A meeting of the Consultative Council on National Security (CCNS) which President Rumen Radev convened on Monday to discuss the results of the fight against high-level corruption, ended without a joint statement of the participants.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev Thursday met with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is making an official two-day visit to Bulgaria. Speaking at a joint news conference after the meeting, Radev said the two had discussed the prospects for a strategic German investment in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria’s Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov ordered to the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office of Cassation (SPOC) to launch a probe after publications in the media concerning real property purchased by Plamen Georgiev, chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Illegal Assets Forfeiture Commission (ACCIAF), son of Borislav Sarafov, Director of the National Enforcement Investigation Agency (NEIA) and wife of Supreme Court of Cassation chairman Lozan Panov, the State Prosecutor’s Office reported.

The registration of parties and coalitions taking part in the 26 May elections for Bulgarian members of the European Parliament starts at 9 a.m. on 5 April, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said.

Digital Economy and Society European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel will be the top candidate of GERB and the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) for the upcoming European Parliament elections. The two parties presented their candidates on Sunday.

After nearly 5-hour talks between Bulgaria’s PM Boyko Borissov and Vice President of Turkey Fuat Oktay in Bucharest, Turkey refused to present apologies for the statement of Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu who said that Ankara had to interfere in the work of the Bulgarian parliament at the adoption of amendments to the Confessions Act.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov conferred with Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeal's General Prosecutor Mehmet Akarca who was in Sofia on 25 March at the invitation of Bulgarian Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov, the Government Information Service said on Monday.

The direct negotiations for the purchase of US-made F-16 fighter planes by the Bulgarian Air Force are expected to start in May. Vice-Minister of Defence Atanas Zapryanov revealed the news in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio during a conference dedicated to the 15th anniversary of Bulgaria's accession to NATO.

The ruling GERB party and the non-parliamentary Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) will run together in the upcoming European elections. This transpired after a meeting of representatives of the two parties. Prime Minister and GERB leader Boyko Borissov is quoted as saying that UDF will get an electable position on the list of candidates and at least two spots for their candidates. These should be "convinced democrats who, when in Brussels, will stand up for the values and causes of the European People's Party", to use Borissov's words.

The European Parliament election in Bulgaria will be held on 26 May, it became clear after President Rumen Radev issued a decree officially setting the date.