Independence: Bulgaria recognizes its independence day as September 22, 1908, when the Kingdom of Bulgaria declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Public Holidays: Bulgaria celebrates the following national holidays: New Year’s (January 1); National Day (March 3); Orthodox Easter (variable date in April or early May); Labor Day (May 1); Army Day (May 6); Education Day (May 24); Unification Day (September 6); Independence Day (September 22); Leaders of the Bulgarian Revival Day (November 1); and Christmas (December 25–26).

Flag: The flag of Bulgaria has three equal horizontal stripes, which are white

(top), green, and red.

RECENT NEWS ARTICLES

Govt urged to reveal decision on Romania/Bulgaria migrants  -  24 Oct 2006
Unison.ie,Fine Gael is calling on the government to come clean about whether it plans to restrict immigration from Romania and Bulgaria when the two countries join the ...

European Parliament Adopts Report on Appointing Resident Employees ...  -  24 Oct 2006
Focus News,Legal Affairs, Mr Giuseppe Gargani regarding the proposal of the EC for a set of regulations for the appointing of resident employees from Bulgaria and Romania ...

Bulgaria: We're considering restrictions against Britons  -  24 Oct 2006
Politics.co.uk,Bulgaria has reacted angrily to John Reid's decision to restrict the working rights of their citizens when the country joins the EU with Romania in January. ...

Bulgaria Will Consider Reciprocal Measures for EU Countries ...  -  24 Oct 2006
Focus News,According to him all analyses in Bulgaria show that Britain is not facing a flood of Bulgarian workers after January 2007. Dimitar ...

PROPERTY INVESTORS TURN INTEREST AWAY FROM BULGARIAâ€™S CAPITAL  -  24 Oct 2006
Sofia Echo,The construction boom Sofia experienced recently is beginning to calm down and property investors are turning their interest to other Bulgarian cities. ...

Ambassadors Open European Gays, Lesbians Forum in Bulgaria's ...  -  24 Oct 2006
Sofia News Agency,Bulgaria: Foreign ambassadors in Bulgaria will inaugurate the 28th Annual Conference of International Association of Gays and Lesbians for Europe, which will ...

Germany Anxious to Spare its Criminals from Bulgaria's Prisons  -  24 Oct 2006
Sofia News Agency,Bulgaria: The Prime Minister of Bavaria Edmund Stoiber has turned to EC enlargement commissioner Oli Rehn, asking him to change the criminals' extradition ...

AP: Bulgaria Deplores Plans by EU Members to Restrict Work Rights ...  -  24 Oct 2006
Focus News,Sofia. Bulgaria on Tuesday deplored plans by some EU members to limit the access of Bulgarian and Romanian workers to their labor markets after the two Balkan ...

Bulgaria's Soldiers Abroad Get More Free Calls Home  -  24 Oct 2006
Sofia News Agency,Bulgaria: Bulgaria's soldiers who have been at missions abroad for more than two months, will be getting twice as much time for calls to the homeland, Darik ...

Bulgaria's Police Uncovers Stolen Cars Shed  -  24 Oct 2006
Sofia News Agency,Bulgaria: Sofia's police uncovered a shed for stolen cars and huge quantities of other illegal goods meant for the Sofia market. ...

Tourism Fuels Bulgarian Buy-to-Lets Success in Bulgaria  -  24 Oct 2006
Sofia News Agency,Bulgaria: Buy-to-lets in Bulgaria are gaining ground as tourism levels reach an all-time high, real estate experts comment. "The ...

Bulgaria in 36th Place in Press Freedom Report  -  24 Oct 2006
Focus News,Paris. Bulgaria is placed in 36th place in the fifth annual â€˜Reporters Without Bordersâ€™ Worldwide Press Freedom Index. The report ...

Bulgaria's Business Reaches out to Prosecutors in Corruption ...  -  24 Oct 2006
Sofia News Agency,Bulgaria: The Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum (BBLF), one of the most influential communities in the country, reiterated calls for pooling the state and ...

CUSACK BEGINS SHOOTING MOVIE IN BULGARIA'S PLOVDIV  -  24 Oct 2006
Sofia Echo,Plovdiv. War Inc is the newest production of Nu Image, the company that received ownership over Bulgariaâ€™s Boyana Film Studios. ...

CORRUPTION INVESTIGATIONS UNDERWAY IN BULGARIA  -  24 Oct 2006
Sofia Echo,The Chief Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (CDCOC) was investigating several custom officers, who allegedly took part in corruption schemes. ...

Bulgaria housing prices add 5% in Q3  -  24 Oct 2006
Dnevnik.bg,Housing prices increased by 5% in July-September over the previous quarter, said Bulgaria's national statistics authority on Monday. ...

Vanguard to trade in Bulgaria, as well  -  24 Oct 2006
Ziarul Financiar,Mihaela Baciu, chairman of Vanguard. Vanguard will work with an authorised broker on Bulgaria's capital market. For the time being ...

6-Time Felon Arrested for Pimping Orphans in Bulgaria  -  24 Oct 2006
Sofia News Agency,Bulgaria: A man, who had been charged with criminal activities six times and has even spent time behind bars on a murder charge, was arrested in Bulgaria for ...

State Institutions Can Protect Witnesses in Bulgarian Rap Singer ...  -  24 Oct 2006
Focus News,I am sure that the state institutions in Bulgaria have the capacity to protect the witnesses in the trial again rap singer Vanko 1. This is what Bulgariaâ€™s ...

This series of profiles of foreign nations is part of the Country Studies Program, formerly the Army Area Handbook Program. The profiles offer brief, summarized information on a country’s historical background, geography, society, economy, transportation and telecommunications, government and politics, and national security. In addition to being featured in the front matter of published Country Studies, they are now being prepared as stand-alone reference aides for all countries in the series, as well as for a number of additional countries of interest. The profiles offer reasonably current country information independent of the existence of a recently published Country Study and will be updated annually or more frequently as events warrant.