Bulgarian Press Review July 21, 2009

Press Review
Sofia, July 21 (BTA)

THE HOME SCENE

"Borissov Unveils His Cabinet on Thursday," "Troud" reports. On Monday GERB leader and prime minister designate Boiko Borissov named yet another minister in his cabinet, Margarita Popova. Popova, who is spokesperson for Prosecutor General Boris Velchev, will head the Justice Ministry. "I talked to the prosecutor general a week ago to convince him that it is very important that Popova takes up this post. Hers is not a party candidature, she has been named to do the work," Borissov said. He pointed out that the unit investigating major frauds involving EU funds, which Popova heads, is the only one that has been praised by Brussels. Popova's nomination was made public to halt speculations that the position would be taken up by a candidate of Order, Lawfulness, Justice (OLJ), Borissov said. He confirmed that the Defence Ministry would be headed by former MEP Nikolay Mladenov.

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The MPs will be able to join other parliamentary groups, "Troud" writes. GERB has lived up to its threat to put an end to parliamentary "nomadism" but its was a half-success. Parliamentary "ants" may leave their groups and become independent or join an already existing parliamentary group but they may not form a new group. This is the decision made by the Ad Hoc Parliamentary Committee drafting Rules of Organization and Procedure of the 41st National Assembly. The final say on the decision rests with Parliament.

There was a long dispute between GERB and the other parliamentary parties over the Standing Committee on Control of the State Agency for National Security (SANS). Five of its members will be representatives of GERB, and the remaining five groups will have one representative each. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) accused GERB of unprecedented and forceful decision-making. The Blue Coalition also raised objections against the new principle.

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Though not speaking face-to-face, GERB leader Borissov and OLJ leader Yani Yanev have threatened each other with early elections because of the impasse the talks between their parties have reached, "Standart News" says. The two parties did not sign a partnership memorandum as Yanev insists on concluding a bilateral agreement with GERB. The Blue Coalition reiterated that they would back the cabinet of GERB but would decide which of its bills to support on a piece-by-piece basis. Only Ataka has promised its unconditional support for GERB.

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"We will play on the same team with GERB," Ataka leader Volen Siderov states in an interview for "Standart News." "We believe that the party which won the power should form a cabinet and shoulder its responsibility. We will support it in Parliament so that what we all want ca happen - curbing corruption and playing by the rules." In Siderov words, the OLJ and the Blue Coalition create obstacles to achieving this, that is why he is inclined to think that they are serving certain interests. "Their whims, in particular those of the OLJ, can please mainly the BSP (Bulgarian Socialist Party) and the MRF who are rubbing their hands as they appear to see an opportunity for a failure of GERB and variants for their comeback," Siderov says.



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According to sociologist Antonii Gulubov, the alliance of Ataka and GERB will be a short-lived one. Now Ataka is trying to become GERB's confidential partner but it seeks to change the "profile" of the new government, Gulubov says in "Troud." "Siderov's party will not lie low for long. Generally, it comes out a loser from the attempts to get integrated in the political process. Its politician influence has always been dependent on its being "against," on directly confronting opponents. The expectations that GERB can stake on the rivalry between the Blue Coalition, the OLJ and Ataka remains unrealistic. Placing the three organizations on an equal footing may prove to be a serious political mistake."

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The prosecuting magistracy has ordered a new tax audit of MRF leader Ahmed Dogan, "Sega" writes on its front page. After eight months of foot-dragging, at last some action has been taken in regard to the real estates owned by Dogan. The deadline for finishing the tax audits of all natural and juristic persons who are suspected of being installed as dummy owners of five estates of Dogan's, including Dogan as well, expires on July 22. There are doubts in the results of the audits performed while Maria Mourgina headed the National revenue Agency, that is why the prosecution ordered a new check.

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The Sofia chapter of the BSP demands that the party distance itself in public from the MRF, until recently its partner in the government, "Sega" notes. "Why even now, after the elections, we refuse to distance ourselves from the MRF," Sofia chapter leader Roumen Ovcharov asked at the Sunday plenum of the BSP held to discuss election results. In his view, it was the BSP's coalition policy that led to the deplorable outcome of the elections - for MEPs and for National Assembly.

