Bulgarian Press Review July 7, 2009

Press Review
Sofia, July 7 (BTA)

HOME SCENE

"Cabinet Is Set," frontpages "Troud". GERB is ready with the line up of the new government, according to Sofia Mayor and GERB leader Boiko Borissov. Despite being ready with the ministerial nominations, the GERB leadership refused to name names until the final election returns are announced. Coalition talks did not take place on Monday for the same reason. Future prime minister Boiko Borissov was categorical that he would seek structural reforms, removing the Ministries of Emergency Situations and of European Affairs and the office of Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU funds. Borissov threatened that those responsible for blocked EU funds would be sacked and that he would replace outgoing Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev's circle of friends in the management of state companies.

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"Dyankov and Tsvetanov Tipped for Borissov's Deputies," writes "Standart News". Boiko Borissov will have two deputies and these will be Simeon Dyankov and Tsvetan Tsvetanov. Most likely, Dyankov of the World Bank Group, will head the Ministry of Finance and Tsvetanov will lead of the Interior Ministry.

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"The Tsar Resigns, He Will Not Leave Bulgaria," reports "Troud". At least one party leader resigned after his party was defeated in Sunday's elections. After the National Movement for Surge and Stability (NMSS) failed to win any seats, NMSS leader Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha said that he was taking responsibility and he resigned. He said that the NMSS would be in opposition for the first time in the eight years after its conception. Being in opposition is not unacceptable as long as the ideas which united the party live on. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha said that power was never an end in itself for him and that he would not leave Bulgaria.

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"Troud" runs statements by party leaders on the night of the elections. GERB leader Boiko Borissov pledged that GERB would be a party of all Bulgarians. "We don't want to govern only the 40 per cent that supported us. We are going to hold talks with all parties. As early as tomorrow, our teams will begin to press on. By the time we get familiar with what other centre right formations think, we will have the cabinet lined up." BSP [Bulgarian Socialist Party] leader Sergei Stanishev says that "the leader takes all responsibility". "I would hate it if
people see taking responsibility as fleeing the ship in a difficult time", adds Stanishev. "There Will Be No Haggling," Blue Coalition co-leader Ivan Kostov told a news conference, ahead of a question what ministerial posts the Blue Coalition would demand during future coalition talks. Both Blue Coalition leaders Martin Dimitrov and Ivan Kostov stressed that the responsibility for forming a government falls with GERB, and their [of the Blue Coalition] responsibility is to secure a stable centre right majority. "We were the most tolerant", said MRF [Movement for Rights and Freedoms] leader Ahmed Dogan on election night. Dogan proudly announced that support for the MRF has risen 20 per cent despite being in power for eight years. In Sunday's elections, the Movement had performed best in the years since it was formed, with its 600,000 votes.

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Ataka has toppled the Movement for Rights and Freedoms from power, according to its newspaper "Ataka". These elections had the most cases of electoral fraud and vote-buying. "We played against an enormous resource of millions, stolen from the Bulgarian people. Ataka stood its position as a party which puts national interests above all," according to Ataka leader Volen Siderov.

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"Klassa" gives prominence to the position of Order, Lawfulness, Justice leader Yane Yanev. He said that his party is ready to support the government without having its own ministers, but that they will wait for concrete proposals from GERB. "We do not want to be part of the executive power at any cost. Legislative power is far more important to us," Yanev said.

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A "Troud" interview with sociologist Andrei Raichev headlines "Balancer Dogan Is Sidelined". According to Raichev, the MRF is neither used to being in a 'wing' position, nor had it been prepared for it mentally. As a wing, the Movement is given two tasks: to gain more supporters, because the only thing that matters for a wing is size. And the second task is to seek aggressive dialogue. Raichev says that Blue Coalition co-leader Ivan Kostov is making a comeback, but that he cannot rule instead of Boiko Borissov with such a large margin in the vote for both parties. Kostov drew a thin line by giving his support to what Borissov promises to do and not to Borissov himself. As far as Sergei Stanishev is concerned, Raichev thinks that he should not resign at this particular times.

