Bulgarian Press Review, September 25, 2009

Press Review
Sofia, September 25 (BTA)

THE HOME SCENE

Under the headline "Kovachki Nailed," "Troud" reports that on Thursday the Sofia City Court froze immovables and movables, corporate interests and bank accounts belonging to one of the wealthiest Bulgarians, businessman Hristo Kovachki, and members of his family, worth a record 143 million leva-plus. "The Kovachki garnishment is the greatest score of the Criminal Assets Identification Commission since its establishment in 2005. Experts find a glaring difference between the declared income and the expenses of the energy mogul. "I will prove that I am right in court," Kovachki reacted in a statement for the daily.

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"Troud" quotes Prime Minister Boyko Borissov as saying that "if you harm a policeman, you face double penalty." "This is an unwritten rule worldwide, which is why nobody should dare lift a hand against a uniformed officer," the PM emphasized after visiting policeman Dimiter Dimitrov at the Interior Ministry Hospital on Thursday. Dimitrov was attacked and beaten up by a drugs dealer. "I have ordered the deputy interior ministers to have the law amended very soon, introducing very stringent sanctions in such cases. The law must be crystal clear: nothing but imprisonment for an assault against a policeman."

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Under the heading "SANS Report Like Loch Ness Monster," "Monitor" carries an interview with Prosecutor General Boris Velchev. The report in question was allegedly prepared by the State Agency for National Security (SANS) and allegedly named at least ten corrupt government ministers. Velchev describes the situation as "absurd" and stresses that right from the beginning it became clear that there is no such report. "A minister will not be convicted unless evidence of his guilt is collected. A minister will be convicted when the prosecution collects evidence of the guilt of the official concerned and the court admits this evidence as sufficient."

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Interviewed for "Troud," National Association of Municipalities President and Smolyan Mayor Dora Yankova describe as "chaotic" the debate over the abolition of 53 municipalities. "All that talk gives rise to tension among mayors. The National Association of Municipalities is inundated with letters demanding a clarification of the situation. The mayors insist on a principled position on the setting up and abolition of municipalities in Bulgaria. And above all on the possible consequences of such a decision."

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"Oligarchy is in a new phase of mutation," sociologist Antonii Gulubov told "Sega." He notes that the model of post-totalitarian oligarchy, established in Bulgaria some eight years ago, has evolved very rapidly. "In the first weeks and months of the new government, one of the most serious challenges will be precisely to differentiate the strategies of this type of corporate interests which will seek an opportunity for an accommodation with the new power-holders, the way they had reached full accord with the previous ones. Undoubtedly, there is tension; acute conflicts over influence redistribution are unfolding beneath the deceptively calm surface of public life."

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"Many Congresses, Few Surprises:" under this heading, "Troud" comments that "the principal parties will hold congresses one after the other as from November, but passions will rise to red hot only in the Bulgarian Socialist Party. In December, Boyko Borissov will be formally installed as leader of GERB. The high point of the forum will be his speech, which will be structured on a carrot and stick basis. The BSP is in a conundrum. The red realize that they are at a dead end and the October 18 congress will decide nothing. On December 12 and 13, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms will hold a sad congress of those who lost power despite doing so well in the elections. The severest test that the party faces is how to cope with the aggression that has built up against it. For once, the Union of Democratic Forces will hold its forum according to its statute - after the revisions pushed through by former leader Plamen Yuroukov, a new party leadership must be elected after each parliamentary election. The congress of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization in October is also expected to be dramatic, considering that they failed to return a single candidate of theirs to Parliament. In November, the National Movement for Surge and Stability is expected to elect a "new king." After the July 5 election debacle, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha resigned.

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"The future of the BSP depends on the Sofia mayoral byelections," argues Georgi Kadiev, who was formally nominated by the Socialists for mayor of the capital city. In a "Novinar" interview, Kadiev asserts that the Socialists need a new policy and a new chairman. He admits that he finds it easier to race at the expert level, but the real race is the political one.

