If you qualify for Bulgarian citizenship and want the passport, take a number and make yourself comfortable.

Very comfortable, because with 60 000 applications in hand and limited capacity to process them, it could take up to six years before the moment comes that a newly-minted Bulgarian has that passport in hand.

This emerges from official figures, reported in detail in the issue of The Sofia Echo published on May 23.

Elsewhere in our news pages, Petar Kostadinov examines football hooliganism in Bulgaria, an issue that has flared up again recently, while Spasena Baramova tracks the major strikes in Bulgaria, Romania and Greece.

Among other items in the business section, the proposed new approach to the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy is outlined by The Sofia Echo’s Elena Koinova.

This week’s issue sees the second and final part of The Sofia Echo special feature on education in Bulgaria, and the features section has an interview with Zornitsa Sofia, award-winning director of Mila from Mars, as well as Alex Bivol’s interview with Misha Glenny, author of McMafia.

The paper also has its regular features – venue and restaurant reviews, television and cinema listings, our guide to entertainment in the coming week and sport on television.