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Sociologist Miroslava Radeva tracks down where votes for Borissov came from in an article in "24 Chassa". Some 91 per cent of those who voted in the June 7 European elections repeated their vote. Former supporters of the National Movement for Surge and Stability (25 per cent), Order, Lawfulness, Justice and LEADER (15 per cent each), the FORWARD Coalition (32 per cent), Ataka (10 per cent) and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (6 per cent) swung in favour of GERB. The surge in the number of votes comes from winning over 43 per cent of those who did not vote in the European elections. Some 52 per cent of those who voted for the United Democratic Forces in the 2005 parliamentary elections chose GERB, as well as 62 per cent of NMSS supporters, 41 per cent of Bulgarian People's Union supporters and 21 per cent of Bulgarian Socialist Party supporters. Some 53 per cent of those who did not vote in 2005 have voted for GERB.

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In an interview for "Sega", sociologist Vassil Tonchev said that this time Dogan got his strategy wrong. According to Tonchev, from Dogan's controversial statement about his distributing of "financial portions" to the end of the campaign the MRF leader had been on the wrong pathway. Dogan kept saying that he could not be bypassed in forming a future government and that he would stay in power, which is impossible now.

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"Klassa" runs an interview with sociologist Kuncho Stoichev, who says that GERB is ready with a scenario for a triple coalition. Stoichev attributes the defeat of the socialists to their ill-defined objectives. He says that the Bulgarian Socialist Party wanted to stay in power and that it was ready to coalesce with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms or even with GERB. Their biggest mistake was their failure to gauge correctly people's attitudes.

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"PACE Will Reopen Monitoring of Bulgaria", reports "24 Chassa". PACE observers will propose that monitoring of Bulgaria be reopened, according to Professor Tadeusz Iwinski, Head of the PACE delegation. The proposal will be put forward in Strasbourg in September, when the delegation report will be made public.

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"Vezhdi Rashidov Breaks Into Dogan's Fortress," writes "Troud". For the first time in nine years not all Kurdjali seats in Parliament are of the MRF. Rashidov won one of the seats for
GERB.

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"Sega" reports that a deputy of Emergency Situations Minister Emel Etem has been detained for vote-buying. Alexander Filipov was also charged with trade of influence.


ECONOMY

"Purse Strings Loosen for Municipalities," writes "Troud". On Monday the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said that it would give another 35 million euro to Bulgaria for municipal infrastructure projects. The loan will be absorbed through the FLAG [Fund for Local Authorities and Government ] Fund, which was set up in 2007. Its tasks is to facilitate the implementation of EU projects by providing financial aid to municipalities.

BULGARIA-EU

"EC Congratulates Borissov, Thanks Stanishev," writes "24 Chassa". Barroso congratulated GERB leader Boiko Borissov on the clear election victory. He also spoke positively of outgoing prime minister Sergei Stanishev, with whom the Commission has worked in good cooperation and who stood for European values. "Bulgaria is a country with economic potential, with a rich history and culture, which is now in a vital phase of the development of the process of reforms and of its EU membership," Barroso said.







Links to some Bulgarian info websites in English:

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



Most discussed topics of the day – July 7, 2009


• The names of the new government’s future ministers in today’s dailies are not true, said Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov, who is expected to be the next Bulgarian prime minister. The government will be ready at the end of the next week, he confirmed, and added he had worked out the criteria the candidate for next Sofia mayor should live up to.
“What is important for a mayor is to have financing and projects ensured. In this case he will have both financing and projects. There will be also a government that will treat Sofia like a capital, not as if it is foreign, and will not create waste crisis and problems,” said Borisov.

• “Leader”, “Ataka” and “MRF” are to be the biggest vote buyers around the parliament elections, according to Emilia Peneva from the Supreme Cassation Prosecution. She added that in Plovdiv there are already people with sentences for buying votes.