Bulgaria plans to replace the lev with the Europe's single currency, the euro, in 2012 or 2013, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov told daily 24 Chasa Monday.

"We have a chance in the last year of the mandate to introduce the euro," Djankov said.

The Bulgarian parliament on Monday approved a minority government led by former Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov, three weeks after the parliamentary elections took place.

The parliament approved the centre-right government with 162 votes for and 78 against.

Bulgarian Prime Minister-designate Boyko Borisov on
Thursday presented his new cabinet, local media reported.

The new government will consist of 15 ministers, among them former
senior World Bank economist Simeon Djankov who is to be the new
Minister of Finance and Margarita Popova former head of a special
unit investigating frauds with EU funds who was nominated as the

Bulgarian MPs who collaborated with the communist secret service will not be allowed to assume key posts in the national assembly, Bulgaria's new government decided Wednesday.

The proposal was adopted by 146 votes to 32. Parliamentarians with state security records will not be able to head parliamentary commissions or join international delegations.

Bulgarian customs officers have discovered more than 700 litres of concentrated cocaine solution camouflaged as a shipment of South American wine, local newspapers reported Saturday.

The 714 litres of liquid cocaine came to the Black Sea port of Varna hidden in 1,020 bottles of the Bolivian Kohlberg wine, in a container sent to Europe from Chile.

Bulgarian prosecutors requested a 3-day detention for Kosovo's former premier Agim Ceku, arrested on a Serbian Interpol warrant, the interior ministry in Sofia confirmed Wednesday.

Bulgaria's right-wing opposition GERB party won most of the votes in Sunday's European Parliament elections, defeating the ruling Socialists, according to results released by the country's Electoral Commission Monday.

Bulgarian authorities on Monday confirmed the first case of swine flu in the country.

The H1N1 virus has been discovered with a Bulgarian man who returned from the United States on May 27, the Ministry of Health said.