The Commission proposed last Wednesday reforms in order to pave the way for further financial integration and a full Capital Markets Union, to promote jobs, growth and investments in Europe and to strengthen the Economic and Monetary Union, the EU press service reported.

British business leaders last Monday urged PM Theresa May to seek a three-year transitional period after Brexit, warning failure to secure more time would jeopardise “our collective prosperity,” British media reported. In a letter organised by the Confederation of British Industry, executives from 120 businesses with more than one million employees again warned of a so-called “cliff edge” in which Britain leaves the EU in March 2019 without a new trade deal or enough time for companies to adjust.

The Statistical Office of the European Commission, Eurostat, published last Tuesday an updated guidance note on the recording of energy performance contracts (EPCs) in government accounts, the EU press service reported. The revised guidance clarifies the accounting rules applied to the treatment of energy performance contracts. It follows up on the work already undertaken by Eurostat to clarify the accounting rules for various types of public investment. The full guidance note is available at the Eurostat webpage.

Dedicated to clean, shared and intelligent mobility, this year’s Commission campaign European Mobility Week, a 16th in a row, inspired from 16 to 22 September over 2,000 cities across the EU to stage performances, design vibrant happenings and announce car-free days to encourage its citizens of all ages to take part in developing sustainable urban mobility in their own towns.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Werner Hoyer officially opened an office of the bank in Sofia on 18 September, BTA reported. This is the first Bulgarian representation of the financial institution, which now has offices in 21 EU Member States and 22 countries outside the bloc. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov welcomed the opening of the EIB office in Bulgaria as it is expected to significantly facilitate Bulgarian businesses in presenting projects applying for European funding. In his view, the bank’s presence in the country will provide valuable support to the Bulgarian economy, including to private companies, by placing a direct point of contact with European financial vehicles, as well as consultancy services, at their disposal.

The now retired former governor Bill Richardson has found a ridiculous way to justify $5m in grants his affiliated NGO Atlantic Council received from Tsvetan Vassilev by using his media platform in the US to disseminate outright falsehoods in the banker’s support.

In this day and age, a sizeable portion of humankind has moved past food supply issues. The deadliest epidemic diseases have been completely eliminated or significantly curbed. Those two developments allow for the physical survival of large families, even if they are uneducated or, more specifically, even if they do not need the higher pay that comes with being educated. A Polish scientist identifies uneducated mothers as the biggest threat to humanity’s future. It is not a potential nuclear war, a meteorite striking the Earth or even climate change.

Lush gardens and gold-festooned state rooms were the setting for the leaders of France, Italy and Spain, and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, to gather and talk migration with the presidents of Chad and Niger and the prime minister of Libya's unity government. The proposals in the Paris meeting's official declaration, released after the conclusion of the joint sessions, contain promising language about local economic development and the need to promote retraining and alternative livelihoods for smugglers and others involved in the movement of migrants. Additionally, Emmanuel Macron's government appears keen to look more closely at integration between the Maghreb and the Sahel. The declaration repeatedly referenced not just the need for economic development in the region, but also the necessity of providing economic alternatives for migrants as well as local communities that have benefited from smuggling economies that have grown along with the recent wave of trans-Saharan migration.

President Donald Trump used his United Nations debut on 18 September to prod the international organization to cut its bloated bureaucracy and fulfil its mission. But he pledged US support for the world body he had excoriated as a candidate, and his criticisms were more restrained than in the year past. The US president urged the UN to focus "more on people and less on bureaucracy" and to change "business as usual and not be beholden to ways of the past which were not working."

Iraq's Supreme Court last Monday ordered the suspension of the referendum on the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan, set for 25 September, saying it had to examine whether such a poll would be constitutional.

Switzerland’s financial watchdog has closed down what it said was the provider of a fake cryptocurrency and is investigating around a dozen other possible fraud cases, in the latest clamp-down on the risks involving virtual money. The country’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has targeted unlicensed providers of fake crypto currency “E-Coin”. The move comes on the heels of Chinese authorities’ ordering Beijing-based cryptocurrency exchanges to stop trading and immediately notify users of their closure.

Germany’s Thyssenkrupp and India’s Tata Steel inked a preliminary deal last Wednesday to merge their European steel operations in a 50-50 joint venture. The merger will create the continent’s No. 2 steelmaker after ArcelorMittal, news wires reported.

Ryanair shares fell seriously last week after the Irish budget airline disrupted the plans of hundreds of thousands of travellers by cancelling flights to cope with pilot shortages and improve its punctuality record.

In the Shadow of the Orient exhibition is the first-of-its-kind international project organised by a Bulgarian institution and its goal is to construct a visual story with artworks by some of the most renowned Bulgarian, Greek, Romanian and Serbian artists of the late 19th and early 20th century. Focusing on the unique development of art on the Balkans under the shadow of the Orient, the exhibition’s research team offers visitors an encounter with artists and pieces that have become emblematic for the four countries’ art history.

There is no dramatic composition in the traditional sense of the word. The scenes comprising the show are connected by various things - from texts by Brecht and works by Theodor W. Adorno and Erich Fromm, some of the great German philosophers, to notes documenting the case against Georgi Dimitrov in Leipzig, to contemporary newspaper clippings and TV reports.

Veselin and Monika are siblings, he is an engineer and she is a financier. What else do they have in common? Their love for nature and art.

Some 50km west of Sofia, nestled in the hilly Graovo area, sits one of Bulgaria's lesser-known cloisters – the Giginski Monastery, also known as Tsarnogorski Monastery. Devoted to the healer saints Cosmas and Damian, it is located at the foot of the Kitka Peak (1,118m), part of Mount Tsarna Gora. The monastery's relative obscurity is partly due to its turbulent history, especially in the 20th century.