ECONOMY

In an interview for "Troud", Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov agrees that the policy he implements hinders a lot of interests. "I see Borissov three or four times a day, so as long as he is behind me, and so are the security guards, and the public, too, which wants this do happen, I don't care about the sharks. The task of Mr Borissov and Mr Tsvetanov is to defend everybody who get the reform going. My job is to put public finances in order - on a tight schedule," the Minister says. "Where have 400 million leva vanished, allocated by the budget for a joint venture between the National Electric Company and the Russian side for the construction of the Belene Nuclear Power Plant?" Djankov asks. "So far nothing has been built in Belene, the company has not been incorporated, and the money has gone." The 400 million were committed on a proposal by former economy minister Peter Dimitrov, but without the approval of finance minister Plamen Oresharski. The mystery is expected to be solved by the National Audit Office, which is now auditing the National Electric Company and the Bulgarian Energy Forum.

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In "24 Chassa", Dimo Gyaourov MP of the Blue Coalition warns that "the debt deal may cost us a loss of 4,000 million leva." He suggests that independent researcher’s invesigate the 2002 swap of Bulgaria's foreign debt. Gyaourov argues that at that time there was no information, it was unclear whether an analysis of the consequences and the benefits of the operation had been made. These questions remain unanswered to this very day. According to Gyaourov, the deal is not only unprofitable for taxpayers but probably somebody derived a personal benefit from it. Back in 2002 experts asserted that the State would lose a lump sum of 300 to 500 million leva. At present, they are already talking about 700-800 million leva. "In the long term, the losses may allegedly reach 2,000-3,000-4,000 million leva," the MP says. "Pari" recalls that the Bulgarian debt swap was implemented by then finance minister Milen Velchev. It was approved by Parliament, and all that political fuss is therefore unnecessary.

"Troud" reports that the wholesale price of natural gas will rise 2.49 per cent to 374.13 leva/1,000 cu m before VAT as from October 1. The move was considered by the State Energy and Water Regulatory Agency on Thursday. The increase is due to the appreciation of oil and petroleum products, on which the price of Russian gas is based. The hike is insignificant and will not lead to an adjustment of the price of heat power. As from January 1, 2010, however, natural gas will surge by 20 per cent or even more, state-owned Bulgargaz forecasts.

"Troud" reports that the ceiling on all newly granted pensions after January 1, 2010 will be lifted. "This is provided for in the Social Insurance Code, and the laws are there to be observed," Deputy Social Policy Minister Hristina Mitreva said on Thursday after the first meeting of the new Consultative Council on Pension Reform. According to Mitreva, an average 93,000 persons will retire in 2010. "The self-insured and the employers who do not pay retirement and health insurance contributions or understate the wages of their employees will risk imprisonment," writes "Sega", quoted Labour and Social Policy Minister Totyu Mladenov.

"No More Experiments in Health Sector, Please," "Sega" comments. It notes that some of Health Minister Bozhidar Nanev's reform ideas are, "to put it mildly, mind-boggling and infeasible." "For instance, giving part of the package of the National Health Insurance Fund to the private health insurance funds. Even now, people can contract supplementary insurance for the same things that the funds have yet to offer them. Interest, however, is rather lukewarm: the market is for some 30 million leva, thanks to corporate clients that ensure their employees. When the private funds are allowed into compulsory health insurance, pre-hospital care will obviously be driven to such a state that people will be compelled to take out a 'voluntary' insurance just to be able to see a doctor."

FOREIGN POLICY

In an analysis on the election of Irina Bokova as Director-General of UNESCO, "24 Chassa" writes that most Bulgarians learnt the news with mixed feelings. On the one hand, there is the patriotic fervour that a fellow Bulgarian is heading such an important world organization. On the other hand, there is her connection to the communist nomenklatura: she is a daughter of the former editor-in-chief of "Rabotnichesko Delo" Georgi Bokov. But what matters more is that Bokova's victory is perceived as a moral triumph. A triumph of the ethical imprative over real politics. That is to say, values take the upper hand of interests in international relations."

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 – September 25, 2009

• Bulgaria Mobile Communication Prices Down 30% by July 2010. Prices of terminated calls between mobile operators and of mobile and fixed telephone connections at wholesale price as of July 1, 2010 would fall to European, said chairperson of the Communications Regulation Commission Veselin Bozhkov.

• Loses of the FC Levski amount to BGN 2 million, said executive director of the club Konstantin Bazhdekov during news conference. In his words loses are due to change in methods and accountancy of the club. Revenues of the team over the last year amounted to BGN 11 million and expanse-about BGN 13 million. About BGN 1 mollion have been paid for insurances of football players.

• The construction of the Shipka tunnel may commence in 2014, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Rosen Plevneliev said at the National Assembly Friday.