ROMANIA Romania’s tourism minister answered questions before a parliamentary committee Tuesday and denied some allegations that she misspent government funds. Elena Udrea’s participation in the hearing was a reversal from her previous refusal to cooperate. Last week she filed a legal complaint against the committee on the grounds that it …

ROMANIA Romania’s council on declassifying communist-era secret police files has asked a Bucharest court to officially confirm Romania’s ambassador in Sofia, Anton Păcureţu, as a collaborator of the Securitate, Romania’s feared communist secret police. Under a ruling of Romania’s constitutional court from 2008, the National Council for Studying the Securitate …

BULGARIA The cooperation between the U.S. and Bulgaria in revealing drugs trafficking have been producing good results recently, John Ordway, interim chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria, said at a roundtable discussion. The U.S. helps Bulgaria in security sector in two ways: tactical assistance (trainings and preparation of …