly elected 45th National Assembly the resignation of the Council of Ministers he headed. Prime Minister Borisov’s letter tendering the resignation of the Cabinet was deposited today with the President of the National Assembly via the registries of the two institutions. In accordance with Art. 111, para. 3 of the Constitution, the government led by Prime Minister Borisov will continue to perform its functions until the election of a new Council of Ministers and will ensure continuity in government.
New Controversial Law on Religion to be Voted in Bulgaria
The Patriotic Front, a newly established political formation in Bulgaria, filed changes to the 2002 Religious Dominations Act last Thursday. The new measure bans all foreign citizens from preaching on the territory of Bulgaria, as well as preaching in any other language than Bulgarian.
The draft amendments also foresee banning foreign organizations, companies and citizens from providing funding or donating to Bulgarian religious denominations. All the religious denominations in Bulgaria will be obliged to perform their sermons, rituals and statements only in Bulgaria. One year’s time will be given to translate religious books into Bulgarian.
Financially, the draft laws would ban not only foreign physical and legal entities from funding Bulgarian religious institutions, but also companies with foreign ownership that are legally registered in Bulgaria. Using state funding for “illegal activities” by religious denominations will be sanctioned with prison terms of three to six years. With these sanctions in mind, the new legal measure embodies the following rationale:
- Churches and ministers must declare all foreign currency money flow and foreign bank accounts
- Participation of foreign persons in the administration of any denomination is strictly forbidden
- Foreign parsons shall not be allowed to speak at religious meetings in any way shape or form especially religious sermons
- Anonymous donations and donorship to religious organization is not permitted
- Bulgarian flag shall be present in every temple of worship
- The new measure will block all foreign interference in the faith confessions and denominations in Bulgaria
June 2018 Update: Churches across Bulgaria have petitioned against the new changes in the Law of Religion as they constitute:
- Limitations on freedom of religion and speech
- Merge church and state
- Establish goverment control over preaching
- Ban any missionary work and preaching in a foreign language
- Halt international support for religious organizations
- Removes meeting form rented closed properties
- Legalizes discrimination on basis of religion and faith convictions
NEW Book – Tastes of Europe: 104 Traditional Recipes of Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia & More (Paperback)
Europe has a very rich history and is a place many aspire to visit. To walk its cobblestone streets, see the majesty of the Eiffel Tower or tour the ancient ruins of Rome are only but a few wondrous adventures one can partake in Europe. The tastes of Europe are all the same intriguing. European cuisine is filled with depths of flavor implementing fresh seasonal ingredients while being influenced by hundreds of different cultures and as many years of technique and mastery.
Now you can enjoy this unique culinary culture of intriguing dishes from all over Europe right in the comfort of your own home. From the distinctive desserts of Czechoslovakian Blueberry Bublanina and Lithuanian Poppy Seed Cookies to the heavenly flavors of more traditional meals like Sautéed Sauerkraut with Pork and Mini Meatball Soup, Tastes of Europe includes delicious exciting recipes that are easy for all to prepare. This cookbook features 104 authentic recipes of Europe with an emphasis on Eastern European flavors and Bulgarian cuisine. Among other featured countries are France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Russia.
Some of these dishes are distant relatives to ones found in ancient Roman manuscripts believed to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century AD. Others are among those far before the time of Christ. With nearly every dish comes a story and custom. This cookbook attempts to preserve these century year old stories for many years to come so they can continue to be passed down.
