Press Review
Sofia, November 30 (BTA)
THE HOME SCENE
"Troud" quotes Prime Minister Boyko Borissov as saying that he would miss former Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha [2001-2005] after his exit on Saturday from politics. In an interview on the national radio, Borissov said that he felt regret over the lack of political class in Bulgaria and the fact that Coburg-Gotha with his wisdom was leaving politics. Borissov went on to say that Coburg-Gotha could be a role model for politicians like himself who are prone to act rashly. Coburg-Gotha gave up his leadership of the National Movement for Surge and Stability (NMSS) after Hristina Hristova succeeded him at the NMSS helm at an extraordinary congress.
***
"Troud" caps "Martin Dimitrov Leads in UDF Leadership Race". According to estimates of the headquarters of the Union of Democratic Forces based on a third of counted votes 67 per cent were for Dimitrov. The second place was contested by Lyuben Petrov and Roumen Hristov. Some 11,338 UDF members voted for a UDF leader and seven deputies.
***
In an interview for "24 Chassa", NMSS leader Hristina Hristova says the NMSS may nominate Meglena Kuneva's for president. Hristova specifies that this is her personal opinion as no talks have been held on Kuneva's bid. The new NMSS leader thinks that against the backdrop of rising political hatred people would soon start to look for tolerance, pragmatism and stability in the movement politics. The NMSS is an out-of-parliament opposition force, and their future partners would be sought among centre-right parties. Local chapters called on the movement to distance itself from its former coalition partners, the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the Movement for Rights and Freedom.
***
"Standart News" runs a comment in which the National Movement for Surge and Stability and the Union of Democratic Forces are called "dying swans". The author says that both parties have shipwrecked because of the same reason: "they abused the trust of people who believed in their ideals". They got involved in dubious practices and lost their moral compass. Today the smoke-filled landscape in the NMSS and the UDF is littered with political corpses and lurking pillagers. However, no new charismatic leaders are in sight, nor any inspiring messages which would bring them to life. The sad stories of the UDF and the NMSS could teach other major players, GERB and the Bulgarian Socialist Party, a lesson: that Bulgarians are quick to trust and even quicker to get disappointed."
***
In an interview for "Standart News", Environment Minister Nona Karadjova says that revenues from sales of toll stickers will be used to clean areas adjacent to roads. Karadjova confirms that court action against Bulgaria in the area of environment has been taken after alerts by non-governmental organizations. NGOs have even attempted to block projects which are environmentally safe.
***
In an interview for "Sega", MP Hassan Ademov of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) says that hospitals in MRF-dominated regions may be intentionally put at disadvantage. Ademov highlights the fact that some amendments to existing laws centralize health insurance, while others liberalize it. In 2010, the Health Insurance Fund (NHF) will not pay hospitals under clinical pathways for which no full-time specialists are employed. Many hospitals won't be working with the NHF and will be driven out of the market, warns Ademov.
***
In an interview for "Troud" ("Why Would Media Give out Sentences"), former labour minister Emilia Maslarova says that she has always strived for integrity in her work. She is categorical that allegations of embezzlement against her are unfair. Maslarova raises the question since when the Internet forums have replaced the judiciary. "When a power gives out sentences in the media and through Internet forums, this means that it is powerless and it is trying to crush its opponents not with facts, but by innuendos," says Maslarova.
ECONOMY
In a comment for "Troud", NMSS leader Hristina Hristova says that the budget will burden financially the young families. On the surface social expenditures in the 2010 budget have been increased (by 4.7 percentage points) and are declared a priority. Based on this fact and the fact that for the first time a budget sets 42 per cent of GDP for social spending, the budget has to be the most social of all budgets. But when you look deeper at how social expenditures are broken down, it turns out that the burden will fall on the most vulnerable groups: young families, the unemployed and people with disabilities.
***
"Troud" reports that banks will have to inform customers in a letter of any changes in interest rates on consumer loans under a bill tabled in Parliament. Once adopted, penal interest rates in case loans are cleared prematurely, sometimes reaching as high as 5 per cent, will become history. In the future they will not exceed 1 per cent, and if the interest rate is variable, no compensation will be due. Consumer loans in Bulgaria total 1,017 million leva.
***
"Sega" writes that low interest rates will not just happen. The article points that quick, easy and popular decisions do not work where interest rates are concerned. Daring reforms are needed which will bring Bulgaria closer to the Eurozone, which will sustain stability, increase trust, and make the country more attractive to investors. The stable budget is already bearing fruit and rates are no longer growing. In order to achieve positive results more reforms should be undertaken.
***
In a "Monitor" interview, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova vows not to raise municipal taxes. Fandakova is aware that the crisis is affecting families worst. The municipality will do its best to balance and improve compliance rates. It will also rely on external funding under operational programmes.
***
"Douma" reports that the National Association of Municipalities calls for a tax on uncultivated land to promote land consolidation and to develop a European type of agriculture. The Association says that uncultivated land in Bulgaria exceeds 550,000 ha. If a tax is levied on uncultivated land, owners will want to sell it, which will invigorate the land market.
BULGARIA-EU
In an interview for "Telegraf", Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva says that her portfolio is recognition for Bulgaria. She underscores that her portfolio is very important as disasters strike all the time all over the world. Jeleva says that she is pleased that she will report to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs. She says that Bulgaria has managed to carve for itself a very influential portfolio.
***
"24 Chassa" carries an analysis (So Saving People in Trouble Is Bad, Huh?) on the disappointment among certain groups over the portfolio Bulgarian EU Commissioner Rumiana Jeleva was offered [International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response]. The author recalls that in 2008 the European Commission spent nearly 1,000 million euro in 60 countries worldwide on crisis response. It is clear that this portfolio is extremely important as the Lisbon Treaty, which comes into force, sets out humanitarian aid as an independent policy. Taking into consideration the portfolio nature, its objectives and the huge funds set aside, all opinions which try to detract from it are foolish, ill-informed and do not respect human life.
***
"Sega" front-pages that EU member states will be able to seize assets in Bulgaria under an initiative for mutual recognition and execution of confiscation orders of the Council of the European Union.
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 – November 30, 2009
· University student Roumen Gouninski, who was kidnapped on October 19 2009, was released late on November 29, the Interior Ministry said. He was released by his kidnappers near the town of Elin Pelin just outside Sofia.
Gouninski was in good physical condition but in a bad psychological state given the time he had spent with kidnappers, Interior Ministry chief commissioner Klain Georgiev told private bTV on November 30 2009.
Both Georgiev and Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov refused to comment on whether Gouninski's father had paid a ransom to release his son amid speculation that 500 000 leva had been given to the kidnappers.
According to Tsvetanov, investigations were still underway and giving such information would only undermine police efforts to find the kidnappers. However, he said, the circumstances surrounding Gouninski's release bore similarities to various unsolved kidnappings over the past two years. This could suggest that the kidnappers were the same people, he said.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the father of Gouninski denied having paid a ransom to his son's kidnappers. Gouninski Jr. said he was well and was glad that everything was over. He added that the kidnappers treated him well.
· Actress and model Dessy Zidarova was viciously beaten by two men at around 9pm on November 29 2009 in Sofia's Lozenets borough, police said. She sustained serious leg injuries in the attack and was subsequently admitted to hospital. Her life is not said to be in any danger. She was attacked while leaving her beauty salon together with a male employee who also injured while trying to help her.
Zidarova's colleague, however, only sustained mild injuries and was discharged by doctors. According to Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, this suggested that the brutal attack was aimed directly at Zidarova.
· An earthquake measuring about 3.5-3.7 by Richter scale has been registered in the country at 7.48 am on Monday, the Civil Protection press office announced. The epicenter of the jolt was located some 430 km northeastern from the capital Sofia. The tremor was probably felt in some towns and villages in Dobrich and Varna district.
mandag den 30. november 2009
lørdag den 28. november 2009
Bulgarian press review, November 27, 2009
Press Review
Sofia, November 27 (BTA)
Under the heading "Bozhkov, State Clash Head On over Gambling," "Dnevnik" writes that the conclusive increase of the tax on gambling elicited a stormy reaction from businessman Vassil Bozhkov, who lashed out against Finance Minister Simeon Djankov and ex-prime minister Ivan Kostov. On Thursday Parliament unanimously approved a flat 15 per cent tax rate for all games of chance. So far the earnings from toto and lotto and from bets on sporting events: the state totalizator, LottoChance of the Eurobet operator (controlled by Bozhkov) and the Eurofootball bookmaker (in which Bozhkov is a shareholder) were taxed 10 per cent, and the rate for the rest was 12 per cent, the daily explains.
"An unbalanced finance minister and a father of corruption commit genocide," Bozhkov told Pro.bg, quoted by "24 Chassa," referring to Djankov and Kostov, respectively. "Just imagine how self-important a person should be to confront Parliament, which is the sovereign of state power," Kostov commented to "24 Chassa." "How far you must have lost track of your own significance to confront a unanimously voting Parliament," he adds.
"Bulgarians take a negative view of gambling, but only of the type in which they do not bet," "24 Chassa" writes, interpreting the results of an Alpha Research survey according to which 43 per cent of the respondents do not gamble while 57 per cent mostly play the totalizator, lotteries and media games. "Totalizator and lottery players do not perceive them as gambling," Alpha Research owner Stanislav Stoyanov explains. To regular betters, real gambling is "shady", an "amusement for rich people with lots of money" (49.7 per cent). The figures are also reproduced on "Novinar's" front page.
* * *
"The richest government ministers - lawfully - are Vezhdi Rashidov [of Culture] and Rosen Plevneliev [of Regional Development and Public Works]," "Troud" writes in its top story. "The Bulgarian National Audit Office made public the financial interests disclosure statements of senior public officials, which reveal that the Minister of Culture holds 1,953,000 leva in cash and on bank deposit and owns numerous properties. Construction Minister Rosen Plevneliev owns five houses and a deposit of 189,000 leva, and expects to receive 1 million euro from companies he has left," the paper writes. According to "24 Chassa," the richest Cabinet members include Finance Minister
Simeon Djankov, who declared a house in Washington, D.C., acquired for 2.15 million leva in 2001. Djankov has contracted a loan of 540,000 US dollars, and he and his wife hold on deposit 43,820 leva and 242,000 dollars. "Djankov Repays USD 540,000 Loan," reads a front-page headline in "Standart News." Prime Minister Boyko Borissov notifed the National Audit Office that there is no change in his financial interests. As Mayor of Sofia, in 2008 he declared land parcels in Bankya and Dragalevtsi and 125,000 leva on deposit," "24 Chassa" says.
Movement for Rights and Freedoms Ahmed Dogan disclosed 366,590 leva income from non-economic activity for 2008, "Standart News" reports. According to the daily, Dogan owns a single immovable property: a yard plot of 1,374 ha with a brickwork building.
* * *
"Troud" has interviewed Simeon Djankov's father. Dencho Djankov, 76, a former power engineer at the Kremikovtzi Iron and Steel Works, lives in Razgrad and has not seen his son since 1987. Djankov Sr. attributes the estrangement to the then strained relations with his former wife and his mother-in-law.
"168 Chassa" writes that in 2007 Stoyan Sariiski, a boyfriend of Boyko Borissov's daughter, held participating interests in two companies jointly with the PM's cohabitee, banker Tsvetelina Borislavova. Interviewed for "Standart News," Borislavova, who chairs the Supervisory Board of the EIBank, says: "We rolled back loans to safeguard the business community." "Instead of waiting for foreign investments, we must open our plants," she argues.
* * *
"24 Chassa" reports on its front page that proposed amendments to the Civil Aviation Act provide that the President, the Prime Minister and the Chair of the National Assembly pay the expenditures on the government aircraft. So far this spending was part of the Transport Ministry budget, but if the aircraft was reserved by a minister of head of an agency, the expenditures were for the account of the respective central-government department. "Let the Administration of the President, the National Assembly and the Government have budgets for flights and do their reckoning. When they run out of money, they will not fly," Transport Minister Aleksandar Tsvetkov commented to the daily.
"We have no financial resources for a guarantee fund in agriculture," Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov says in an interview for "Telegraf."
Mladen Chervenyakov of the Bulgarian Socialist Part told a "24 Chassa" interviewer that the ouster of Emilia Maslarova as chair of the National Assembly Labour and Social Policy Committee is a "legal absurdity." "More than 200 persons have been dismissed from the central-government departments by an identical method: 'punitive panels' are formed, which review all files of civil servants and at the end of the day present the victim with two documents: a letter of resignation or an order of dismissal for breach of discipline," Chervenyakov says.
* * *
Four aspirants contest the office of chairman of the National Movement for Surge and Stability (NMSS), vacated by Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha: former ministers Nikolay Vassilev and Hristina Hristova, former MEP Biliana Raeva, and financier Iliya Lingorski, "Troud" reports. "I don't know who wants to be NMSS leader but I do know that the NMSS cannot exist without the king," former NMSS MP Andrei Batashov told "24 Chassa."
ECONOMY
A signed comment in "Troud" says that after leaving central Sofia without electricity for two hours on Wednesday evening, CEZ did not apologize but even had the cheek to announce on Thursday that it will double the fee for reconnection to the network: from 19 to 40 leva within three days and from 40 to 80 leva within the same day. The author argues that the company applies a double standard: if a public subscriber does not pay its bill, it is not disconnected, while the ordinary citizen is cut off.
"The crisis is over, but the depression will be even worse and will last between four and six years," financial expert Emil Harsev says in a "Troud" interview.
JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS
Nine inmates of the Sofia Prison carry the HIV virus. They are not hospitalized but are in the general population because they have not developed the disease, "Troud" found on site, dismissing rumours of an AIDS epidemic with dozens of infected in the correctional facility. "The prisoners are accommodated between 4 and 10 per cell with a shared lavatory. We respect the rule of confidentiality and do not disclose the identities of the HIV positive. I myself do not know who they are," Sofia Prison Deputy Director Tsvetan Tsvetkov says. "Because of another European rule, the prison management test for AIDS only those of the newly committed prisoners who volunteer," the paper writes.
"Eight hundred policemen guard 1,300 trains and 720 stations," Transport Police Chief Vassil Kostadinov says in an interview for "Troud." "Of some 1,000 thefts reported, we have detected 54 per cent," he notes. "That was the statistics until early 2009, but this is no longer the case as the disastrous reform of the Interior Ministry then made 300 Transport Police officers redundant," he adds. "The structure of the Transport Police was disrupted then, all 46 investigating police officers were taken away and scattered to regional directorates and all sorts of other places." "Now, when a theft, a beating, a murder is committed on some train with 200-300 and more passengers, the train stops and waits for an investigating police officer we have called from some precinct police department, to conduct an inspection," Kostadinov notes.
Reserve General Todor Boyadjiev has contributed an article to "Troud" under the heading "18 Years since the Execution of Bulgaria's Scientific Intelligence."
"The Traffic Police will not seize driving licences for speeding, but fines for all violations will soar," "Telegraf" writes on its front page, referring to amendments to the Road Traffic Act that are being drafted by MPs.
* * *
The full definite article should be scrapped from Standard Bulgarian because the rule for its use is artificial and its usage is strongly shaken by the new expressions used on the Internet and in the media, linguists of 14 universities discussed in Plovdiv, according to "Monitor."
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 – November 27, 2009
· Bulgarian Foreign Minister Roumyana Zheleva, whose nomination as International Co-operation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Commissioner was announced on November 27 2009, has welcomed getting a job linked to EU foreign policy. Zheleva told Bulgarian media that she was flattered and pleased by the appointment, announced along with the rest of the candidate commissioners by European Commission President Jose Barroso in Brussels. Zheleva, who became Foreign Minister in July 2009, said that she was glad that Bulgaria through its representative would have a role in building a common European foreign policy.
· Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov has accepted the resignation of Deputy Foreign Minster Krassimir Kostov, a Government media statement said on November 27 2009. According to the media statement, Kostov had requested to be relieved of this post for personal reasons, related to his membership of the communist-era State Security services. Two days earlier, the commission on the opening of the archives of the former communist State Security police had reported that three members of the current Government had worked for the State Security.
Sofia, November 27 (BTA)
Under the heading "Bozhkov, State Clash Head On over Gambling," "Dnevnik" writes that the conclusive increase of the tax on gambling elicited a stormy reaction from businessman Vassil Bozhkov, who lashed out against Finance Minister Simeon Djankov and ex-prime minister Ivan Kostov. On Thursday Parliament unanimously approved a flat 15 per cent tax rate for all games of chance. So far the earnings from toto and lotto and from bets on sporting events: the state totalizator, LottoChance of the Eurobet operator (controlled by Bozhkov) and the Eurofootball bookmaker (in which Bozhkov is a shareholder) were taxed 10 per cent, and the rate for the rest was 12 per cent, the daily explains.
"An unbalanced finance minister and a father of corruption commit genocide," Bozhkov told Pro.bg, quoted by "24 Chassa," referring to Djankov and Kostov, respectively. "Just imagine how self-important a person should be to confront Parliament, which is the sovereign of state power," Kostov commented to "24 Chassa." "How far you must have lost track of your own significance to confront a unanimously voting Parliament," he adds.
"Bulgarians take a negative view of gambling, but only of the type in which they do not bet," "24 Chassa" writes, interpreting the results of an Alpha Research survey according to which 43 per cent of the respondents do not gamble while 57 per cent mostly play the totalizator, lotteries and media games. "Totalizator and lottery players do not perceive them as gambling," Alpha Research owner Stanislav Stoyanov explains. To regular betters, real gambling is "shady", an "amusement for rich people with lots of money" (49.7 per cent). The figures are also reproduced on "Novinar's" front page.
* * *
"The richest government ministers - lawfully - are Vezhdi Rashidov [of Culture] and Rosen Plevneliev [of Regional Development and Public Works]," "Troud" writes in its top story. "The Bulgarian National Audit Office made public the financial interests disclosure statements of senior public officials, which reveal that the Minister of Culture holds 1,953,000 leva in cash and on bank deposit and owns numerous properties. Construction Minister Rosen Plevneliev owns five houses and a deposit of 189,000 leva, and expects to receive 1 million euro from companies he has left," the paper writes. According to "24 Chassa," the richest Cabinet members include Finance Minister
Simeon Djankov, who declared a house in Washington, D.C., acquired for 2.15 million leva in 2001. Djankov has contracted a loan of 540,000 US dollars, and he and his wife hold on deposit 43,820 leva and 242,000 dollars. "Djankov Repays USD 540,000 Loan," reads a front-page headline in "Standart News." Prime Minister Boyko Borissov notifed the National Audit Office that there is no change in his financial interests. As Mayor of Sofia, in 2008 he declared land parcels in Bankya and Dragalevtsi and 125,000 leva on deposit," "24 Chassa" says.
Movement for Rights and Freedoms Ahmed Dogan disclosed 366,590 leva income from non-economic activity for 2008, "Standart News" reports. According to the daily, Dogan owns a single immovable property: a yard plot of 1,374 ha with a brickwork building.
* * *
"Troud" has interviewed Simeon Djankov's father. Dencho Djankov, 76, a former power engineer at the Kremikovtzi Iron and Steel Works, lives in Razgrad and has not seen his son since 1987. Djankov Sr. attributes the estrangement to the then strained relations with his former wife and his mother-in-law.
"168 Chassa" writes that in 2007 Stoyan Sariiski, a boyfriend of Boyko Borissov's daughter, held participating interests in two companies jointly with the PM's cohabitee, banker Tsvetelina Borislavova. Interviewed for "Standart News," Borislavova, who chairs the Supervisory Board of the EIBank, says: "We rolled back loans to safeguard the business community." "Instead of waiting for foreign investments, we must open our plants," she argues.
* * *
"24 Chassa" reports on its front page that proposed amendments to the Civil Aviation Act provide that the President, the Prime Minister and the Chair of the National Assembly pay the expenditures on the government aircraft. So far this spending was part of the Transport Ministry budget, but if the aircraft was reserved by a minister of head of an agency, the expenditures were for the account of the respective central-government department. "Let the Administration of the President, the National Assembly and the Government have budgets for flights and do their reckoning. When they run out of money, they will not fly," Transport Minister Aleksandar Tsvetkov commented to the daily.
"We have no financial resources for a guarantee fund in agriculture," Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov says in an interview for "Telegraf."
Mladen Chervenyakov of the Bulgarian Socialist Part told a "24 Chassa" interviewer that the ouster of Emilia Maslarova as chair of the National Assembly Labour and Social Policy Committee is a "legal absurdity." "More than 200 persons have been dismissed from the central-government departments by an identical method: 'punitive panels' are formed, which review all files of civil servants and at the end of the day present the victim with two documents: a letter of resignation or an order of dismissal for breach of discipline," Chervenyakov says.
* * *
Four aspirants contest the office of chairman of the National Movement for Surge and Stability (NMSS), vacated by Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha: former ministers Nikolay Vassilev and Hristina Hristova, former MEP Biliana Raeva, and financier Iliya Lingorski, "Troud" reports. "I don't know who wants to be NMSS leader but I do know that the NMSS cannot exist without the king," former NMSS MP Andrei Batashov told "24 Chassa."
ECONOMY
A signed comment in "Troud" says that after leaving central Sofia without electricity for two hours on Wednesday evening, CEZ did not apologize but even had the cheek to announce on Thursday that it will double the fee for reconnection to the network: from 19 to 40 leva within three days and from 40 to 80 leva within the same day. The author argues that the company applies a double standard: if a public subscriber does not pay its bill, it is not disconnected, while the ordinary citizen is cut off.
"The crisis is over, but the depression will be even worse and will last between four and six years," financial expert Emil Harsev says in a "Troud" interview.
JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS
Nine inmates of the Sofia Prison carry the HIV virus. They are not hospitalized but are in the general population because they have not developed the disease, "Troud" found on site, dismissing rumours of an AIDS epidemic with dozens of infected in the correctional facility. "The prisoners are accommodated between 4 and 10 per cell with a shared lavatory. We respect the rule of confidentiality and do not disclose the identities of the HIV positive. I myself do not know who they are," Sofia Prison Deputy Director Tsvetan Tsvetkov says. "Because of another European rule, the prison management test for AIDS only those of the newly committed prisoners who volunteer," the paper writes.
"Eight hundred policemen guard 1,300 trains and 720 stations," Transport Police Chief Vassil Kostadinov says in an interview for "Troud." "Of some 1,000 thefts reported, we have detected 54 per cent," he notes. "That was the statistics until early 2009, but this is no longer the case as the disastrous reform of the Interior Ministry then made 300 Transport Police officers redundant," he adds. "The structure of the Transport Police was disrupted then, all 46 investigating police officers were taken away and scattered to regional directorates and all sorts of other places." "Now, when a theft, a beating, a murder is committed on some train with 200-300 and more passengers, the train stops and waits for an investigating police officer we have called from some precinct police department, to conduct an inspection," Kostadinov notes.
Reserve General Todor Boyadjiev has contributed an article to "Troud" under the heading "18 Years since the Execution of Bulgaria's Scientific Intelligence."
"The Traffic Police will not seize driving licences for speeding, but fines for all violations will soar," "Telegraf" writes on its front page, referring to amendments to the Road Traffic Act that are being drafted by MPs.
* * *
The full definite article should be scrapped from Standard Bulgarian because the rule for its use is artificial and its usage is strongly shaken by the new expressions used on the Internet and in the media, linguists of 14 universities discussed in Plovdiv, according to "Monitor."
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 – November 27, 2009
· Bulgarian Foreign Minister Roumyana Zheleva, whose nomination as International Co-operation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Commissioner was announced on November 27 2009, has welcomed getting a job linked to EU foreign policy. Zheleva told Bulgarian media that she was flattered and pleased by the appointment, announced along with the rest of the candidate commissioners by European Commission President Jose Barroso in Brussels. Zheleva, who became Foreign Minister in July 2009, said that she was glad that Bulgaria through its representative would have a role in building a common European foreign policy.
· Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov has accepted the resignation of Deputy Foreign Minster Krassimir Kostov, a Government media statement said on November 27 2009. According to the media statement, Kostov had requested to be relieved of this post for personal reasons, related to his membership of the communist-era State Security services. Two days earlier, the commission on the opening of the archives of the former communist State Security police had reported that three members of the current Government had worked for the State Security.
torsdag den 26. november 2009
Bulgarian press review, November 26, 2009
Press Review
Sofia, November 26 (BTA)
THE HOME SCENE
"Sega" leads with the replacement of Emilia Maslarova MP of the Socialists' Coalition for Bulgaria from the position of leader of the parliamentary labour and social committee. The unprecedented decision was based on ethical considerations and was made at an extraordinary meeting of the parliamentary committee.
Maslarova recently waived her immunity as an MP so as not to obstruct an investigation into the award of a detrimental contract for an overpriced refurbishment of a social services centre in the southern town of Stara Zagora.
***
"Troud" ("GERB Splits Over Loan-from-a-Friend Provision") writes that for a second time in the past week MPs of GERB reject a legislative proposal by the government of Boyko Borissov. Parliament Wednesday turned down a government-sponsored bill that was meant to bring to light loans between friends. During the vote, GERB split into 41 voting "for" and 40 abstaining. The tax authorities were lobbying hard to introduce such a provision in the law, in a bid to end the practice of people using the loan-from-a-friend excuse for suspicious income.
***
"Standard News" ("Military Cut Off from [Cheap] Apartments") leads with the news that military people will no longer be able to purchase housing from the Defence Ministry housing stock which they have been using. Defence Minister Nickolay Mladenov is quoted as saying that the measure was called for by the depleted housing stock.
Now the military had an option to purchase an apartment at preferential prices after living in it for 15 years.
***
"Troud" carries an interview with former Education Minister Daniel Vulchev ("A Chance to Blow up the Socialist-Balkan Comfort"). Vulchev says that for the second time in the past 20 years Bulgaria is in a situation where the status quo is a mess and it doesn't know what to do. "I call 'status quo' this socialist-Balkan soil which is generously enriched with the manure of the police/olygarchs and where normal plants can hardly survive," he says. He goes on to say that this status quo was first shaken in 2001 when Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha came to win the general elections, and now is the second time, when the elections were won by Boyko Borissov. "It is a unique situation in terms of opportunity for reforms. Now it is all a question of competence and will."
***
"Sega" carries a comment on the upcoming congress of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). "Long years MRF representatives were saying that the party was not based on ethnicity because many in its ranks, including the leadership, were ethnic Bulgarians. A week before the party's new congress, it is clear that this Bulgarization [...] has been poorly done and short-lived. The truth is that the ethnic Bulgarians in MRF - or at least most of them - did not join this party out of love for the Liberal values or even less out of fondness for the Bulgarian ethnic model. While the Movement was on power, the financial portions were generous. The question now is whether [MRF leader Ahmed] Dogan has something to keep the Bulgarians in MRF or they are free to go now that the party is no longer among the power-holders."
ECONOMY
"Borissov's Visit to Parliament Turns Tax Laws Upside Down" is a headline in "Sega" which writes that important revisions in tax laws and the position of the majority on these took dramatic turns on Wednesday. Under what seems to be the Prime Minister's last word, the tax on gambling will be hiked to 15 per cent from the effective 10 per cent and will remain unchanged for rakia (the traditional Bulgarian stiff drink), and young married couples will continue to get a tax relief if they pay a mortgage for an only home, the paper says. These were agreed upon by the Prime Minister, the Blue Coalition, Ataka and Order, Lawfulness, Justice at a half-hour meeting in Parliament.
"Cheers to the Government" headlines a comment in "Standard News" saying that the Prime Minister was faced with the classical choice: to charge or not to charge the millions of drinking people in Bulgaria and risk undermining his own image as a man of the people. "The chaos in Parliament and the change of decisions every other hour leavs an impression that the left hand knows not what the right hand is doing. The decisions of the majority are unpredictable and often guided by an elusive emotion. The only way to have some clarity is for the Prime Minister to appear and show the way out. To preclude any shocks during the second-reading debates of the national budget [for next year], it is best for Boyko Borissov to move in Parliament for a couple of days and personally moderate the budget's adoption."
***
"Sega" ("State Starts Paying up to Businesses in December") reports that millions of leva due under contracts with private companies and forgotten by the ministries will start to be paid up from December. The government has set itself the task to be done with this by the end of February and is ready to send letters to banks urging them to be more relenting to businesses which have troubles repaying their loans, Prime Minister Borissov said after the government's weekly meeting Wednesday. He denied suggestions that the government is delaying payments to businesses for the sole purpose of ending the year with a balanced budget.
***
In a "24 Chassa" interview, Centre for Economic Development President Georgi Prohaski says the important thing is to hold out in the coming half-year. Continued stability of the financial system and a budget without a sizeable deficit and without serious external financial support will be seen as indications of stability and a lower risk, which will bring back the capital flows, says Prohaski. This is why the coming six months is so important and companies should use this time to restructure and rethink their business.
***
"Klassa" reports that the receipts from excise duty on cigarettes have contracted by 316 million leva. It quotes Customs Agency chief Vanyo Tanov as saying that the increased excise duty in early 2009 has not resulted in higher revenue. The painful conclusion comes on the backdrop of an upcoming further increase of cigarettes from the beginning of 2010, says the story.
***
"Sega" writes that patients, the State, the Health Insurance Fund and hospitals will most probably be paying higher prices for medicines which are fully or partially reimbursable. This increase will result from revisions in an ordinance on the registration of medicine prices.
***
"Monitor" reports of an upcoming increase of the rates for legal services due to a decision to charge 20 per cent VAT for such services which Parliament adopted on Wednesday. Previously, legal services were exempt from VAT but the European Commission warned Bulgaria that the VAT directive was bring violated. .
***
"Agriculture Minister Crossed Out 1.5 Mln. Virtual Cows" headlines a front-page story in "Novinar". The said non-existent cows were dropped from the information system of the National Veterinary Service. Farmers get their national co-payments per head of registered livestock and they are known to have sometimes overreported the number of animals they keep in order to get more money, says the story.
BULGARIA - EU
In a "Sega" interview, MEP Nadezhda Neinski (European People's Party) says that Europe "is following closely the marriage of convenience between GERB and Ataka". "Ataka is not a party which gets Europe's sympathy for the simple reason that nationalistic parties, especially in the Balkans are not viewed favourably. Such formations in the EP didn't participate in the talks for the election of President and Foreign Minister of the EU. To put it bluntly, nobody considers them seriously and relies on their support. It is mindboggling how the GERB government relies on unconditional support from Ataka and remains cautious in respect of support from the Blue Coalition which includes two EPP-affiliated parties. [...] At this stage public confidence secures Brussels' support for the government," Neinski 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 – November 26, 2009
· MPs failed to adopt the increase of excise duty on spirits and beer while voting the amendments to the Excise Duty and Tax Warehouses Act. The proposal was excise of the ethyl alcohol to be increased from BGN 1100 to BGN 1250 per 1 hectoliter pure alcohol, and the excise duty on the ethyl alcohol (home-made brandy) produced in small distillatory to increase from BGN 550 to BGN 625 per 1 hectoliter pure alcohol.
MPs increased excise of cigarettes on Thursday. The specific excise is increased from BGN 41 to BGN 101 per 1000 pieces and the proportional excise is raised from 23 to 40.50%. Amendments to the Excise Duty and Tax Warehouses Act provide specific excise duty not to be less than BGN 148 per 1000.
Bulgarian parliament passed 15% increase of excise duty on gambling on second reading amendments to the Corporate Income Tax Act. The proposal was passed unanimously with 149 votes.
Sofia, November 26 (BTA)
THE HOME SCENE
"Sega" leads with the replacement of Emilia Maslarova MP of the Socialists' Coalition for Bulgaria from the position of leader of the parliamentary labour and social committee. The unprecedented decision was based on ethical considerations and was made at an extraordinary meeting of the parliamentary committee.
Maslarova recently waived her immunity as an MP so as not to obstruct an investigation into the award of a detrimental contract for an overpriced refurbishment of a social services centre in the southern town of Stara Zagora.
***
"Troud" ("GERB Splits Over Loan-from-a-Friend Provision") writes that for a second time in the past week MPs of GERB reject a legislative proposal by the government of Boyko Borissov. Parliament Wednesday turned down a government-sponsored bill that was meant to bring to light loans between friends. During the vote, GERB split into 41 voting "for" and 40 abstaining. The tax authorities were lobbying hard to introduce such a provision in the law, in a bid to end the practice of people using the loan-from-a-friend excuse for suspicious income.
***
"Standard News" ("Military Cut Off from [Cheap] Apartments") leads with the news that military people will no longer be able to purchase housing from the Defence Ministry housing stock which they have been using. Defence Minister Nickolay Mladenov is quoted as saying that the measure was called for by the depleted housing stock.
Now the military had an option to purchase an apartment at preferential prices after living in it for 15 years.
***
"Troud" carries an interview with former Education Minister Daniel Vulchev ("A Chance to Blow up the Socialist-Balkan Comfort"). Vulchev says that for the second time in the past 20 years Bulgaria is in a situation where the status quo is a mess and it doesn't know what to do. "I call 'status quo' this socialist-Balkan soil which is generously enriched with the manure of the police/olygarchs and where normal plants can hardly survive," he says. He goes on to say that this status quo was first shaken in 2001 when Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha came to win the general elections, and now is the second time, when the elections were won by Boyko Borissov. "It is a unique situation in terms of opportunity for reforms. Now it is all a question of competence and will."
***
"Sega" carries a comment on the upcoming congress of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). "Long years MRF representatives were saying that the party was not based on ethnicity because many in its ranks, including the leadership, were ethnic Bulgarians. A week before the party's new congress, it is clear that this Bulgarization [...] has been poorly done and short-lived. The truth is that the ethnic Bulgarians in MRF - or at least most of them - did not join this party out of love for the Liberal values or even less out of fondness for the Bulgarian ethnic model. While the Movement was on power, the financial portions were generous. The question now is whether [MRF leader Ahmed] Dogan has something to keep the Bulgarians in MRF or they are free to go now that the party is no longer among the power-holders."
ECONOMY
"Borissov's Visit to Parliament Turns Tax Laws Upside Down" is a headline in "Sega" which writes that important revisions in tax laws and the position of the majority on these took dramatic turns on Wednesday. Under what seems to be the Prime Minister's last word, the tax on gambling will be hiked to 15 per cent from the effective 10 per cent and will remain unchanged for rakia (the traditional Bulgarian stiff drink), and young married couples will continue to get a tax relief if they pay a mortgage for an only home, the paper says. These were agreed upon by the Prime Minister, the Blue Coalition, Ataka and Order, Lawfulness, Justice at a half-hour meeting in Parliament.
"Cheers to the Government" headlines a comment in "Standard News" saying that the Prime Minister was faced with the classical choice: to charge or not to charge the millions of drinking people in Bulgaria and risk undermining his own image as a man of the people. "The chaos in Parliament and the change of decisions every other hour leavs an impression that the left hand knows not what the right hand is doing. The decisions of the majority are unpredictable and often guided by an elusive emotion. The only way to have some clarity is for the Prime Minister to appear and show the way out. To preclude any shocks during the second-reading debates of the national budget [for next year], it is best for Boyko Borissov to move in Parliament for a couple of days and personally moderate the budget's adoption."
***
"Sega" ("State Starts Paying up to Businesses in December") reports that millions of leva due under contracts with private companies and forgotten by the ministries will start to be paid up from December. The government has set itself the task to be done with this by the end of February and is ready to send letters to banks urging them to be more relenting to businesses which have troubles repaying their loans, Prime Minister Borissov said after the government's weekly meeting Wednesday. He denied suggestions that the government is delaying payments to businesses for the sole purpose of ending the year with a balanced budget.
***
In a "24 Chassa" interview, Centre for Economic Development President Georgi Prohaski says the important thing is to hold out in the coming half-year. Continued stability of the financial system and a budget without a sizeable deficit and without serious external financial support will be seen as indications of stability and a lower risk, which will bring back the capital flows, says Prohaski. This is why the coming six months is so important and companies should use this time to restructure and rethink their business.
***
"Klassa" reports that the receipts from excise duty on cigarettes have contracted by 316 million leva. It quotes Customs Agency chief Vanyo Tanov as saying that the increased excise duty in early 2009 has not resulted in higher revenue. The painful conclusion comes on the backdrop of an upcoming further increase of cigarettes from the beginning of 2010, says the story.
***
"Sega" writes that patients, the State, the Health Insurance Fund and hospitals will most probably be paying higher prices for medicines which are fully or partially reimbursable. This increase will result from revisions in an ordinance on the registration of medicine prices.
***
"Monitor" reports of an upcoming increase of the rates for legal services due to a decision to charge 20 per cent VAT for such services which Parliament adopted on Wednesday. Previously, legal services were exempt from VAT but the European Commission warned Bulgaria that the VAT directive was bring violated. .
***
"Agriculture Minister Crossed Out 1.5 Mln. Virtual Cows" headlines a front-page story in "Novinar". The said non-existent cows were dropped from the information system of the National Veterinary Service. Farmers get their national co-payments per head of registered livestock and they are known to have sometimes overreported the number of animals they keep in order to get more money, says the story.
BULGARIA - EU
In a "Sega" interview, MEP Nadezhda Neinski (European People's Party) says that Europe "is following closely the marriage of convenience between GERB and Ataka". "Ataka is not a party which gets Europe's sympathy for the simple reason that nationalistic parties, especially in the Balkans are not viewed favourably. Such formations in the EP didn't participate in the talks for the election of President and Foreign Minister of the EU. To put it bluntly, nobody considers them seriously and relies on their support. It is mindboggling how the GERB government relies on unconditional support from Ataka and remains cautious in respect of support from the Blue Coalition which includes two EPP-affiliated parties. [...] At this stage public confidence secures Brussels' support for the government," Neinski 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 – November 26, 2009
· MPs failed to adopt the increase of excise duty on spirits and beer while voting the amendments to the Excise Duty and Tax Warehouses Act. The proposal was excise of the ethyl alcohol to be increased from BGN 1100 to BGN 1250 per 1 hectoliter pure alcohol, and the excise duty on the ethyl alcohol (home-made brandy) produced in small distillatory to increase from BGN 550 to BGN 625 per 1 hectoliter pure alcohol.
MPs increased excise of cigarettes on Thursday. The specific excise is increased from BGN 41 to BGN 101 per 1000 pieces and the proportional excise is raised from 23 to 40.50%. Amendments to the Excise Duty and Tax Warehouses Act provide specific excise duty not to be less than BGN 148 per 1000.
Bulgarian parliament passed 15% increase of excise duty on gambling on second reading amendments to the Corporate Income Tax Act. The proposal was passed unanimously with 149 votes.
onsdag den 25. november 2009
Bulgarian press review, November 25, 2009
Press Review
Sofia, November 25 (BTA)
HOME SCENE
Nearly 80 per cent of the land of the state stock was cultivated without contracts and the municipal services did not charge rent, "Dnevnik" says. Of 300,000 hectares managed by the State, 230,000 ha were used without contracts by people not chosen by tender, the Agriculture Ministry found in a probe spanning the period from 2006 to 2008.
"24 Chassa" reports that a minister, who was a member of two previous governments, will be charged soon. He allegedly caused detriment through deals worth millions of leva. Interesting details have emerged about his negotiating habits. He had a crystal cigar ashtray on his desk, in which he used to burn notes specifying the sum a businessman or an administrative employee had to pay for a favour. At least four witnesses told anti-Mafia officers about the odd ritual, which started with a warning from the minister about bugging devices, followed by an explanation of what the supplicant had to do. Then the minister scribbled the sum that was to be paid monthly. He also used a shredding machine because he feared eavesdropping, even when he imparted important information for free.
Jenny Zhivkova, granddaughter of former communist leader Todor Zhivkov, won at least 4 million leva selling her designer clothes to state departments while the Socialists were in office, "Monitor" says.
"Ataka" reports that former energy minister Roumen Ovcharov will be the fourth member of Stanishev's cabinet who will be probed by prosecutors. The daily says Ovcharov caused over 2,000 million leva in damage to the State by signing an additional agreement with Russia's Gazprom.
"Douma" says the National Audit Office (NAO) does not comply with the Public Disclosure of Senior Public Officials' Financial Interests Act. The law stipulates that within two months of the declaration of property and incomes by the MPs, the Audit Office President must publish the statements and the names of those who failed to submit them on the NAO website. The MPs had until August 14 to declare their assets, and the deadline for the prime minister and his deputies, for the ministers and their deputies was August 27. The President had not fulfilled his obligation until November 24.
"Zemya" writes that the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) suggested an alternative budget for 2010 with an increase in revenues of 1,620 million leva and 150 million leva more in spending on agriculture.
"Troud" says the BSP is recovering and its first targets are Finance Minister Simeon Djankov and GERB floor leader Iskra Fidossova, who is also Chair of the Parliamentary Legal Committee. The two angered the opposition with their confrontational language, sharp-worded statements and mistakes made due to inexperience or due to trying too hard. They would have been forgiven these mistakes unless political confrontation had reached such heights, the daily writes.
In "Troud" Sliven Mayor Yordan Lechkov says that at least one or two more parties should be helping GERB, and calls on the Prime Minister: "I want changes, Boyko! You are the king and master of the State now. Assign responsibilities - you cannot do everything yourself."
An analysis in "Sega" says that President Purvanov is touting his plans for a new party the way Boyko Borissov carried on about GERB in the past.
In "Klassa" Vassil Tonchev, Director of the Sova Harris polling agency, says President Georgi Purvanov has potential to continue big time in politics. Tonchevalso says GERB has started assimilating Ataka, which will lose its identity in the next four years.
EDUCATION
"Troud" gives frontpage prominence to the news that a test will replace the exams in the humanities at Sofia University from the next academic year. The aim is to stop students from sitting for many exams in a row. A test will replace the traditional essays on history, geography and literature. A test for the natural sciences will be devised afterwards. "Troud" comments that this is a new blow on private schools, which have just started to pay taxes, and on teachers who declared their incomes from private tuition.
THE ECONOMY
"Pari" leads with a story headlined "Bulgartabac Sell-Off: Mission Impossible", which says the favourable window of opportunity is about to close. Bulgartabac is headed for hard times, what with the higher excise duty on tobacco products, the forthcoming bans on smoking in public places and its falling market share. The holding company will try to optimize its spending and collect the debts of its subsidiaries ahead of privatization. Its first-half share of the domestic market is 52 per cent.
According to "Klassa", Bulgaria is in 95th place among 183 countries in a PricewaterhouseCoopers report on tax systems, down from 94th place among 181 countries in the previous report. The worst result was registered for the time companies have to comply with tax requirements, where Bulgaria slipped from 167th to 172nd place. Companies spend 288 hours a year to pay VAT input tax in Bulgaria, as against 22 hours in Finland. Managers spend an average of 616 hours waiting in queues to sort out administrative issues and make 17 payments.
In "Sega"Kamen Kolev, Vice President of the Bulgarian Industrial Association says that now is the best time for e-government, which would cut expenses and make things easier for businesses and individuals.
FOREIGN POLICY
"Troud" covers President Purvanov's meeting with his Greek counterpart Karolos Papoulias. Purvanov called for new checkpoints on the border with Greece and for faster work on the Stara Zagora - Dimitrovgrad - Komotini natural gas system interconnection.
Covering Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva's visit to the United States, "24 Chassa" says US State Secretary Hillary Clinton was satisfied with the cases against former ministers.
"Troud" quotes European Commission President Jose Barroso as saying that former Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and his government had always been loyal partners of the European institutions. He was answering a question by Martin Schulz, President of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, who asked Barroso about his impressions of his work relationships with the Stanishev cabinet. Schulz also asked Barroso to comment on Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's statement that the BSP should have been banned. Barroso said that Bulgaria has proved it is a democratic country and all parties have a place in it.
Hungarian Ambassador Judith Lang says in "Novinar" that it takes 60 years to change society. She notes two peculiarities of the Bulgarian transition: its relative delay and the treatment of minorities by the Zhivkov regime.
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 – November 25, 2009
· Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Boyko Borissov, has asked the Members of Parliament to reconsider the motion for increasing the excise tax on hard liquor. Borissov himself announced this after Wednesday’s meeting of the cabinet. Last week the Budget Committee of the Bulgarian Parliament voted to increase the excise on hard liquor starting January 2010 – a measure which was going to affect the homemaking of traditional Bulgarian brandy – or “rakia”.
· Bulgaria police have arrested three men Wednesday over an acid attack on two young women in Blagoevgrad. The two students from Gotse Delchev, aged 24 and 26 respectively, were attacked outside their student’s accommodation. The incident occurred late Tuesday when a man, who was allegedly not known by the women, splashed acid into their faces.
Sofia, November 25 (BTA)
HOME SCENE
Nearly 80 per cent of the land of the state stock was cultivated without contracts and the municipal services did not charge rent, "Dnevnik" says. Of 300,000 hectares managed by the State, 230,000 ha were used without contracts by people not chosen by tender, the Agriculture Ministry found in a probe spanning the period from 2006 to 2008.
"24 Chassa" reports that a minister, who was a member of two previous governments, will be charged soon. He allegedly caused detriment through deals worth millions of leva. Interesting details have emerged about his negotiating habits. He had a crystal cigar ashtray on his desk, in which he used to burn notes specifying the sum a businessman or an administrative employee had to pay for a favour. At least four witnesses told anti-Mafia officers about the odd ritual, which started with a warning from the minister about bugging devices, followed by an explanation of what the supplicant had to do. Then the minister scribbled the sum that was to be paid monthly. He also used a shredding machine because he feared eavesdropping, even when he imparted important information for free.
Jenny Zhivkova, granddaughter of former communist leader Todor Zhivkov, won at least 4 million leva selling her designer clothes to state departments while the Socialists were in office, "Monitor" says.
"Ataka" reports that former energy minister Roumen Ovcharov will be the fourth member of Stanishev's cabinet who will be probed by prosecutors. The daily says Ovcharov caused over 2,000 million leva in damage to the State by signing an additional agreement with Russia's Gazprom.
"Douma" says the National Audit Office (NAO) does not comply with the Public Disclosure of Senior Public Officials' Financial Interests Act. The law stipulates that within two months of the declaration of property and incomes by the MPs, the Audit Office President must publish the statements and the names of those who failed to submit them on the NAO website. The MPs had until August 14 to declare their assets, and the deadline for the prime minister and his deputies, for the ministers and their deputies was August 27. The President had not fulfilled his obligation until November 24.
"Zemya" writes that the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) suggested an alternative budget for 2010 with an increase in revenues of 1,620 million leva and 150 million leva more in spending on agriculture.
"Troud" says the BSP is recovering and its first targets are Finance Minister Simeon Djankov and GERB floor leader Iskra Fidossova, who is also Chair of the Parliamentary Legal Committee. The two angered the opposition with their confrontational language, sharp-worded statements and mistakes made due to inexperience or due to trying too hard. They would have been forgiven these mistakes unless political confrontation had reached such heights, the daily writes.
In "Troud" Sliven Mayor Yordan Lechkov says that at least one or two more parties should be helping GERB, and calls on the Prime Minister: "I want changes, Boyko! You are the king and master of the State now. Assign responsibilities - you cannot do everything yourself."
An analysis in "Sega" says that President Purvanov is touting his plans for a new party the way Boyko Borissov carried on about GERB in the past.
In "Klassa" Vassil Tonchev, Director of the Sova Harris polling agency, says President Georgi Purvanov has potential to continue big time in politics. Tonchevalso says GERB has started assimilating Ataka, which will lose its identity in the next four years.
EDUCATION
"Troud" gives frontpage prominence to the news that a test will replace the exams in the humanities at Sofia University from the next academic year. The aim is to stop students from sitting for many exams in a row. A test will replace the traditional essays on history, geography and literature. A test for the natural sciences will be devised afterwards. "Troud" comments that this is a new blow on private schools, which have just started to pay taxes, and on teachers who declared their incomes from private tuition.
THE ECONOMY
"Pari" leads with a story headlined "Bulgartabac Sell-Off: Mission Impossible", which says the favourable window of opportunity is about to close. Bulgartabac is headed for hard times, what with the higher excise duty on tobacco products, the forthcoming bans on smoking in public places and its falling market share. The holding company will try to optimize its spending and collect the debts of its subsidiaries ahead of privatization. Its first-half share of the domestic market is 52 per cent.
According to "Klassa", Bulgaria is in 95th place among 183 countries in a PricewaterhouseCoopers report on tax systems, down from 94th place among 181 countries in the previous report. The worst result was registered for the time companies have to comply with tax requirements, where Bulgaria slipped from 167th to 172nd place. Companies spend 288 hours a year to pay VAT input tax in Bulgaria, as against 22 hours in Finland. Managers spend an average of 616 hours waiting in queues to sort out administrative issues and make 17 payments.
In "Sega"Kamen Kolev, Vice President of the Bulgarian Industrial Association says that now is the best time for e-government, which would cut expenses and make things easier for businesses and individuals.
FOREIGN POLICY
"Troud" covers President Purvanov's meeting with his Greek counterpart Karolos Papoulias. Purvanov called for new checkpoints on the border with Greece and for faster work on the Stara Zagora - Dimitrovgrad - Komotini natural gas system interconnection.
Covering Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva's visit to the United States, "24 Chassa" says US State Secretary Hillary Clinton was satisfied with the cases against former ministers.
"Troud" quotes European Commission President Jose Barroso as saying that former Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and his government had always been loyal partners of the European institutions. He was answering a question by Martin Schulz, President of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, who asked Barroso about his impressions of his work relationships with the Stanishev cabinet. Schulz also asked Barroso to comment on Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's statement that the BSP should have been banned. Barroso said that Bulgaria has proved it is a democratic country and all parties have a place in it.
Hungarian Ambassador Judith Lang says in "Novinar" that it takes 60 years to change society. She notes two peculiarities of the Bulgarian transition: its relative delay and the treatment of minorities by the Zhivkov regime.
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 – November 25, 2009
· Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Boyko Borissov, has asked the Members of Parliament to reconsider the motion for increasing the excise tax on hard liquor. Borissov himself announced this after Wednesday’s meeting of the cabinet. Last week the Budget Committee of the Bulgarian Parliament voted to increase the excise on hard liquor starting January 2010 – a measure which was going to affect the homemaking of traditional Bulgarian brandy – or “rakia”.
· Bulgaria police have arrested three men Wednesday over an acid attack on two young women in Blagoevgrad. The two students from Gotse Delchev, aged 24 and 26 respectively, were attacked outside their student’s accommodation. The incident occurred late Tuesday when a man, who was allegedly not known by the women, splashed acid into their faces.
tirsdag den 24. november 2009
Bulgarian press review, November 24, 2009
Press Review
Sofia, November 24 (BTA)
THE HOME SCENE
"Troud" writes that right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) have accused President Georgi Purvanov of sabotaging Bulgaria's foreign policy. Purvanov refused to recall Bulgarian Ambassador to the US Luchezar Petkov after a government's motion over irregularities in the July overseas vote. DSB also hit at the GERB party for not opposing the President openly.
***
Under the headline "Why on Earth Does Bulgaria Need Ambassadors?", "Sega" writes that the President's refusal to recall the two ambassadors (to US and Turkey) on the motion of the cabinet should be a warning to Prime Minister Boyko Borissov to take his time with any dismissals. Unlike purges under foreign ministers Stoyan Ganev (1990-1991) and Nadezhda Mihailova (1997-2001), which were backed by Presidents Zhelyu Zhelev and Petar Stoyanov, Borissov is forced to work with a president of "a different blood group". According to the author, the harder part is the new appointments. The government is risking to leave the Bulgarian diplomatic missions unmanned for a long time, as the President does not have to sign appointments that he does not approve. The Prime Minister is yet to learn how to bargain. However, if he decides to act with a firm hand and recalls the diplomats, it will become clear that Bulgaria can actually do without ambassadors.
***
"Troud" carries a report on the Fund for Overseas Child Treatment ("24 Million Leva Returned to Treasury, Children Left Untreated"). An audit has found that the Fund has returned nearly 24 million leva to the Treasury which could have been used to save the lives of hundreds of children. The amount has been set aside by the budget over a four-year period, between 2005 and 2008. As a state body, the Fund has to return the money it has failed to utilize. The report also contains recommendations on how to streamline the Fund's operations.
***
"Dnevnik" puts reforms in the health care system under consideration. The daily describes the bill to amend the Health Insurance Act as controversial and failing to solve the underlying problems of the health insurance system. If the GERB government is indeed determined to fulfill its programme, it has to move a new health insurance bill which introduces private insurance accounts with private insurers and a consultative council with the Finance Ministry to set in place price forming mechanisms for basic medical service.
***
"Standart News" quotes Defence Minister Nickolay Mladenov as saying that the Defence Ministry will set aside 100 million leva from its budget to ensure the participation of Bulgarian personnel in overseas military missions. Mladenov took part in a conference on European security and defence. The Minister stressed that there will be money for salaries and benefits.
***
"Standart News" reports that a panel will decide who is fit to become a professor, under a new bill presented on Monday by Education Minister Sergei Ignatov. The Higher Certifying Commission will be replaced by a small Appellate Commission which will control the legality of procedures for academic rank attainment. The bill stipulates three academic positions in the universities: assistant professor, associate professor and professor. These positions will be valid only for the respective university.
***
"Troud" runs an interview with GERB Secretary Krassimir Velchev about allegations that companies close to Prime Minister Boyko Borissov are being awarded tender contracts. Velchev says he disagrees with calls that Borissov's acquaintances should be excluded from taking part in tenders. As long as tenders are held in a transparent way, everybody should be allowed to apply. Otherwise, this will mean discrimination, Velchev thinks.
***
"BSP Reports Fidossova for Corruption," headlines "Troud". Kornelia Ninova, Spokesperson of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, said Monday that she is going to submit an alert to the anti-corruption commission in Parliament about GERB floor leader Iskra Fidossova. The move has been prompted by Fidossova's declaration under the Conflict of Interests Act. According to Ninova, Fidossova has violated the law by failing to indicate the total amount of the loans she has taken. For her part Fidossova says that she is not the least bit concerned and insists that she has filled her declaration correctly.
ECONOMY
In a commentary for "Troud", former deputy finance minister Lyubomir Datsov says that the 2010 budget continues former Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev's social flirting. According to Datsov, besides a multitude of "technical errors" and wrong calculations, it is unclear as to what policies are laid down, or what reforms will be carried out and how. The key question is whether the agenda of the previous government, which avoided drastic reforms, will be replaced. Datsov goes on to say that to his surprise he found very few differences between the two governments. People like him are expecting a balanced budget in 2010. In case there is deficit, it should be spent on reducing social insurance contributions or on making investments, which Datsov views as the basis of an effective anti-crisis policy. Instead, what he sees is flirting with social expenditures just like the Stanishev cabinet did.
***
Former deputy finance minister Georgi Kadiev warns in "24 Chassa" that there is a risk that budget revenues will be by some 1,000 million leva short of target. Kadiev recommends setting buffers in the budget while it is still being voted in Parliament. Otherwise, it will have to be updated by September 2010. Kadiev projects that the 0.7 per cent deficit set for 2010 will increase to over 2 per cent, as the gap in revenues will be filled from the fiscal reserve.
***
"24 Chassa" reports that the 72 million leva from the European Social Fund will be extended to eight nationally representative organizations and employer organizations, according to Labour Minister Totyu Mladenov. Each will be implementing a project on measures to improve the labour market between 2009 and 2013. The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria will draw up an index to measure the working climate, or how safe workers feel in their workplaces, while the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association will draw up an index to measure the grey economy.
***
"Pari" reports that fears over the economic crisis have already subsided and that Bulgarians are optimistic about the future. Some 60 per cent do not expect economic conditions to worsen, shows a nationally representative survey of the Open Institute in October. The number of optimists is three times higher compared with March, the highest since the onset of the crisis, data show. Drawing on the results of the survey, leading economists have concluded that although the economy is picking up, reforms should be sustained.
FOREIGN POLICY
"Hillary Commends Bulgaria on Corruption Fight," reports "Monitor". In her remarks after the meeting with Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: "I commended Bulgaria's efforts to root out corruption, to hold people accountable, to end impunity for public officials. I also congratulated the foreign minister on Bulgaria’s efforts to bring greater transparency to the energy sector." Jeleva detailed her American counterpart on the work of the prosecution authorities and the pre-trial proceedings against high-profile figures and the political elite.
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 – November 24, 2009
· Two Bulgarian policemen died overnight in a car crash in the northwestern Municipality of Hairedin. The accident happened shortly after midnight as their police car was discovered to have hit a roadside tree. The driver, 40-year-old Valeri Gavrilov from the town of Kozloduy died immediately; his partner, 41-year-old Ivaylo Zahariev died later in the hospital. The two officers were covering a night shift from 9:30 pm until 6:30 am. The causes of the mysterious crash are under investigation.
· The director of the Fund for Overseas Medical Treatment of Bulgarian Children, Nikolai Dobrev, announced Tuesday his resignation. It came only a day after the National Audit Office made public the findings of an audit at the fund and said that it underspent the available funding while children were kept waiting too long for approval to be sent for medical treatment abroad.
Sofia, November 24 (BTA)
THE HOME SCENE
"Troud" writes that right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) have accused President Georgi Purvanov of sabotaging Bulgaria's foreign policy. Purvanov refused to recall Bulgarian Ambassador to the US Luchezar Petkov after a government's motion over irregularities in the July overseas vote. DSB also hit at the GERB party for not opposing the President openly.
***
Under the headline "Why on Earth Does Bulgaria Need Ambassadors?", "Sega" writes that the President's refusal to recall the two ambassadors (to US and Turkey) on the motion of the cabinet should be a warning to Prime Minister Boyko Borissov to take his time with any dismissals. Unlike purges under foreign ministers Stoyan Ganev (1990-1991) and Nadezhda Mihailova (1997-2001), which were backed by Presidents Zhelyu Zhelev and Petar Stoyanov, Borissov is forced to work with a president of "a different blood group". According to the author, the harder part is the new appointments. The government is risking to leave the Bulgarian diplomatic missions unmanned for a long time, as the President does not have to sign appointments that he does not approve. The Prime Minister is yet to learn how to bargain. However, if he decides to act with a firm hand and recalls the diplomats, it will become clear that Bulgaria can actually do without ambassadors.
***
"Troud" carries a report on the Fund for Overseas Child Treatment ("24 Million Leva Returned to Treasury, Children Left Untreated"). An audit has found that the Fund has returned nearly 24 million leva to the Treasury which could have been used to save the lives of hundreds of children. The amount has been set aside by the budget over a four-year period, between 2005 and 2008. As a state body, the Fund has to return the money it has failed to utilize. The report also contains recommendations on how to streamline the Fund's operations.
***
"Dnevnik" puts reforms in the health care system under consideration. The daily describes the bill to amend the Health Insurance Act as controversial and failing to solve the underlying problems of the health insurance system. If the GERB government is indeed determined to fulfill its programme, it has to move a new health insurance bill which introduces private insurance accounts with private insurers and a consultative council with the Finance Ministry to set in place price forming mechanisms for basic medical service.
***
"Standart News" quotes Defence Minister Nickolay Mladenov as saying that the Defence Ministry will set aside 100 million leva from its budget to ensure the participation of Bulgarian personnel in overseas military missions. Mladenov took part in a conference on European security and defence. The Minister stressed that there will be money for salaries and benefits.
***
"Standart News" reports that a panel will decide who is fit to become a professor, under a new bill presented on Monday by Education Minister Sergei Ignatov. The Higher Certifying Commission will be replaced by a small Appellate Commission which will control the legality of procedures for academic rank attainment. The bill stipulates three academic positions in the universities: assistant professor, associate professor and professor. These positions will be valid only for the respective university.
***
"Troud" runs an interview with GERB Secretary Krassimir Velchev about allegations that companies close to Prime Minister Boyko Borissov are being awarded tender contracts. Velchev says he disagrees with calls that Borissov's acquaintances should be excluded from taking part in tenders. As long as tenders are held in a transparent way, everybody should be allowed to apply. Otherwise, this will mean discrimination, Velchev thinks.
***
"BSP Reports Fidossova for Corruption," headlines "Troud". Kornelia Ninova, Spokesperson of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, said Monday that she is going to submit an alert to the anti-corruption commission in Parliament about GERB floor leader Iskra Fidossova. The move has been prompted by Fidossova's declaration under the Conflict of Interests Act. According to Ninova, Fidossova has violated the law by failing to indicate the total amount of the loans she has taken. For her part Fidossova says that she is not the least bit concerned and insists that she has filled her declaration correctly.
ECONOMY
In a commentary for "Troud", former deputy finance minister Lyubomir Datsov says that the 2010 budget continues former Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev's social flirting. According to Datsov, besides a multitude of "technical errors" and wrong calculations, it is unclear as to what policies are laid down, or what reforms will be carried out and how. The key question is whether the agenda of the previous government, which avoided drastic reforms, will be replaced. Datsov goes on to say that to his surprise he found very few differences between the two governments. People like him are expecting a balanced budget in 2010. In case there is deficit, it should be spent on reducing social insurance contributions or on making investments, which Datsov views as the basis of an effective anti-crisis policy. Instead, what he sees is flirting with social expenditures just like the Stanishev cabinet did.
***
Former deputy finance minister Georgi Kadiev warns in "24 Chassa" that there is a risk that budget revenues will be by some 1,000 million leva short of target. Kadiev recommends setting buffers in the budget while it is still being voted in Parliament. Otherwise, it will have to be updated by September 2010. Kadiev projects that the 0.7 per cent deficit set for 2010 will increase to over 2 per cent, as the gap in revenues will be filled from the fiscal reserve.
***
"24 Chassa" reports that the 72 million leva from the European Social Fund will be extended to eight nationally representative organizations and employer organizations, according to Labour Minister Totyu Mladenov. Each will be implementing a project on measures to improve the labour market between 2009 and 2013. The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria will draw up an index to measure the working climate, or how safe workers feel in their workplaces, while the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association will draw up an index to measure the grey economy.
***
"Pari" reports that fears over the economic crisis have already subsided and that Bulgarians are optimistic about the future. Some 60 per cent do not expect economic conditions to worsen, shows a nationally representative survey of the Open Institute in October. The number of optimists is three times higher compared with March, the highest since the onset of the crisis, data show. Drawing on the results of the survey, leading economists have concluded that although the economy is picking up, reforms should be sustained.
FOREIGN POLICY
"Hillary Commends Bulgaria on Corruption Fight," reports "Monitor". In her remarks after the meeting with Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: "I commended Bulgaria's efforts to root out corruption, to hold people accountable, to end impunity for public officials. I also congratulated the foreign minister on Bulgaria’s efforts to bring greater transparency to the energy sector." Jeleva detailed her American counterpart on the work of the prosecution authorities and the pre-trial proceedings against high-profile figures and the political elite.
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 – November 24, 2009
· Two Bulgarian policemen died overnight in a car crash in the northwestern Municipality of Hairedin. The accident happened shortly after midnight as their police car was discovered to have hit a roadside tree. The driver, 40-year-old Valeri Gavrilov from the town of Kozloduy died immediately; his partner, 41-year-old Ivaylo Zahariev died later in the hospital. The two officers were covering a night shift from 9:30 pm until 6:30 am. The causes of the mysterious crash are under investigation.
· The director of the Fund for Overseas Medical Treatment of Bulgarian Children, Nikolai Dobrev, announced Tuesday his resignation. It came only a day after the National Audit Office made public the findings of an audit at the fund and said that it underspent the available funding while children were kept waiting too long for approval to be sent for medical treatment abroad.
mandag den 23. november 2009
Bulgarian press review, November 23, 2009
Press Review
Sofia, November 23 (BTA)
HOME SCENE
As a result of a possible change planned to be made in the positive list of medicines, expensive medicines will become even more expensive and some distributed to patients free of charge so far will have to be paid for, patients organizations said, according to "Troud." This concerns mainly the medicines used by patients suffering from heart diseases.
* * *
"Prime Minister Boyko Borissov Shows Will for Silent Lustration," "Troud" says in the headline of an interview with Evtim Kostadinov, Chairman of the so-called Commission on Files (declassifying records of former State Security and intelligence agents). In early December, the Commission is going to sign an agreement with a similar commission in Germany on declassification of Stasi archives.
* * *
Last week the government approved amendments to the Electronic Communications Act, thus renewing the idea for a direct access of the Interior Ministry to electronic communication exchanged through mobile phones and the Internet, Aleksander Kashumov from Access to Information Programme writes in "Troud."
Interviewed for "Novinar," Kashumov says that the law on property confiscation "is communism." The EU has not requested Bulgaria to adopt a new law concerning assets acquired by criminal means, he says.
* * *
"24 Chassa" carries an article by Velislava Dureva headlined "Bank Impeachment" discussing the emptying of the account of the presidency some days ago. As of November 18 on, every party, organization and institution, every individual who irritate BB [PM Borissov], who get on his nerves or who do not shut up may find themselves with empty bank accounts, she says. However, no thick-neck or businessman is exposed to such threat.
* * *
Optimism about the development of Bulgaria has dropped by nearly 6 per cent in a month; about 50 per cent of Bulgarians of legal age believe that the situation is getting worse, show the results of the latest national opinion poll conducted by Gallup International for "Klassa." November is the first month after the parliamentary elections and the change of this country's government in which the number of pessimists about Bulgaria's future exceed that of optimists. The approval rating of the government is 41 per cent, down from nearly 50 per cent a month ago.
* * *
"Ataka is on its way up! We are opening new clubs in Turkish areas [i.e. areas populated by ethnic Turks]," Peter Hlebarov MP of Ataka says in an interview for the newspaper of the party under the same name.
* * *
"Sega" publishes part of the results of an inspection carried out by the State Financial Inspection Agency of the state-controlled software company “Informatsionno Obsluzhvane” (Information Support). It was established that the company had let out premises at prices two-fold lower that the
Law-prescribed ones and paid to construction firms amounts that exceeded the contracted prices. It becomes clear from the report that responsible for it is not the former chairman of the company's Management Board Azer Melikov as suggested but the then executive director, Ivo Nikolov, whom PM Borissov described as "a male witch" for his annual remuneration coming up to some 100,000 leva (about 50,000 euro).
* * *
A total of 1,500 million leva a year went to the pockets of senior officials and politicians under Sergei Stanishev, "Standart News" writes referring to Rouslan Stefanov from the Centre for the Study of Democracy. Reportedly, this is the amount of bribes paid by Bulgarian companies to get public procurement contracts; it represents 2 per cent of GDP, economists say.
* * *
A journalistic investigation conducted by "Telegraf" shows that a false diploma in law of St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia can be purchased for 5,500 leva. Both university diplomas and secondary school certificates are available against payment, the newspaper says.
ECONOMY
One in three VAT registered firms cannot be found at the address at which it has been registered, which is a fraud, National Revenue Agency (NRA) Executive Director Krassimir Stefanov says in an interview for "24 Chassa." The NRA has made a total of 1,400 inquiries about dubious deals; fishy deals involving 480 million leva have been cleared so far, he says.
* * *
According to "Monitor," there are nearly 1,000,000 post box companies the purpose of which is to get VAT refund in a fraudulent way. Of 1,200,000 merchants in Bulgaria, only 200,000 have renewed their commercial registration, Registration Agency Director Atanas Georgiev said. Firms which have not renewed their registration may not participate in public procurement tenders.
* * *
In 2010, nearly 60 per cent of social insurance payments will be financed through taxes, Deputy Labour and Social Affairs Minister Hristina Mitreva says in "Dnevnik."
* * *
Plamen Mollov, Chairman of the National Chamber of Viticulture and Winery, says in "Novinar" that raising the excise duty on hard liquor will encourage illegal producers and deliver a blow on the legal ones.
* * *
"Pari" says that the government and the parliamentary Budget Committee are acting out a bad scenario which is well-known. The incumbents are deluding Bulgarians that the decisions are in the hands of the MPs of GERB, the Blue Coalition, Ataka and Order, lawfulness and Justice, which appear in the role of the bad cops and introduce unpopular measures, while PM Borissov appears as the good cop.
BULGARIA - EU
"We think that the European Commission (EC) has not studied the information we gave it or did not consider it thoroughly," Environment and Waters Minister Nona Karadjova says in "Troud." She comments on the EC decision to take legal action against Bulgaria through the European Court of Justice based in Luxembourg over Sofia's baled waste kept on temporary sites near the capital. In her words, this is unjust as there is ample evidence showing that Sofia's household waste is transported to a landfill satisfying all relevant requirements; in addition, there is an operating system for preliminary waste treatment.
Commenting on the same issue in "24 Chassa," Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova says that EC officials will be invited here to see for themselves the progress made and that she expects the issue to be resolved then. The procedure relating to the construction of a waste treatment plant is at an advanced stage, she also says. The plant will be put into operation in 2012.
* * *
There has been some unofficial talk in Brussels that incumbent Bulgarian Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva may be appointed commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy, "Dnevnik" writes.
* * *
Referring to the Sunday Telegraph, "Klassa" writes that in his first speech as EU President Herman Van Rompuy said he would work together with the EC for the introduction of a new "euro tax" that European citizens would pay directly to Brussels to finance the EU budget. Van Rompuy will support the plans of EC President Jose Manuel Barroso for the new tax which would be in the form of a fixed percentage share of VAT and excise duty charged on fuel. Asked to comment on these plans, Bulgarian Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said he did not see economic logic in the idea.
* * *
Political scientist Andrei Raychev says in "Troud" that the choice of the incumbent leaders of the EU shows the big countries in the Community have opted for a model in which the president of Europe is rather an internal mechanism, a balancer, yet another stabilizing transmission rather than a real generator of politics. In a rapidly changing world, Europe chooses the status quo instead of change, Raychev notes. In his view, Europe should rapidly integrate Russia and Turkey in some way as otherwise it will lose its significance. He says it is a shame that Bulgaria, the 12th biggest country in the EU, did not take part in the latest developments. The government thinks only about the European funds, and the public discusses the remuneration a European commissioner gets, Raychev observes.
* * *
"24 Chassa" highlights the news that 2010 will entirely change the functions of television. The interactive digital television, expected to be well established in two or three years here, can be used to send and get SMS, to surf the Internet, to exercise parental control, etc. which will radically change the big television companies.
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 – November 23, 2009
· A totally unique brand new internet search engine appeared online Monday. The search engine is called “Krasyo” after Krasimir Georgiev – the man who is in the center of a large scale corruption scandal in Bulgaria’s judicial system. Georgiev was allegedly an intermediary offering the “sale” of top magistrate positions about EUR 200 000.
The unique new search engine named after Krasio is located at http://www.krasyo.net/. Once the user types a words, the engine automatically combines it with the name of Krasio (in Bulgarian) thus discovering related Internet content.
30 acting high-ranking Bulgarian magistrates, and 14 candidates for top positions (5 of whom already appointed), and 4 Members of Parliament have been exposed to have been in contact with Krasio after the scandal broke out. The case is still under investigation.
· Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) will submit a signal about conflict of interest against Iskra Fidosova, chairwoman of the parliamentary group of Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (CEDB).
BSP says Fidosova’s declaration regarding any possible conflict of interest reads she pays back three credits. Two of them total BGN 6,700. She has to pay back BGN 40,000 in the third one. BSP spokeswoman Korneliya Ninova says Fidosova cannot cover the payments in the credit with her salary as an MP, which is some BGN 2,500-BGN 3,000.
Sofia, November 23 (BTA)
HOME SCENE
As a result of a possible change planned to be made in the positive list of medicines, expensive medicines will become even more expensive and some distributed to patients free of charge so far will have to be paid for, patients organizations said, according to "Troud." This concerns mainly the medicines used by patients suffering from heart diseases.
* * *
"Prime Minister Boyko Borissov Shows Will for Silent Lustration," "Troud" says in the headline of an interview with Evtim Kostadinov, Chairman of the so-called Commission on Files (declassifying records of former State Security and intelligence agents). In early December, the Commission is going to sign an agreement with a similar commission in Germany on declassification of Stasi archives.
* * *
Last week the government approved amendments to the Electronic Communications Act, thus renewing the idea for a direct access of the Interior Ministry to electronic communication exchanged through mobile phones and the Internet, Aleksander Kashumov from Access to Information Programme writes in "Troud."
Interviewed for "Novinar," Kashumov says that the law on property confiscation "is communism." The EU has not requested Bulgaria to adopt a new law concerning assets acquired by criminal means, he says.
* * *
"24 Chassa" carries an article by Velislava Dureva headlined "Bank Impeachment" discussing the emptying of the account of the presidency some days ago. As of November 18 on, every party, organization and institution, every individual who irritate BB [PM Borissov], who get on his nerves or who do not shut up may find themselves with empty bank accounts, she says. However, no thick-neck or businessman is exposed to such threat.
* * *
Optimism about the development of Bulgaria has dropped by nearly 6 per cent in a month; about 50 per cent of Bulgarians of legal age believe that the situation is getting worse, show the results of the latest national opinion poll conducted by Gallup International for "Klassa." November is the first month after the parliamentary elections and the change of this country's government in which the number of pessimists about Bulgaria's future exceed that of optimists. The approval rating of the government is 41 per cent, down from nearly 50 per cent a month ago.
* * *
"Ataka is on its way up! We are opening new clubs in Turkish areas [i.e. areas populated by ethnic Turks]," Peter Hlebarov MP of Ataka says in an interview for the newspaper of the party under the same name.
* * *
"Sega" publishes part of the results of an inspection carried out by the State Financial Inspection Agency of the state-controlled software company “Informatsionno Obsluzhvane” (Information Support). It was established that the company had let out premises at prices two-fold lower that the
Law-prescribed ones and paid to construction firms amounts that exceeded the contracted prices. It becomes clear from the report that responsible for it is not the former chairman of the company's Management Board Azer Melikov as suggested but the then executive director, Ivo Nikolov, whom PM Borissov described as "a male witch" for his annual remuneration coming up to some 100,000 leva (about 50,000 euro).
* * *
A total of 1,500 million leva a year went to the pockets of senior officials and politicians under Sergei Stanishev, "Standart News" writes referring to Rouslan Stefanov from the Centre for the Study of Democracy. Reportedly, this is the amount of bribes paid by Bulgarian companies to get public procurement contracts; it represents 2 per cent of GDP, economists say.
* * *
A journalistic investigation conducted by "Telegraf" shows that a false diploma in law of St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia can be purchased for 5,500 leva. Both university diplomas and secondary school certificates are available against payment, the newspaper says.
ECONOMY
One in three VAT registered firms cannot be found at the address at which it has been registered, which is a fraud, National Revenue Agency (NRA) Executive Director Krassimir Stefanov says in an interview for "24 Chassa." The NRA has made a total of 1,400 inquiries about dubious deals; fishy deals involving 480 million leva have been cleared so far, he says.
* * *
According to "Monitor," there are nearly 1,000,000 post box companies the purpose of which is to get VAT refund in a fraudulent way. Of 1,200,000 merchants in Bulgaria, only 200,000 have renewed their commercial registration, Registration Agency Director Atanas Georgiev said. Firms which have not renewed their registration may not participate in public procurement tenders.
* * *
In 2010, nearly 60 per cent of social insurance payments will be financed through taxes, Deputy Labour and Social Affairs Minister Hristina Mitreva says in "Dnevnik."
* * *
Plamen Mollov, Chairman of the National Chamber of Viticulture and Winery, says in "Novinar" that raising the excise duty on hard liquor will encourage illegal producers and deliver a blow on the legal ones.
* * *
"Pari" says that the government and the parliamentary Budget Committee are acting out a bad scenario which is well-known. The incumbents are deluding Bulgarians that the decisions are in the hands of the MPs of GERB, the Blue Coalition, Ataka and Order, lawfulness and Justice, which appear in the role of the bad cops and introduce unpopular measures, while PM Borissov appears as the good cop.
BULGARIA - EU
"We think that the European Commission (EC) has not studied the information we gave it or did not consider it thoroughly," Environment and Waters Minister Nona Karadjova says in "Troud." She comments on the EC decision to take legal action against Bulgaria through the European Court of Justice based in Luxembourg over Sofia's baled waste kept on temporary sites near the capital. In her words, this is unjust as there is ample evidence showing that Sofia's household waste is transported to a landfill satisfying all relevant requirements; in addition, there is an operating system for preliminary waste treatment.
Commenting on the same issue in "24 Chassa," Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova says that EC officials will be invited here to see for themselves the progress made and that she expects the issue to be resolved then. The procedure relating to the construction of a waste treatment plant is at an advanced stage, she also says. The plant will be put into operation in 2012.
* * *
There has been some unofficial talk in Brussels that incumbent Bulgarian Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva may be appointed commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy, "Dnevnik" writes.
* * *
Referring to the Sunday Telegraph, "Klassa" writes that in his first speech as EU President Herman Van Rompuy said he would work together with the EC for the introduction of a new "euro tax" that European citizens would pay directly to Brussels to finance the EU budget. Van Rompuy will support the plans of EC President Jose Manuel Barroso for the new tax which would be in the form of a fixed percentage share of VAT and excise duty charged on fuel. Asked to comment on these plans, Bulgarian Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said he did not see economic logic in the idea.
* * *
Political scientist Andrei Raychev says in "Troud" that the choice of the incumbent leaders of the EU shows the big countries in the Community have opted for a model in which the president of Europe is rather an internal mechanism, a balancer, yet another stabilizing transmission rather than a real generator of politics. In a rapidly changing world, Europe chooses the status quo instead of change, Raychev notes. In his view, Europe should rapidly integrate Russia and Turkey in some way as otherwise it will lose its significance. He says it is a shame that Bulgaria, the 12th biggest country in the EU, did not take part in the latest developments. The government thinks only about the European funds, and the public discusses the remuneration a European commissioner gets, Raychev observes.
* * *
"24 Chassa" highlights the news that 2010 will entirely change the functions of television. The interactive digital television, expected to be well established in two or three years here, can be used to send and get SMS, to surf the Internet, to exercise parental control, etc. which will radically change the big television companies.
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 – November 23, 2009
· A totally unique brand new internet search engine appeared online Monday. The search engine is called “Krasyo” after Krasimir Georgiev – the man who is in the center of a large scale corruption scandal in Bulgaria’s judicial system. Georgiev was allegedly an intermediary offering the “sale” of top magistrate positions about EUR 200 000.
The unique new search engine named after Krasio is located at http://www.krasyo.net/. Once the user types a words, the engine automatically combines it with the name of Krasio (in Bulgarian) thus discovering related Internet content.
30 acting high-ranking Bulgarian magistrates, and 14 candidates for top positions (5 of whom already appointed), and 4 Members of Parliament have been exposed to have been in contact with Krasio after the scandal broke out. The case is still under investigation.
· Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) will submit a signal about conflict of interest against Iskra Fidosova, chairwoman of the parliamentary group of Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (CEDB).
BSP says Fidosova’s declaration regarding any possible conflict of interest reads she pays back three credits. Two of them total BGN 6,700. She has to pay back BGN 40,000 in the third one. BSP spokeswoman Korneliya Ninova says Fidosova cannot cover the payments in the credit with her salary as an MP, which is some BGN 2,500-BGN 3,000.
søndag den 22. november 2009
Bulgarian press review, November 19, 2009
Press Review
Sofia, November 19 (BTA)
THE HOME SCENE
"Troud" leads with the debates in Parliament about the lack of debate before the 2010 draft budget passed on first reading Tuesday ("Meatballs and Vibrations in Parliament"). It quotes Prime Minister Boyko Borissov as saying of the behavior of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), "I go there [in Parliament], and the whole government goes, and we wait to hear questions, and none of them is there - they are eating meatballs. I call this shameless". In Parliament, incumbents and opposition spent an hour fighting about, who gets the blame for the failed debate, the story says.
"24 Chassa", "Troud", "Zemya" and "Douma" carry an article by ex-Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev who calls the lack of debate on the draft budget "unseen in contemporary Bulgarian and European democratic history". He accuses the Parliamentary chair of violating the rules of procedure by proceeding with the vote and not giving the floor to MPs who have asked in writing to speak during the debate. Of the 2010 draft budget, he says that it will take the country into the worst of the crisis.
***
"Troud" runs an interview ("Boyko, You Are on The Right Path, Be a Man of Principles!") with former President Zhelyu Zhelev (1990-97) who urges Prime Minister Borissov to be more cautious when he speaks and not to react immediately to all questions or remarks. Of President Georgi Purvanov, Zhelev says that he is the first historian of the transition to become both a politician and a statesman. "A politician becomes a statesman when he is in a critical situation and proves capable of standing up against his own party in the name of national interests - and Purvanov passed this test when [Socialist PM-designate Nikolai] Dobrev and himself returned the mandate [to form a government] on February 4, 1997. Purvanov did more than go through a personal evolution from being a NATO opponent to being a NATO advocate: he took his own party along this tough road," says the interviewee.
***
In a "24 Chassa" interview, Prof. Lyudmil Georgiev of the MRF national leadership says that some people in the party believe MRF can be in the government together with GERB. He says these are people who have only been with MRF in the recent years, have only seen their party in power and don’t know that "every single moment of MRF's being in opposition has the beneficial effect of consolidating the party ranks".
***
The papers give prominence to revelations by Order, Lawfulness, Justice leader Yanev Yanev that four MPs of MRF and one of the Socialist party have had contacts with a notorious trader in influence whose name cropped up in a scandal over senior magisterial appointments. Yanev is quoted as saying that more names are likely to come to light after a check of all 1,040 names in the cell phone of "the lobbyist", Krassimir Georgiev, is completed.
Yanev was speaking to reporters after meeting with the anti-corruption commission with the Supreme Judicial Council in his capacity as chairman of the parliamentary anti-corruption committee.
***
"24 Chassa" reports that all Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) employees aged over 65 will be sent into retirement. The paper quotes Academy President Nikolai Subotinov who was speaking after a meeting with Prime Minister Borissov.
In a "Novinar" interview, Subotinov says that the BAS scholars get the lowest wages in all Europe. For this reason the Academy is unable to hire young people and keeps researchers of pensionable age.
***
From the spring of 2010, Sofianites will probably be charged even for parking outside their own home, if the parking areas are designated White Zone and drivers are allowed to use it only after paying, "Monitor" reports. A proposal to this effect has been made by the transport committee with the Sofia Municipal Council. According to "Telegraf", some parts of central Sofia will be made totally car-free and the other parts will up the charge for parking.
***
The Sofia Town Hall will have to pay 2,161 leva in indemnity to a 28-year-old woman who was bitten in the leg by two stray dogs in central Sofia in the summer of 2008, says "24 Chassa". The woman has won a case against the municipal authorities at two instances.
ECONOMY
Brussels unblocked over 82.5 million euro under Phare, "Klassa" reports in a front-page story. A front-page headline in "Dnevnik" says that 127 million euro of Phare money has been salvaged but three times as much has been lost. According to the paper, Bulgarian taxpayers will finance some of the flawed projects approved for Phare funding. The paper quotes Finance Minister Simeon Djankov as saying that Bulgaria has moved for unfreezing 91 million euro of a total of 130 million that has been frozen under the previous government. 64 million will be released with immediate effect and the rest will hopefully come next year. The European Commission has also unblocked 63 million euro for twinning projects - mostly for honoraria for EU experts providing aid in various areas. This adds up to a total of 127 million euro under Phare which will be salvaged, "Dnevnik" says.
***
In a "24 Chassa" interview, one of the partners in the sport betting company Euro football, Alexander Toumparov, says that imposing a higher tax on gambling is equal to lobbying in favour of illegal gambling. In his words, the real tax rate for gambling is not 10 per cent but 35-40 per cent.
***
Property deals take four times as long because of the crisis, "Sega" writes. While in 2007 it took 45 days on average to finalize a deal for the sale of an apartment, in mid-2009 the same took up to six months. These figures are based on an analysis of the real estate market in the EU made by the international chain of real estate agencies ERA. One reason for the slow trade is that buyers expect housing prices to plummet further and sellers are reluctant to lower their price. The story also says that the Building Chamber in Bulgaria is planning to set up its own bank to move the market in mortgage loans. "Standart News" has a full story on the plans for a new bank.
JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS
According to "Troud", the prosecuting magistracy will press charges against former Defence Minister Nikolai Tsonev even before it does so against his predecessors Nikolai Svinarov and Vesselin Bliznakov. Tsonev will have to explain for the purchase of an American line for building hangars, warehouses, barracks and housing facilities. The cost of the output from this production line is 60 dollars/sq m and experts say that the investment could pay back in 4 months. The machine cost the government close to 13 million leva and the money came from the Air Force budget. It was bought by a memo by then Chief of General Staff Gen. Zlatan Stoikov.
***
"The illusion that we have good laws but nobody observes them can live only until we take a good look at the details," Prosecutor General Boris Velchev writes in an article in "Troud". He says that the Bulgarian system of sanctions is not regulated in an efficient way; there is no repression for offenders which results in lack of respect for the law; prevention of offences is neglected and deprived of efficient mechanisms.
Of the legal opportunities to see a government minister with a sentence, he says that the minister puts his signature after those of the experts who have confirmed by the act of signing that no detriment will follow for the State from this or that deal, which gives the minister a very comfortable position for defence. "He says he is a political figure and understands nothing of the object of the deal, and this is why the administration exists. He says if the experts - lawyers and technical experts, have misled him, the blame is not his. And what happens is that the experts are sacked by the next minister and the former minister gets away without a scratch," Velchev writes.
HEALTH CARE
"The Prime Minister is right: everybody thinks health care is cheap and free and doesn't want to pay more for at, and at the same time takes it for granted that similar amounts or much more should be paid for much less important things," Georgi Angelov, a senior economist with the Open Society Institute, writes in "24 Chassa". He urges people to choose carefully their health insurance fund and hospital - the way they normally do a car repair shop.
NEWS MEDIA
"Pari" leads with a story on the upcoming digitalization of broadcasts. It says that pitfalls in the legislation will make it impossible to meet the 2012 deadline and operators have asked for a postponement.
***
In "Troud", bTV consultant Krassimir Gergov says that there is not going to be a deal for the purchase of bTV this year and he is ready to bet 1 million euro for that. "Troud" says that CME, which already owns the Bulgarian TV channels pro.bg and Ring, as well as Radio Pro FM, is seen as the most likely buyer of Rupert Murdoch's bTV.
