Bulgarian govt appoints minister to oversee EU bid

Bulgaraian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg has announced the departure of 4 out of 19 ministers in his government, which has been hit by a sharp fall in popularity.

The PM has also appointed a deputy Prime Minister, Plamen Panaiotov, to take charge of matters relating to Bulgaria's bid to become a member of the European Union in 2007.

The departing cabinet members are Bojidar Finkov, minister of health; Plamen Petrov, minister of transport and communications; Vladimir Atanassov, minister of education and sciences, and Nejdet Mollov, minister without portfolio.