Bulgaria's Caretaker Govt 'Debuts' in Brussels

Bulgaria's caretaker Prime Minister, Marin Raykov, and two of his Ministers have arrived in Brussels for their debut meetings with senior EU officials.

The main topics on the agenda are expected to be the absorption of EU funds and the liberalization of Bulgaria's energy market.

Raykov's first meeting is with the European Council President Herman van Rompuy where the two will discuss the efforts of the caretaker government to establish political and economic stability in Bulgaria, the upcoming snap May 12 elections, and EU financing.

After that, the caretaker PM will visit the NATO headquarters to meet with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and talk about the Bulgarian contributions to the Alliance's missions and its changing priorities.

Meanwhile, the caretaker Minister of Regional Development, Ekaterina Zaharieva, and the caretaker Minister of Energy and Economy, Asen Vassilev, will meet with the EU Energy Commissioner, Guenther Oettinger, to consider measures for liberalization of the energy market. In January, the European Commission announced it was referring Bulgaria to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to fully transpose the EU internal energy market rules.

Zaharieva will also have a separate discussion with EU Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn on the absorption of EU funds and the advancement of key projects in the country.

On February 21, Bulgaria's Parliament approved the resignation of Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov's GERB government amidst unprecedented since 1997 protest rallies against sky-high utility bills, monopolies, stagnation, corruption and wide-spread poverty, which later turned into a civil unrest and political demands.

Snap general election is to be held May 12, just two months ahead of the regular date in July.

President, Rosen Plevneliev, named the caretaker government on March 12.

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