Bulgarian mayors supported the establishment of a council of regional policy with the Ministry of Regional Development which is to deal with the problems of the local authorities and the relevant normative regulation. Bulgaria’s Minister of Regional Development Lilyana Pavlova has attended the sitting of the National Association of Municipalities of the Republic of Bulgaria at the invitation of its Board of Managers. Minister Pavlova has informed the association that the Bulgarian municipalities have regained their rights to approve investment projects for over EUR 5 million on their territories on their own. The municipalities were deprived of these rights after the establishment of the Ministry of Investment Planning during the government of Oresharski cabinet. Thirty eight procedures for approval of such projects have already started, Minister Pavlova further said.