Intro:

Dear GE friend,

My name is Maya Angelova and I am the GE ambassador for Bulgaria. I am part of NGO IDEA in Varna and with my colleagues we plan to build creative and innovative image of Bulgaria abroad and to implement some interesting practices in our country. I believe that GE can be the bridge for successful and trustworthy youth cooperation and the tool for achieving interesting youth events in Bulgaria.

As an ambassador of course, I have my aims and my motivation for working with GE. Youth policy in Bulgaria is not very well developed- for example we re still fighting for youth law, but yet in October 2009 we still don’t have one. One of my aims as an ambassador is through cooperation between IDEA NGO and local municipality of Varna to organize debates on hot topics- for example the first one we re preparing is the “Youth vs. Crisis” debate in November 2009. On events as this one we want to focus the media attention, the decision-makers attention on the mentality of youth and on our problems.

As well we are planning events for the beginning of December – series of workshops on eco-education, which is missing on the Bulgarian educational system. As well we want to focus youths’ attention on European values like volunteering, equal rights, anti- discrimination and youth mobility through workshops and training , made by our young and motivated team.

I encourage all young Bulgarians who are reading this to take part in our platform and to be active generation Europe.

Generation Europe local debates:

The debate held by Maya in November '09 was about Youth and the Financial Crisis in Bulgaria. Read debate.

Selected links:

Useful links for foreigners in Bulgaria

http://varna.info.bg/ - website of Varna- summer capital of Bulgaria
http://www.bulgariatravel.org/eng/index.php - website for travelers
http://www.lot-lorien.com/ - one of the most interesting Bulgarian bands
http://www.bgmaps.com/ - maps of Bulgaria and detailed maps of some cities
http://www.youthbg.info/en/news/ - National Agency for “Youth in Action” , youth news and initiatives
http://www.vagabond-bg.com/ - Bulgarian magazine in English
http://www.novinite.com/ - news for and from Bulgaria and the world in English
http://www.visittobulgaria.com/visit/dir.asp?d=0-11-Embassies - foreign embassies in Bulgaria

Government links:

• Association of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: http://www.asme.bg/en/default.htm
• Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry: http://www.bcci.bg/
• Bulgarian Constitution: http://www.parliament.bg/?page=const&lng=en
• Bulgarian Government: http://www.government.bg/English/
• Bulgarian Parliament: http://www.parliament.bg/
• Commission for the Protection of Competition Bulgaria: http://www.cpc.bg/public/
• Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria: http://www.dksbt.bg/en/index_en.htm
• Foreign Investment Agency: http://www.bfia.org
• Ministry of Defence : http://www.md.government.bg
• Ministry of Education and Science: http://www.minedu.government.bg
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs: http://www.mfa.government.bg/
• National Center for Information and Documentation: http://www.nacid.nat.bg/index.htmlPatent Office of Bulgaria: http://www.bpo.bg/en/index.html
• Political Leaders - Bulgaria: http://www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/bulgaria.htm

Media

• The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) is Bulgaria's national news agency. It was established by a decree issued by Prince Ferdinand I in 1898. The BTA is now a major and reliable source of information to the print and electronic media, the state bodies and NGOs in Bulgaria. BTA's operation is regulated by a Statute adopted by the 36th National Assembly on 29 June 1994. http://www.bta.bg/site/en/html/01aboutus.htm
• http://www.capital.bg/weekly/
• http://news.dnevnik.bg/
• Mediapool Bulgaria: http://www.mediapool.bg/site/europa/index.shtml

Bulgaria in brief: