Bulgarian Press Review, October 26, 2009

Press Review
Sofia, October26 (BTA)

THE HOME SCENE

Under the headline "Prime-Ministerial Duel" "Troud" reports that Prime Minister Boyko Borissov Saturday called for the arrest of his predecessor and Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Seergei Stanishev over a missing classified report by the State Agency for National Security (SANS) on persons and circles exercising "destructive influences" on ministries and other state departments. Stanishev is quoted as saying, "It is naпve to think that I concealed the report and give it to somebody to protect him or her". "It is in my best interests to have a serious check of the case as it will show that there was no umbrella for anybody during my political mandate," the former Prime Minister said during a meeting with BSP supporters in the northern town of Byala Slatina.

"Ataka" reports that Mp Volen Siderov intends to move for stripping Stanishev of immunity as an MP to allow an investigation.

"24 Chassa" writes in a commentary that the 30-page report could "first shut down the Bulgarian FBI and then lock up some senior civil servants". It also says that Prime Minister Borissov gave SANS Saturday an ultimatum of a month or two to start working efficiently.

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"Douma" leads with a story saying that Prime Minister Borissov is expected to appear Monday as a witness in the trial of drug lord Srten Josic at the Belgrade District Court. He will have to say whether he, in his capacity as chief secretary of the Interior Ministry (2001-05), provided protection for Josic.

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A front-page story in "Troud" reports that Health Ministry staffers were paid hefty honoraria - 25,000 to 50,000 leva each - for participating in the accreditation of health care establishments. The money was paid over a period of three years by hospitals and other medical establishments to the members of the Accreditation Board headed by Krassimir Gigov (former Health Ministry secretary) and the Unit for Administrative and Technical Services. The payment was done by an absolutely legal procedure, says the paper.

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"Novinar" leads with the warnings that the country's 12 psychiatric hospitals are faced with imminent closure as they have no money to pay their bills for heating, medicines and food. The paper quotes national psychiatry consultant Prof. Vihra Milanova and the directors of some of the biggest psychiatric hospitals in Bulgaria. The medics warned that if these hospitals are shut down, patients with serious disorders and people with addictions will be left in the street, says the story.

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Almost 80 per cent of Bulgarians are supportive of strict assessment of students' discipline in class, according to a Gallupp poll for "Klassa" daily.

"Sega" writes that nearly 86 per cent of seventh-graders spent all their free time in front of the computer. As many have Internet at home. Other options for spending their time outside school are watching TV (77.5 per cent) or be some place else (81.6 per cent), according to a study by the Centre for Education Quality Control and Assessment with the Education Ministry.

A total of 94 students from the Plovdiv Technical University are dropping out of school because the records of their studies have gone missing, "24 Chassa" reports in a front-page story.
Six of the students have even defended their degree thesis when it emerged that there is no documentary evidence to prove that they have passed all their exams. The case is being probed by prosecutors.

ECONOMY

With 11 deals for 257.87 million euro, Bulgaria is in the Top 3 of transactions for investment in share capital, "Klassa" reports. Between September 2008 and August 2009, the number of such deals in Southeastern Europe dropped to 63 from 99 and their value contracted to 3.12 billion euro from 5.76 million, the paper says quoting a ISI Deal Watch report.

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The construction of Trakia Motorway started this coming spring with impeccable documents, Regional Development and Public Works Minister Rosen Plevneliev says in a "Standard News" interview. The paper highlights the Minister's words that the annual vignette stickers that drivers are required to have to use motorways and first-grade roads, will be more expensive next year.

Thirteen Bulgarian companies have technical and HR potential to participate in the construction of the Trakia Motorway, "Troud" writes quoting the Bulgarian Roads Chamber. These companies could set up several consortiums to be able to meet the requirements for participation in the upcoming tender procedures, Chamber President Roumen Yovchev says.

The paper recalls that 116 km of the motorway that links Sofia with the Black Sea at Bourgas remain to be built. They will be split in three lots. Funding will be provided by the Operational Programme for Transport which has a total of 990 million euro for motorways. The government wants to have Trakia completed in 2012.

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Under the headline "Pensions Go Up after June, Wages in the Freezer", "24 Chassa" writes that the 2010 draft budget has 7.2 billion leva for pensions and 1.77 billion leva for the state administration. It is clear that the minimum wage will remain 240 leva and there will be no adjustment of civil servants' wages, the paper says. The fiscal reserve is set a minimum of 6.3 billion leva. The Finance Minister needs what the paper calls "a life belt" of 500 million leva to have a balanced budget.

