Ramaphosa’s nomination was unopposed Thursday in the 400-seat National Assembly after the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters walked out of the chamber, arguing that early elections should be called and the president’s appointment would be illegal. “Corruption, how we can straighten out SOEs and how we deal with state capture is on our radar screen,” Ramaphosa said after Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng had declared him the president, referring to state-owned companies. Source Bloomberg
Hundreds of truck drivers blocked roads across Bulgaria on Thursday (17 May) as European Union leaders met in Sofia, protesting against proposed EU rules they say would cost them their jobs and put their firms out of business. Source: Euractiv
At the 23 March EU summit, Rajoy told his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borissov that he would not attend the EU-Western Balkans summit organised by the EU Bulgarian Presidency in Sofia because he did not want to sit on the same table with Kosovo. Source: Euractiv
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has begun talks with President Vladimir Putin on her first visit to Russia since 2015. The meeting, at Mr Putin’s summer residence in Sochi, comes with bilateral relations in a trough over the war in Syria and Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Source: BBC
