Bulgaria News, Sofia News: The Sofia Echo - Bulgaria English-Language Newspaper

Double blowBulgaria loses EU funds and jobsClive Leviev-Sawyer

A bleak view of Bulgaria’s immediate economic future emerged as a range of firms announced job cuts even as the European Commission gave the country a failing grade in fighting corruption in two Government agencies, saying that the penalty was the permanent withdrawal of 220 read more

Smoky businessThe ban on the evil weed follows the sale of state-owned tobacco factories Petar Kostadinov

Since November 20, the question of banning smoking in public areas and workplaces in Bulgaria depends solely on the speed of the country’s bureaucratic and legislative machine. On that day the Government finally adopted a controversial decision to ban smoking in public places read more

Blue Card accepted here?Those in favour of the proposed European Union Blue Card system say that it will mean a consistent and beneficial policy of attracting skilled migrants. Critics say that it will mean red tape and a new ‘Fortress Europe’Clive Leviev-Sawyer

Some time in early 2009, the European Council – made up of the heads of state and government of EU countries and the president of the European Commission – will debate going ahead with Europe’s Blue Card scheme, which is meant to attract highly skilled immigrants to jobs in the read more

Business

Corporate ID worries Managers still fear losing their property through fraud Petar Kostadinov

A survey presented at a November 20 round table on the newly set Commercial Register (CR) revealed pessimism from managers and magistrates on how to challenge corporate thefts successfully in court. The round table was organised by the Bulgarian-language magazine Praven read more

Slaveikov at a crossroadsThe famous book market square faces its biggest challenge Nick Iliev

If you venture into the centre of Sofia, you will inevitably encounter one of the most iconic squares of the city, in the old town surrounded by Baroque buildings, narrow streets, swirling and twisting tram lines and tall spires. Slaveikov Square dates back a staggering four read more

TALKING BUSINESS: Car industry skidsThree is company: can Detroit keep all of its carmakers alive through the current crisis?Alex Bivol

It has been by now accepted that one of the main reasons for the current global financial crisis was the United States living beyond its means for too long, setting a bad example for the rest of the world and dragging it along into what could become the worst economic reverse read more

Features

READING ROOM: Re-discovering the land of BulgariaA look at what the history books don’t tell youThad Montgomery

As an avid reader and student of history, my stay in Bulgaria has rekindled my interest in the Balkan region and made me appreciate the essential role it played in European history. Most Western travellers visiting Bulgaria for the first time will confess their ignorance about read more

The Couchsurfing phenomenonMore than just a free night’s stay, international hospitality services can add another dimension to a holidayHolly Edwards

It was Karl Marx who said: “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.” While the evidence mostly suggests that communism doesn’t really work, the idea of couchsurfing, to which this phrase neatly applies, seems to be going from strength to strength read more

FILM REVIEW: Never Back Down/Никога не се предавайPavel Ivanov

Recycling ideas from 20 years ago in any chosen genre and dressing them up for the current fashion has always been a dependable moneymaking formula for Hollywood. After milking the best out of teen comedies, musicals and various 70s and 80s cult TV series, the studios are read more

Opinion

Offline: Back to the futureRene Beekman

Bulgarian commentators had a field day after the Bulgarian Socialist Party had the television spot (1) for its 47th congress broadcast. From the fact that the tram was completely empty, except for the three characters featured in the spot of whom Sergei Stanishev was by far the read more

Random: A feverMagdalena Rahn

There have been a few times that I have thought that I was going to die. It usually is at night. [I can tell that my taste is returning to normalcy by the degree to which the flesh of oranges no longer tastes like the read more

Eco Echo: Eco skiingElitsa Grancharova

The second week of November greeted environmentalists in Bulgaria with news that the investors in the controversial Super Borovets ski resort project in Rila Mountain would apply for a certificate from the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, a European Union tool used to read more

Restaurant Reviews

SkaraBar/СкараБарVanya Rainova

It was about time someone restored the gourmet dignity of the word “skara”, the Bulgarian word for “grill” and the most common way of preparing meat on the Balkan peninsula, in Sofia. In a city where the claim to culinary excellence has increasingly become the domain of fancy read more