,
Bulgaria.|left After the
fall of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989, Bulgaria sought economic cooperative arrangements with Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain, as well as military cooperation with Romania, Greece, and Turkey. A start was made on easing tensions with its historical adversary Serbia. Due to close historical, cultural, and economic ties, Bulgaria sought a mutually beneficial relationship with
Russia, on which it largely depends for energy supplies. Bulgaria's
EU Association Agreement came into effect in 1994, and Bulgaria formally applied for full EU membership in December 1995. During the 1999 EU summit in Helsinki, the country was invited to start membership talks with the Union. On January 1, 2007, Bulgaria officially became a member of the European Union. In 1996, Bulgaria acceded to the
Wassenaar Arrangement controlling exports of weapons and sensitive technology to countries of concern and also was admitted to the
World Trade Organization. Bulgaria is a member of the
Zangger Committee and the
Nuclear Suppliers Group. After a period of equivocation under a socialist government, in March 1997 a
UDF-led caretaker cabinet applied for full
NATO membership, which became a reality in April 2004. Bulgaria and the United States signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement in 2006 providing for military bases and training camps of the
U.S. Army in Bulgaria, as part of the Pentagon's restructuring plan. The
HIV trial in Libya resulted in the release of Bulgarian nurses imprisoned by
Muammar Gaddafi's government in Libya. French President
Nicolas Sarkozy secured the release in exchange for several business deals. In June 2010, media reports claimed that Bulgaria considers closing a total of 30 of its diplomatic missions abroad. Currently, Bulgaria has 83 embassies, 6 permanent representations, 20 consular offices, and 2 diplomatic bureaus. The proposed closures were backed by Prime Minister
Boyko Borisov, who described some of Bulgaria's embassies as useless. In November 2010, Bulgaria's Foreign Minister
Nikolay Mladenov formally announced his team proposes to close seven embassies as part of a plan for restructuring and austerity measures. In March 2012 the Borisov administration decided to discontinue its plans to build with the help of
Rosatom and
Atomstroyexport the
Belene nuclear station near the
River Danube. At the time, Bulgaria depended on Russia for 89% of its petrol, 100% of natural gas and all of the nuclear fuel needed for its twin-reactor
Kozloduy nuclear station. In the sequential lawsuit, the
International Court of Arbitration at the
International Chamber of Commerce in
Geneva ruled against Bulgaria. Gas was to be pumped to the Black Sea port of Varna before it travelled overland to the Serbian border and northeast from there to Hungary, Slovenia and Austria. A Bulgarian weapons dealer named
Emilian Gebrev was poisoned (along with his son and an employee) in Sofia in spring 2015 using a substance believed to be the nerve agent
Novichok, and in 2020 three Russian nationals were charged in absentia. One of the three went by the name Sergei Fedotov, Its members are
Bulgaria, the
Czech Republic,
Estonia,
Hungary,
Latvia,
Lithuania,
Poland, Romania and
Slovakia. Its apparition was mainly a result of a perceived aggressive attitude from
Russia following the
annexation of Crimea from
Ukraine and its posterior
intervention in eastern Ukraine both in 2014. All members of the B9 were either part of the former
Soviet Union (USSR) or the Soviet-led
Warsaw Pact. Rampant corruption has led as recently as June 2019 to repeated rejection of Bulgaria's attempts to join the
Schengen Area. In November of 2020, Bulgaria vetoed the European Union's draft negotiating framework for North Macedonia's accession talks, thereby blocking the start of negotiation talks. Bulgarian officials cited longstanding disputes over history and language, and called on Skopje to acknowledge what they described as the Bulgarian roots of the Macedonian language and identity. Skopje has long insisted that the Macedonian language is a distinct Slavic language, forming the country's identity. Bulgaria manufactures many types of Soviet-era ammunition, anti-tank missiles, and light arms, and has extensive trade ties with other recovering Soviet countries for this reason. The project's European landfall is Bulgaria. after the personal intervention of
Vladimir Putin. One journalist ran his article under the headline "How Bulgaria gave Gazprom the keys to the Balkans". In 2020, five Russian diplomats and the Russian military attaché were expelled on grounds that they were engaging in espionage.) and their leader
Korneliya Ninova. On 4 May, Parliament approved the continuation of repairs to damaged Ukrainian military equipment, and will continue to support Ukraine's membership in the EU, as well as to the Ukrainian refugees from the war, Petkov noted Bulgaria's espousal of all sanctions against Russia, and would allow the use of the
Port of Varna to transship goods that had been stifled by the Russian blockade of Odesa. Bulgarias wish to see an end of Russian gas in the EU contributed to a decision to apply a high transit tax on gas being pumped through the country to Hungary and Serbia in October 2023, which caused an upset even though the tax would probably be paid by
Gazprom, not Hungary or Serbia. In December, despite the European Commission agreeing that the law does not breach EU regulations, Bulgaria agreed to suspended the charge to avoid any issues during Bulgaria's pending
Schengen Area application. ==Bulgaria-EU relations==