Author: Georgi Zayakov On June 27, the European Commission (EC) imposed an unprecedented fine of 2.4 billion euros on Alphabet, the parent company of internet giant Google. The reason – according to the EC, Google’s search engine favors its own platform “Google Shopping” and harms smaller independent shopping platforms, pushing them significantly further back in the results (often even …

Author: Miroslav Mollov With the amendments to the Cash Payments Restriction Act adopted at first reading, it was proposed that the regulated threshold for cash payment restrictions in the country be reduced from BGN 10,000 in stages to BGN 5,000 from 01.08.2017, from BGN 5,000 to BGN 3,000 from 01.01.2018, and …

Author: Kaloyan Pravov Background The summer of 2013 is a turning point in modern Bulgarian history. This year marks the birth and conduct of the last major political campaign of the Bulgarian pro-European democratic civil society. For over 400 days, citizens in most regional cities of Bulgaria demonstrated their defiance to the state, which dared to betray the services …

One of the hot topics that is being discussed on the agenda of the Ministry of Health, the National Health Insurance Fund and the Parliament is chemotherapy drugs and clinical pathways for oncological diseases. Why is the topic important? One of the largest budget items of the National Health Insurance Fund concerns the treatment of oncological diseases. The budget part is heavy, due to the fact that …

Trump made his first visit as head of state to Saudi Arabia. In Riyadh, he signed the largest military equipment deal in history, worth a total of $350 billion (or at least a preliminary agreement for it). It is important to note that as president of the largest economy and military …

Author: Daniel Angelov Game theory is a science that studies human behavior and decision-making in conflict situations with the aim of maximizing profit. Conflict situations are situations in which the outcome of each action of one side depends on the way the opposing side acts. In its original form, the theory was …

Highlights: - Growth is slowing across all sectors, with retail remaining the highest - Consumer price inflation is slowing, but manufacturing inflation is accelerating - Credit is growing at the fastest pace since 2012 - We expect producer price inflation in industry to rise...

Author: Ivo Kolarov Human rights are a main topic of all political programs in Europe and the rest of the "Western" world. Along with the so-called "natural" ones, new ones are increasingly sneaking in, such as the privileges of receiving free medical care, education, income, etc. In Bulgaria, populism has long been ...

Author: Teodor Karakolev The topic of funding culture was briefly relevant before the elections, but quickly dropped from the agenda after the populist positives were reaped. The main comments revolved around “increasing money for culture” – as, in fact, in every sphere. (Almost) every minister you ask …

In the last few days, there has been talk about the recommendations of the European Commission (EC) regarding the 2017 European Semester and the report on the progress of structural reforms in Bulgaria. In the section "Healthcare", the report emphasizes the following main problems of healthcare in the country: limited access, insufficient funding and poor efficiency. It is important to …