***
"Troud" reports the findings of a study among Bulgarian families in Los Angeles which found most children who were born in the US speaking little or no Bulgarian language and totally lacking Bulgarian reading and writing skills. Bulgarian language schools are practically non-existent there and it is all up to the parents to teach their children the Bulgarian language, the story 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 – November 19, 2009
· A 27-year-old pregnant woman infected with the swine flu A (H1N1) virus has died Thursday in the Black Sea city of Burgas. The baby has been delivered and is doing fine. Another woman, whose baby has also been delivered, is in critical condition in the same hospital and is been monitored round the clock. In addition, a 40-year-old man from Burgas also suspected to have been infected with swine flu had died in the ambulance on his way to the hospital. The man had been ill for several days and had been trying to recover at home. He called the ambulance after his condition worsened Thursday, but the doctors were not able to help him.
· Yordan Lechkov, the Mayor of Sliven, has on Thursday demanded the resignation of the Bulgarian Minister of Environment and Water, Nona Karadzhova. The mayor announced that he will present his formal statement and supporting documents on Monday. He will also approach Prime Minister Boyko Borisov concerning his demand, as well as the National Fund at the Finance Ministry and the European Commission. The reason for this sacking demand is the suspension of the second phase of a municipal water treatment project in Sliven, a town in the eastern part of Bulgaria.
· The Administration of the Council of Ministers would not spend money for Christmas holidays-cards, advertisement materials, calendars, presents, etc at the order of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, government’ press office informed. The actions are taken over not allowing unnecessary spending of budget funds.
Sofia, November 19 (BTA)
THE HOME SCENE
"Troud" leads with the debates in Parliament about the lack of debate before the 2010 draft budget passed on first reading Tuesday ("Meatballs and Vibrations in Parliament"). It quotes Prime Minister Boyko Borissov as saying of the behavior of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), "I go there [in Parliament], and the whole government goes, and we wait to hear questions, and none of them is there - they are eating meatballs. I call this shameless". In Parliament, incumbents and opposition spent an hour fighting about, who gets the blame for the failed debate, the story says.
"24 Chassa", "Troud", "Zemya" and "Douma" carry an article by ex-Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev who calls the lack of debate on the draft budget "unseen in contemporary Bulgarian and European democratic history". He accuses the Parliamentary chair of violating the rules of procedure by proceeding with the vote and not giving the floor to MPs who have asked in writing to speak during the debate. Of the 2010 draft budget, he says that it will take the country into the worst of the crisis.
***
"Troud" runs an interview ("Boyko, You Are on The Right Path, Be a Man of Principles!") with former President Zhelyu Zhelev (1990-97) who urges Prime Minister Borissov to be more cautious when he speaks and not to react immediately to all questions or remarks. Of President Georgi Purvanov, Zhelev says that he is the first historian of the transition to become both a politician and a statesman. "A politician becomes a statesman when he is in a critical situation and proves capable of standing up against his own party in the name of national interests - and Purvanov passed this test when [Socialist PM-designate Nikolai] Dobrev and himself returned the mandate [to form a government] on February 4, 1997. Purvanov did more than go through a personal evolution from being a NATO opponent to being a NATO advocate: he took his own party along this tough road," says the interviewee.
***
In a "24 Chassa" interview, Prof. Lyudmil Georgiev of the MRF national leadership says that some people in the party believe MRF can be in the government together with GERB. He says these are people who have only been with MRF in the recent years, have only seen their party in power and don’t know that "every single moment of MRF's being in opposition has the beneficial effect of consolidating the party ranks".
***
The papers give prominence to revelations by Order, Lawfulness, Justice leader Yanev Yanev that four MPs of MRF and one of the Socialist party have had contacts with a notorious trader in influence whose name cropped up in a scandal over senior magisterial appointments. Yanev is quoted as saying that more names are likely to come to light after a check of all 1,040 names in the cell phone of "the lobbyist", Krassimir Georgiev, is completed.
Yanev was speaking to reporters after meeting with the anti-corruption commission with the Supreme Judicial Council in his capacity as chairman of the parliamentary anti-corruption committee.
***
"24 Chassa" reports that all Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) employees aged over 65 will be sent into retirement. The paper quotes Academy President Nikolai Subotinov who was speaking after a meeting with Prime Minister Borissov.
In a "Novinar" interview, Subotinov says that the BAS scholars get the lowest wages in all Europe. For this reason the Academy is unable to hire young people and keeps researchers of pensionable age.
***
From the spring of 2010, Sofianites will probably be charged even for parking outside their own home, if the parking areas are designated White Zone and drivers are allowed to use it only after paying, "Monitor" reports. A proposal to this effect has been made by the transport committee with the Sofia Municipal Council. According to "Telegraf", some parts of central Sofia will be made totally car-free and the other parts will up the charge for parking.
***
The Sofia Town Hall will have to pay 2,161 leva in indemnity to a 28-year-old woman who was bitten in the leg by two stray dogs in central Sofia in the summer of 2008, says "24 Chassa". The woman has won a case against the municipal authorities at two instances.
ECONOMY
Brussels unblocked over 82.5 million euro under Phare, "Klassa" reports in a front-page story. A front-page headline in "Dnevnik" says that 127 million euro of Phare money has been salvaged but three times as much has been lost. According to the paper, Bulgarian taxpayers will finance some of the flawed projects approved for Phare funding. The paper quotes Finance Minister Simeon Djankov as saying that Bulgaria has moved for unfreezing 91 million euro of a total of 130 million that has been frozen under the previous government. 64 million will be released with immediate effect and the rest will hopefully come next year. The European Commission has also unblocked 63 million euro for twinning projects - mostly for honoraria for EU experts providing aid in various areas. This adds up to a total of 127 million euro under Phare which will be salvaged, "Dnevnik" says.
***
In a "24 Chassa" interview, one of the partners in the sport betting company Euro football, Alexander Toumparov, says that imposing a higher tax on gambling is equal to lobbying in favour of illegal gambling. In his words, the real tax rate for gambling is not 10 per cent but 35-40 per cent.
***
Property deals take four times as long because of the crisis, "Sega" writes. While in 2007 it took 45 days on average to finalize a deal for the sale of an apartment, in mid-2009 the same took up to six months. These figures are based on an analysis of the real estate market in the EU made by the international chain of real estate agencies ERA. One reason for the slow trade is that buyers expect housing prices to plummet further and sellers are reluctant to lower their price. The story also says that the Building Chamber in Bulgaria is planning to set up its own bank to move the market in mortgage loans. "Standart News" has a full story on the plans for a new bank.
JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS
According to "Troud", the prosecuting magistracy will press charges against former Defence Minister Nikolai Tsonev even before it does so against his predecessors Nikolai Svinarov and Vesselin Bliznakov. Tsonev will have to explain for the purchase of an American line for building hangars, warehouses, barracks and housing facilities. The cost of the output from this production line is 60 dollars/sq m and experts say that the investment could pay back in 4 months. The machine cost the government close to 13 million leva and the money came from the Air Force budget. It was bought by a memo by then Chief of General Staff Gen. Zlatan Stoikov.
***
"The illusion that we have good laws but nobody observes them can live only until we take a good look at the details," Prosecutor General Boris Velchev writes in an article in "Troud". He says that the Bulgarian system of sanctions is not regulated in an efficient way; there is no repression for offenders which results in lack of respect for the law; prevention of offences is neglected and deprived of efficient mechanisms.
Of the legal opportunities to see a government minister with a sentence, he says that the minister puts his signature after those of the experts who have confirmed by the act of signing that no detriment will follow for the State from this or that deal, which gives the minister a very comfortable position for defence. "He says he is a political figure and understands nothing of the object of the deal, and this is why the administration exists. He says if the experts - lawyers and technical experts, have misled him, the blame is not his. And what happens is that the experts are sacked by the next minister and the former minister gets away without a scratch," Velchev writes.
HEALTH CARE
"The Prime Minister is right: everybody thinks health care is cheap and free and doesn't want to pay more for at, and at the same time takes it for granted that similar amounts or much more should be paid for much less important things," Georgi Angelov, a senior economist with the Open Society Institute, writes in "24 Chassa". He urges people to choose carefully their health insurance fund and hospital - the way they normally do a car repair shop.
NEWS MEDIA
"Pari" leads with a story on the upcoming digitalization of broadcasts. It says that pitfalls in the legislation will make it impossible to meet the 2012 deadline and operators have asked for a postponement.
***
In "Troud", bTV consultant Krassimir Gergov says that there is not going to be a deal for the purchase of bTV this year and he is ready to bet 1 million euro for that. "Troud" says that CME, which already owns the Bulgarian TV channels pro.bg and Ring, as well as Radio Pro FM, is seen as the most likely buyer of Rupert Murdoch's bTV.
***
"Troud" reports the findings of a study among Bulgarian families in Los Angeles which found most children who were born in the US speaking little or no Bulgarian language and totally lacking Bulgarian reading and writing skills. Bulgarian language schools are practically non-existent there and it is all up to the parents to teach their children the Bulgarian language, the story 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 – November 19, 2009
· A 27-year-old pregnant woman infected with the swine flu A (H1N1) virus has died Thursday in the Black Sea city of Burgas. The baby has been delivered and is doing fine. Another woman, whose baby has also been delivered, is in critical condition in the same hospital and is been monitored round the clock. In addition, a 40-year-old man from Burgas also suspected to have been infected with swine flu had died in the ambulance on his way to the hospital. The man had been ill for several days and had been trying to recover at home. He called the ambulance after his condition worsened Thursday, but the doctors were not able to help him.
· Yordan Lechkov, the Mayor of Sliven, has on Thursday demanded the resignation of the Bulgarian Minister of Environment and Water, Nona Karadzhova. The mayor announced that he will present his formal statement and supporting documents on Monday. He will also approach Prime Minister Boyko Borisov concerning his demand, as well as the National Fund at the Finance Ministry and the European Commission. The reason for this sacking demand is the suspension of the second phase of a municipal water treatment project in Sliven, a town in the eastern part of Bulgaria.
· The Administration of the Council of Ministers would not spend money for Christmas holidays-cards, advertisement materials, calendars, presents, etc at the order of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, government’ press office informed. The actions are taken over not allowing unnecessary spending of budget funds.
onsdag den 18. november 2009
Bulgarian Press Review, November 18, 2009
Press Review
Sofia, November 18 (BTA)
THE HOME SCENE
In an interview to "Dnevnik" political analyst Roumyana Kolarova advises the President to take off the red glasses. Red is the colour of the Bulgarian Socialist Party who was led by Georgi Purvanov before he was elected president. Kolarova argues that at then of his second term in office President Georgi Purvanov questions the Bulgarian democratic project of the past 20 years. According to Kolarova, in the past four years Purvanov acted as an arbiter, public corrective and mediator who pushed through political deals and compromises behind the scene. The President immersed himself in the problems of the executive and looked for and found solutions to the conflicts in the three-party coalition which governed the country until the July 5 regular elections for Parliament. Inevitably, the public opinion started to associate him with the corruptive practices that made possible the conciliation between the leftist programme of the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the rightist economic priorities of the National Movement for Surge and Stability. This is why today when Purvanov openly criticizes the one-party rule of GERB, this looks like defence of the behind-the-scene corruptive coalitionist mindset.
* * *
The article President Georgi Purvanov published on his website prompted by a recent statement of the finance minister that the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) was "a Stalinist product" staffed with "feudal oldsters" is one of the most commented topics in the Wednesday newspapers. In the article entitled, "It is not science or the economy, but science for the benefit of the economy and society" Purvanov argues that science is always a factor of development, and even more so at a time of crisis. Purvanov described Finance Minister Simeon Djankov's statement as a sign of "aggressive ignorance". Moreover, Djankov said that "science is not a priority" at a time of crisis. The Prime Minister generally backed this view, notes Purvanov.
In the article the President says that BAS is ahead of many research institutes in Southeastern Europe in the ranking of leading scientific organizations in Europe. He also suggests that science should not be financed solely along free-market principles, but should draw on all three major sources of financing: public appropriations, financing from businesses and EU programmes.
In an interview to "Standart News" the science and research secretary of BAS, Valdimir Dimitrov, says that for young scholars BAS is a jumping board for work abroad. He confirms that there are many senior scientists in BAS but stresses that they work very well and continue to generate ideas and projects which bring money to BAS. According to Dimitrov, the problem lies elsewhere: few young people come to work in BAS since there is nothing to attract and motivate them. He argues that Bulgaria has good scientists and researchers but notes that regretfully, the quality level in higher education and in science is dropping very quickly.
"Zemya" quotes newly appointed Education Minister Sergei Ignatov as saying that that more than 500 people will be laid off from BAS. Ignatov said also that BAS is a national treasure but the question is not to leave it become a museum treasure. He said that BAS needs a serious reform and modernizatiom.
* * *
Interviewed by "Novinar" leader of the Order, Lawfulness and Justice party Yane Yanev says that more than ten politicians have been in contact with the notorious lobbyist Krassimir Georgiev. Yanev says that the ten politicians include MPs of the parliamentary groups of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and, probably, the Union of Democratic Forces.
* * *
"Troud" interviews Professor Stoyan Koushlev who chairs the Commission for Establishing of Property Acquired from Criminal Activity, also known as the Koushlev Commission. The interviewee says that whenever he sees a 18-year-old girl to drive a super car, he notes the number plate. Koushlev says that in a normal country one would rarely see a young girl that is not a celebrity driving a million euro car whereas in Bulgaria this is a common occurrence. Koushlev says the new bill on the forfeiture of criminally acquired property will put an end to such sightings. According to the bill, the Koushlev Commission, and not just the Interior Ministry and the State Agency for National Security, will be able to check alerts about criminally acquired property.
* * *
In an interview to "Sega" Deputy Environment and Waters Minister Rvdokia Maneva says that mayors will be left without subsidies if they obstruct the work of the regional landfills. She says that the Environment and Waters Ministry has reached an agreement with the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria for the setting up of partnerships to manage regional landfills. The landfill will be owned by the municipality on whose territory it is. A mayor of a municipality which owns a landfill who creates problems to neighbouring municipalities will be deprived of all state subsidies, she warns.
* * *
"24 Chassa" interviews Georgi Kadiev, member of the Executive Bureau of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and former runner in the mayoral by-elections in Sofia. Kadiev argues that BSP is the only alternative to the current governance. BSP should not try to consolidate around a given individual; instead, its members should be prepared to make their small concessions and stand united as a party. In-party fighting gives a strong weapon in the hands of GERB who does not miss to point to it, says Kadiev.
ECONOMY
"24 Chassa" says in a front-page headline that "the best budget in the EU" - the 2010 national budget of Bulgaria as it was described by Finance Minister Simeon Djnakov, was voted on a first reading without a debate. For the first time in many years, the voting was not preceded by debates. The only MP to take the floor was leader of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria Ivan Kostov. After several invitations by National Assembly Chairperson Tsetska Tsacheva for other MPs to take the floor, the bill passed on 135-44 votes with no abstentions.
