Bulgarian Press Review, October 9, 2009

Press Review
Sofia, October 9 (BTA)

HOME SCENE

"30 Magistrates Ensnared in Krassyo the Swarthy's Net," "Troud" says in a headline. Three members of the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), Stoyko Stoev, Ivan Dimov and Plamen Stoilov, had their calls with "Krassyo, swarthy and with gold chain necklaces" intercepted. Krassyo, i.e. Krassimir Georgiev from Pleven is the "hero" of the most outrageous scandal involving trading in influence. Allegedly, he had the SJC majority (13 members) under his influence and could fix the election of people to high positions in the judiciary for 200,000 euro. The stunning news came from Prosecutor General Boris Velchev during a SJC meeting on Thursday. Krassyo had the telephones of 30 magistrates in his notebook. "We are not guilty," the three members of the SJC said. None of them intends to resign. A five-member commission of the SJC will take up the case of the "vote trading."

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"Vurbanov: The Court Recalled Me from Parliament under Pressure," "24 Chassa' writes. Pressure has been pu on the Constitutional Court to change the mandates in Parliament, independent MP Ventsislav Vurbanov said. Under a ruling of the Constitutional Court, he and his colleague Byurhan Abazov from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) must leave the National Assembly. On Thursday the Court adopted an unprecedented decision, according to which that the Blue Coalition had been deprived by mistake of 24 votes with which its candidate running for the Rousse constituency could have made it to Parliament. Now Mihail Mihailov from the United Democratic Forces (in the Blue Coalition), who petitioned the Court, will enter Parliament. However, the Blue Coalition loses a seat in Parliament to Roushen Riza from the MRF who ran in the elections for the Dobrich constituency. The Constitutional Court instructed the Central Electoral Commission to make the changes legitimate.

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"All except Ataka voted against GERB," "Troud" says. On Thursday Parliament passed at first reading a bill amending the Special Surveillance Means (SSM) Act under which the National Bureau for Control of SSM would be closed down. The Left accused GERB of applying political control. The MRF said GERB did not comply with a 2007 judgement of the European Court of Human Rights which says that there must be an independent political authority monitoring the use of SSM. Democrats for Strong Bulgaria leader Ivan Kostov also criticized the bill.

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"Petko Sertov Handed Over to prosecuting Authorities," "Troud" says. The National Assembly Committee for Control of the State Agency for National Security (SANS) is handing over the case of former SANS Chief Petko Sertov and SANS former adviser Aleksei Petrov to Prosecutor General Boris Vulchev over the notorious Galeria spying operation. This became clear on Thursday when Ivan Kostov read the official opinion of the Committee which he chairs. According to the Committee, there was no legal ground to launch Operation Galeria, and Sertov has been unable to say which is the classified information leaked to the media that prompted the operation.

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"Begins the Autumn of Dying Parties" is the headline of an interview "Troud" held with history professor Dragan Draganov. In his view, after the local government elections the Union of Democratic Forces and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria will gradually disappear from the political scene. The most logical development for the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), in addition to the possible, though belayed, resignation of Sergei Stanishev as its leader, would be for all its elderly activists to go and give way to a much younger generation. The National Movement for Surge and Stability (NMSS) has disappeared long ago; however, as Bulgaria is a weird state, the party has seats in the European Parliament, though not in the Bulgarian one. The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization is practically non-existent, it is just a "nostalgic idea," and in the 221st
Century nostalgia just does not work. Gergyovden, LIDER, Order, Lawfulness, Justice have also gone. Ataka is now under the wing of GERB which has taken over all its functions. The MRF is in a deep isolation, which is a mistake on the part of the other politicians. Because the contemporary model of sustainable democracy requires the so-called "community coexistence," Draganov says.

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"Only spectacles are not enough," Mediana polling agency Chief Kolyo Kolev says in "Troud." According to a poll of the agency, in a month alone the new incumbents have lost 6-7 per cent of their approval rating. The number of Bulgarians who until a month ago were ready to vote for GERB is also 6-7 per cent down.

ECONOMY

"Tax Chief and 12 Auditors Dismissed over Violations in Rousse," "Troud" reports. Thirteen employees of the local directorate of the National Revenue Agency (NRA) plus the chief of the directorate, Lyubomir Dimitrov, have been dismissed for complicity in VAT frauds, the NRA directorate said on Thursday.

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Health Minister Bozhidar Nanev says in "24 Chassa" that a 10 per cent in the prices of cigarettes would cut down the number of smokers by 4 per cent. He hails the idea of Finance Minister Simeon Djankov about raising the excise duties payable on tobacco products and alcohol. Now only 1 per cent of these excise duties go to the Health Ministry.

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An economist, a trade unionist and a lawyer discuss proposals for amendments to the package of tax laws for "Standart News." Peter Ganev from the Market economy institute argues that the excise duty rates in Bulgaria are anyway high and should not be changed, they should rather be kept to the minimum level required by the EU. The hope is that a possible rise would be offset by a reduction in social insurance contributions. According to Plamen Dimitrov, Vice President of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria, the financial restrictions would lead to contraction of consumption and, therefore, of production and the GDP growth, resulting in a drop in the revenue from direct taxes going to the Exchequer. This is a vicious circle which would not help this country pull out faster from the crisis, Dimitrov notes. Lawyer Mihail Ekimdjiev warns that charging VAT on legal services will cause a problem with people's right to legal defence as Bulgarians are the poorest in the EU and if they have to pay VAT, they would not be able to afford to hire lawyers to defend them.

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BULGARIA - EU

"Brussels Attacks Construction in Irakli, Strandja and Pirin," "Dnevnik" writes on its front page. After scores of protest actions by environmentalists against illegal construction projects in Irakli (an area on the Black Sea coast), the Strandja Mountains and Mount Pirin in recent years, the European Commission intervened on Thursday warning Bulgaria in writing that the anarchy must come to an end. Brussels sent warnings about four separate instances of failure to provide adequate protection for its natural heritage insisting to suspend the construction of three projects and to prepare immediately estimates of the environmental damage caused.

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 9, 2009

· Bulgaria’s right-wing Blue Coalition leader Ivan Kostov has urged the GERB government to tell the truth about the “chaos” left by the three-way coalition government. Kostov read in Parliament Friday a declaration of the Blue Coalition prompting his rightist allies from GERB to name the serious problems inherited from the Stanishev government, “which are so serious that it is hard to speak about them.” “Stand up and speak out so that I don’t have to do it instead of you because I know what is going to follow,” the Blue Coalition leader said.

· US President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his extraordinary international diplomacy. The Nobel Committee said he was awarded it for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples". The committee highlighted Obama's efforts to strengthen international bodies and promote nuclear disarmament.