ECONOMY

"Troud" says in its highlights that there is a nonfulfillment of tax revenues in the budget amounting to 2,100 million leva, which is mostly due to VAT non-compliance. For the first time there is a negligible budget surplus of only 173 million leva or 0.3 per cent of GDP, shows the Financial Ministry report on the budget performance in the first half of 2009. The report was presented by outgoing Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski. For this reason the new government will probably not unfreeze the 10 per cent of the ministries' budgets that have been blocked, he believes. The Financial Ministry expects a drop of 2.5 per cent in GDP by the end of 2009.

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Interviewed for "24 Chassa," Simeon Dyankov, finance minister designate in GERB's government, says that "2,000 million leva has been spent on strange energy projects." In his opinion, the construction of the Belene N-plant should be suspended; he thinks of offering 10 per cent of the assets of the Energy Holding on the stock market. Dyankov says that he and Oresharski have arranged a brief transition period at the Finance Ministry like that in the US administrations and have been meeting for ten days now.

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The banks should reduce their interest on loans," Alexander Bozhkov, an economist and former deputy prime minister, says in "Troud." In his words, the new government should decide which expenditures are unnecessary and which are not, something which the outgoing cabinet failed to do and kept cutting down all budget expenditures instead. In the meantime, it established a number of companies transferring millions to them, Bozhkov says.

BULGARIA - EU

The court cases which Brussels monitors are increasing but there are no results yet, "Sega" says in a signed item. The author recalls that in a day the European Commission will come up with a critical report, although its draft was seen as soft-toned and positive by Bulgaria's politicians. There are reproaches for the lack of political will to tackle with the problems, for the existence of legislative obstacles and control bodies which do nothing. Maybe if some people have been held liable for doing nothing there would have been some activation in this respect, the author observes. Not a single officer has been brought to court for sluggishness. But even the most powerful measures would not do the job if they are not properly applied, the author notes.

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"I stayed in my position because it means responsibility," European Commissioner for Consumers Protection Meglena Kouneva says in an interview held with "Monitor." This is the reason she gives for not choosing to go to the European Parliament to which she was elected. In her words, the situation is very difficult and Parliament is not yet in the position to approve a new nominee for commissioner. "When the question is about a position you hold, you should stay in it because it is a responsibility you have taken on," Kouneva says.

Links to some Bulgarian info websites in English:

• http://www.bta.bg/site/en/indexe.shtml
• http://www.novinite.com/index.php
• http://www.focus-fen.net/

Most discussed topics of the day – July 21, 2009

• An earthquake measuring approximately 3.6 points on the Richter Scale, epicentred some 180 km southeast of Sofia, within Bulgarian territory, was recorded at 6:54 hrs local time today. The quake was felt weakly in some settlements of Smolyan, Plovdiv and Kurdjali Regions (South Central Bulgaria). There are no reports of casualties or damage to property.

• Dessislava Taneva will be the new Agriculture Minister, and Miroslav Naidenov will chair the Agriculture Committee in Parliament, Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (CEDB) Leader Boiko Borissov said at a meeting with the management boards of farmer organizations. During the talks, the farmers updated the CEDB MPs and the future prime minister Borissov on the problems in the sector.

• We insist that Central Electoral Commission /CEC/ should hold an urgent press conference by the end of the week to announce at least several electoral rolls from Turkey, Order, Law and Justice Chairman Yane Yanev said at a press conference. He says there are still no ready electoral registers there. “These rolls are like the Chinese alphabet. We call on CEC to give the protocols from Bursa, Izmit, Izmir – they were falsified. You can easily notice the falsification. The European institutions are following the issue because it involves a non-EU country,” he said.

• The CEDB party wants to freeze the project of the Burgas-Alexandroupoli pipeline. That was announced by Rosen Plevneliev, expected to be a Minister of Regional Development and Public Works in the future government of Boyko Borisov. The Burgas-Alexandroupoli is an oil pipeline that would be used to transport Russian and Caspian oil from the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas to the Greek Aegean port of Alexandroupoli.