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Out of 25 countries covered in a survey, Bulgarians are among the most fearful of losing their job, "24 Chassa" writes. The fear is here even after the average monthly income of households went up 100 leva over a year to 846 leva in June. Bulgarians' fear of losing their job is the 4th strongest in the survey with 47 per cent, after Indonesia (71 per cent), Argentina (59 per cent) and Turkey (49 per cent).

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More than two in five Bulgarians (or 42.7 per cent) are dissatisfied with life, 40 per cent with their career and 58 with their living standards, "24 Chassa" writes quoting Prof. Valentina Zlatanova of the Institute of Sociology with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In all three areas Bulgarians have the highest dissatisfaction rate among 8 surveyed countries (Bulgaria, Russia, Romania, Polans, Slovenia, Spain, Germany and Belgium). One in four Bulgarians says he lives for the day. Only one in three is able to save for old age - against 69 per cent in Belgium, 64 per cent in Germany and approximately half of Spaniards and Slovenians, Prof. Zlatanova says.

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An average of 2,317 leva will be taken away from each working person next year in the form of taxes and medical and social insurance contributions, says "Troud". With an economically active population of some 3 million, the receipts will be smaller than this year. For example, the receipts from personal income tax are set at 1.987 billion leva in next year's budget against 2 billion this year. There will be a negligible increase of revenue from medical insurance contributions only. In total 134 leva less will be taken away by the government this year from each working person due to the decreased social insurance and the increase in unemployment.

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In a "Monitor" interview, the CEO of the Sofia heating utility, Petko Milevski, says that 1,000 of the company debtors will be taken to court every month in a bid to increase the collection of bills.

FOREIGN POLICY

Asked by "Troud" about the irregularities in Bulgarian elections in Turkey and the United States and about what she plans to do with the Ambassadors there - Luchezar Petkov and Branimir Mladenov, Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva says she will do what Bulgarian people expect of her. "Unfortunately, the violations that we established there are not unprecedented. Such things have happened in the past 20 years but nothing has been done about it. If ours is a democratic society which wants to end suspiciouns of [voting] manipulations once and for all, this is the time to do it. If we donТt do what we have to do, the suspicions will remain, as well as the possibility for the same violations to be done in the future," says Jeleva.

JUSTICE, HOME AFFAIRS

Somebody may be going to jail for a controversial deal for purchase of aircraft for the government air fleet, if a lower price is found for the same, says "24 Chassa".

Last year, the previous government purchased two Airbus A319 planes worth 44.2 million dollars each with a payment period of 5 years. The airplanes arrived in Sofia in June. The new Transport Minister, Aleksandar Tsvetkov, said that the procurement procedure was marred by irregularities and the new government decided last month to keep only one of the Airbuses and send back the second. The prosecuting magistracy has opened pretrial proceedings against culpable officials from the Transport Ministry over the purchase of the two airplanes.

The paper quotes former Transport Minister Peter Moutafchiev as saying that his "conscience is clean no matter what political campaign Boyko Borissov starts with his ministers to disgrace my name".

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 – October 26, 2009

· Bulgaria PM Boyko Borisov has further criticized former PM Sergey Stanishev for his handling of a top secret intelligence report of the State National Security Agency (SANS). Borisov, speaking in an interview on BNT Monday, stated that “before one becomes a Prime Minister... he must know how to work with classified information. When a secret document is sent to one person he must keep hold of it.” He added that he expected the Chief Prosecutor to announce charges against the accused officials who have contributed to the current situation later Monday.
In another interview on Monday Boyko Borisov also said: “If it turns out that DANS has been created to generate scandals and problems, it could be closed down. If it does not function, I am either going to shut it down, or I will have to restructure it completely, which is going to take a lot of time – something that we don’t have.”

Commenting on the same issue the Minister of Interior Tsvetan Tsvetanov said that there is a hypothesis that SANS has been established for party construction. He added that the major motive for using classified information from the service was to create a serious parliamentary group which to be “a standing factor of country’s government”.

Later today the Bulgarian conservative party “Order, Law, Justice” (OLJ) called on Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Stanishev to give up his immunity for the period that the investigating and judicial authorities are working on the scandalous SANS top secret report.

· The Bulgarian police have found the van with which 22-year-old student Rumen Guninski Jr., the son of a wealthy businessman from the town of Pravetz, had been kidnapped. The news about the discovery of the car was announced by Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov. According to him, the van has been burned out completely, and there were no traces left on it that could give clues to the investigators, which was a sign that the kidnappers were really professional.

· The Supreme Judicial Council announced that Angel Angelov - the district prosecutor of Burgas has filed his resignation as administrative head as a result of the latest sitting of the Council on October 22 and the appeal for magistrates who have kept in touch with the person Krasimir Georgiev form Pleven to file their resignations.