"24 Chassa" quotes Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov as saying that this was the first such passing of the annual budget since 1989 meaning that the opposition admits the legacy it left to the incumbents. The priorities in the expenditure side of the budget are education, health care, the social sector, environment and road infrastructure.
The forecast of a real decline of the economy next year stands at 2 per cent. Inflation next year is projected at 2.2 per cent.
* * *
"Troud" reports that the Blue Coalition managed to push for the provision of additional 450 million leva for health care. On Tuesday the Blue Coalition, GERB and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov signed a memorandum for the provision of additional 60 million leva for the treatment of cancer patients, 10 million leva for new hemodialysis equipment and 30 million leva for emergency medial aid while another 350 million leva will be made available for hospital treatment of patients.
* * *
"GERB Leads the People with High Excise Duties to High Incomes" caps a comment in "Sega" of the cabinet's governance programme released to mark its 100 days in office. The author says that the 150-page programme contains too much "general talk". The comment notes that a new pension fund especially for farmers is to be found in the programme, as well as a mysterious health care reform and an additional Physical Education class in schools.
* * *
A comment in "Troud" says that the small and medium-sized business expects clear anti-crisis measures. The author argues that GERB's governance programme contains too much wishful thinking and many slogans which sound good but fail to generate any real money. The programme needs to be urgently improved to include concrete deadlines and financial commitments. The business is confused by the opposing messages about the revision of the 2009 budget which was subsequently called off, and other such ideas that never materialized. Equally unclear is the idea about the reduction of the social security contributions which were set to drop first by 5 per cent, then by 2 per cent, until the issue was postponed.
* * *
All of the dailies write that the State Energy and Water Regulation Commission (SEWRC) drafts amendments to the ordinance on the way prices of natural gas are determined under which the guaranteed commercial surcharge of Bulgargaz will be reduced. The surcharge currently stands at 3 per cent. An analysis of SEWRC has shown that the percentage may be cut by at least one per cent, says "Klassa".
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 – November 18, 2009
• The European Commission confirmed it has unblocked EUR 82,563 M in EU funding for Bulgaria under PHARE program, which was suspended last year for the country's failure to adequately tackle corruption. “The Commission is lifting the suspension of payments for the accession-related programmes PHARE and the Transition Facility in Bulgaria,” European Commission spokesman Mark Gray said. In his words the decision is the result of the considerable efforts made by the Bulgarian authorities in close liaison with the Commission, to identify previous irregularities and to offer proposals for corrective action.
Sofia, November 18 (BTA)
THE HOME SCENE
In an interview to "Dnevnik" political analyst Roumyana Kolarova advises the President to take off the red glasses. Red is the colour of the Bulgarian Socialist Party who was led by Georgi Purvanov before he was elected president. Kolarova argues that at then of his second term in office President Georgi Purvanov questions the Bulgarian democratic project of the past 20 years. According to Kolarova, in the past four years Purvanov acted as an arbiter, public corrective and mediator who pushed through political deals and compromises behind the scene. The President immersed himself in the problems of the executive and looked for and found solutions to the conflicts in the three-party coalition which governed the country until the July 5 regular elections for Parliament. Inevitably, the public opinion started to associate him with the corruptive practices that made possible the conciliation between the leftist programme of the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the rightist economic priorities of the National Movement for Surge and Stability. This is why today when Purvanov openly criticizes the one-party rule of GERB, this looks like defence of the behind-the-scene corruptive coalitionist mindset.
* * *
The article President Georgi Purvanov published on his website prompted by a recent statement of the finance minister that the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) was "a Stalinist product" staffed with "feudal oldsters" is one of the most commented topics in the Wednesday newspapers. In the article entitled, "It is not science or the economy, but science for the benefit of the economy and society" Purvanov argues that science is always a factor of development, and even more so at a time of crisis. Purvanov described Finance Minister Simeon Djankov's statement as a sign of "aggressive ignorance". Moreover, Djankov said that "science is not a priority" at a time of crisis. The Prime Minister generally backed this view, notes Purvanov.
In the article the President says that BAS is ahead of many research institutes in Southeastern Europe in the ranking of leading scientific organizations in Europe. He also suggests that science should not be financed solely along free-market principles, but should draw on all three major sources of financing: public appropriations, financing from businesses and EU programmes.
In an interview to "Standart News" the science and research secretary of BAS, Valdimir Dimitrov, says that for young scholars BAS is a jumping board for work abroad. He confirms that there are many senior scientists in BAS but stresses that they work very well and continue to generate ideas and projects which bring money to BAS. According to Dimitrov, the problem lies elsewhere: few young people come to work in BAS since there is nothing to attract and motivate them. He argues that Bulgaria has good scientists and researchers but notes that regretfully, the quality level in higher education and in science is dropping very quickly.
"Zemya" quotes newly appointed Education Minister Sergei Ignatov as saying that that more than 500 people will be laid off from BAS. Ignatov said also that BAS is a national treasure but the question is not to leave it become a museum treasure. He said that BAS needs a serious reform and modernizatiom.
* * *
Interviewed by "Novinar" leader of the Order, Lawfulness and Justice party Yane Yanev says that more than ten politicians have been in contact with the notorious lobbyist Krassimir Georgiev. Yanev says that the ten politicians include MPs of the parliamentary groups of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and, probably, the Union of Democratic Forces.
* * *
"Troud" interviews Professor Stoyan Koushlev who chairs the Commission for Establishing of Property Acquired from Criminal Activity, also known as the Koushlev Commission. The interviewee says that whenever he sees a 18-year-old girl to drive a super car, he notes the number plate. Koushlev says that in a normal country one would rarely see a young girl that is not a celebrity driving a million euro car whereas in Bulgaria this is a common occurrence. Koushlev says the new bill on the forfeiture of criminally acquired property will put an end to such sightings. According to the bill, the Koushlev Commission, and not just the Interior Ministry and the State Agency for National Security, will be able to check alerts about criminally acquired property.
* * *
In an interview to "Sega" Deputy Environment and Waters Minister Rvdokia Maneva says that mayors will be left without subsidies if they obstruct the work of the regional landfills. She says that the Environment and Waters Ministry has reached an agreement with the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria for the setting up of partnerships to manage regional landfills. The landfill will be owned by the municipality on whose territory it is. A mayor of a municipality which owns a landfill who creates problems to neighbouring municipalities will be deprived of all state subsidies, she warns.
* * *
"24 Chassa" interviews Georgi Kadiev, member of the Executive Bureau of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and former runner in the mayoral by-elections in Sofia. Kadiev argues that BSP is the only alternative to the current governance. BSP should not try to consolidate around a given individual; instead, its members should be prepared to make their small concessions and stand united as a party. In-party fighting gives a strong weapon in the hands of GERB who does not miss to point to it, says Kadiev.
ECONOMY
"24 Chassa" says in a front-page headline that "the best budget in the EU" - the 2010 national budget of Bulgaria as it was described by Finance Minister Simeon Djnakov, was voted on a first reading without a debate. For the first time in many years, the voting was not preceded by debates. The only MP to take the floor was leader of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria Ivan Kostov. After several invitations by National Assembly Chairperson Tsetska Tsacheva for other MPs to take the floor, the bill passed on 135-44 votes with no abstentions.
"24 Chassa" quotes Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov as saying that this was the first such passing of the annual budget since 1989 meaning that the opposition admits the legacy it left to the incumbents. The priorities in the expenditure side of the budget are education, health care, the social sector, environment and road infrastructure.
The forecast of a real decline of the economy next year stands at 2 per cent. Inflation next year is projected at 2.2 per cent.
* * *
"Troud" reports that the Blue Coalition managed to push for the provision of additional 450 million leva for health care. On Tuesday the Blue Coalition, GERB and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov signed a memorandum for the provision of additional 60 million leva for the treatment of cancer patients, 10 million leva for new hemodialysis equipment and 30 million leva for emergency medial aid while another 350 million leva will be made available for hospital treatment of patients.
* * *
"GERB Leads the People with High Excise Duties to High Incomes" caps a comment in "Sega" of the cabinet's governance programme released to mark its 100 days in office. The author says that the 150-page programme contains too much "general talk". The comment notes that a new pension fund especially for farmers is to be found in the programme, as well as a mysterious health care reform and an additional Physical Education class in schools.
* * *
A comment in "Troud" says that the small and medium-sized business expects clear anti-crisis measures. The author argues that GERB's governance programme contains too much wishful thinking and many slogans which sound good but fail to generate any real money. The programme needs to be urgently improved to include concrete deadlines and financial commitments. The business is confused by the opposing messages about the revision of the 2009 budget which was subsequently called off, and other such ideas that never materialized. Equally unclear is the idea about the reduction of the social security contributions which were set to drop first by 5 per cent, then by 2 per cent, until the issue was postponed.
* * *
All of the dailies write that the State Energy and Water Regulation Commission (SEWRC) drafts amendments to the ordinance on the way prices of natural gas are determined under which the guaranteed commercial surcharge of Bulgargaz will be reduced. The surcharge currently stands at 3 per cent. An analysis of SEWRC has shown that the percentage may be cut by at least one per cent, says "Klassa".
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 – November 18, 2009
• The European Commission confirmed it has unblocked EUR 82,563 M in EU funding for Bulgaria under PHARE program, which was suspended last year for the country's failure to adequately tackle corruption. “The Commission is lifting the suspension of payments for the accession-related programmes PHARE and the Transition Facility in Bulgaria,” European Commission spokesman Mark Gray said. In his words the decision is the result of the considerable efforts made by the Bulgarian authorities in close liaison with the Commission, to identify previous irregularities and to offer proposals for corrective action.
tirsdag den 17. november 2009
Bulgarian press review, November 17, 2009
Press Review
Sofia, November 17 (BTA)
ECONOMY
Tuesday dailies lead on Parliament's first reading of the 2010 draft budget. In a "Dnevnik" interview, parliamentary Budget Committee Chair Menda Stoyanova says that public services will worsen unless the budget is tied with the implementation of reforms. According to her, 2010 budget revenues may come short of the target if EU outlooks about the end of the recession prove wrong. Bulgaria's is a small economy and it will pick up only after markets pick up. Stoyanova sees another risk if the Customs Agency and the National Revenue Agency fail in their efforts to curb the grey economy. Expanding grey economy under a crisis is a predictable phenomenon, which is why the two agencies are expected to tighten their control.
***
In a "24 Chassa" interview on the 2010 budget former prime minister Ivan Kostov [1997-2001] says that in 2010 Bulgaria's economy is more likely to contract by 3.7 per cent instead of government's projections of 2 per cent and that the government's attempts to create the false impression that it is keeping things under control are ill-timed. Kostov says that the government will not convince the banks to decrease interest rate just by magic spells and to this end he has proposed two packets of measures to the Finance Minister. Under one of the measures, the 70 per cent of the 1.7-billion leva pension Silver Fund deposited with foreign banks may be returned to Bulgarian banks under certain guarantees.
***
"Zemya" headlines "Budget of Panic."
***
"Pari" front-pages that instead of the extension of anti-crisis measures, businesses will have to pay a higher excise duty on electricity.
***
Responding to a question by "Troud" whether Bulgaria's natural gas agreements will be made public, Economy, Energy and Transport Minister Traicho Traikov says that certainly "steps will be made to that effect". However, Traikov goes on to say that the issue is sensitive as gas and gas agreements are only a link in a chain. Galina Tosheva will keep her post as Executive Director of the Bulgarian Energy Holding, the Minister added.
***
Under the headline "First Protest against Government," "Douma reports that Economy Minister Traicho Traikov refused to face the 200 workers of the Kremikovtzi steel mill who gathered Monday outside his ministry. Lyudmil Pavlov, leader of the Podkrepa Labour Confederation chapter at Kremikovtzi, said that the workers are against the mill's liquidation and see a recovery plan as the only viable option. They also demand that environment-friendly plants at Kremikovtzi remain in operation.
***
Non-performing leases increased by nearly 85 per cent quarter on quarter, according to figures of the Bulgarian National Bank. In September, non-performing loans were 688 million leva, against 374 million leva in the second quarter of 2009. In comparison, a year earlier they were just 50 million leva. New leases were worth 217.3 million leva, or 79.8 per cent down from the 860 million leva of the like period of 2008.
THE HOME SCENE
GERB candidate Yordanka Fandakova has become Sofia's first woman mayor, winning 66.23 per cent of the vote at the Sunday by-elections, Tuesday dailies report. Runner-up Georgi Kadiev [Bulgarian Socialist Party] garnered 27.71 of the vote, show the final results. Albena Bachvarova of the Sova Harris polling agency writes in "Troud" that Fandakova nomination was supported by the younger and more active population. According to the agency, women, the well-educated and those with steady jobs made up the majority of voters. GERB, the Union of Democratic Forces and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria had agreed to run with a single candidate in the mayoral by-elections. Eleven per cent of the votes for Fandakova came from the Blue Coalition, described by observers as "modest". According to Vassil Tonchev of Sova Harris, the support of the rightist parties helped Fandakova avoid a second round of voting. At two per cent, even weaker was the support of GERB loyal ally Ataka. Analysts see it as yet another sign of the decline of the ultra-nationalist party, which is being taken over by GERB, according to Tonchev. Of all Roma voters, 60 per cent voted for Fandakova. BSP candidate Georgi Kadiev received some votes outside his party, but lost some of the socialist grassroot supporters. Twenty-five per cent of those who voted for Kadiev do not support the Bulgarian Socialist Party. In a commentary for "Standart News", Miroslava Radeva of MBMD says that the by-elections have beefed up GERB and finished off the Left.
***
Under the headline "Country Mayor Rebels against Sofia," "24 Chassa" reports that Sliven [South Central Bulgaria] Mayor Yordan Lechkov has threatened to alert the European Commission about a large-scale project in his native town, which has been blocked by the government. Lechkov protests over the suspension by the Environment Ministry of the contract award procedure for the second stage of the reconstruction of Sliven's water supply network, funded under the Operational Programme for the Environment. According to Lechkov, it is not fair for the country to work for the capital. Environment Minister Nona Karadjova has denied that funds have been frozen. In her words, Lechkov asked for a bigger advance payment than what had been agreed with former environment minister Djevdet Chakurov. Lechkov claims that Sliven is the only municipality with approved projects for the reconstruction of the town's water network to the amount of 41 million euro. "The Ministry should not interfere in an EU programme, which we have won and co-financed," Leckov says. He insists that EU funds which should be absorbed by local governments are being delayed by the government and that nearly 1,000 million euro have been channeled into the national budget.
***
Postponed infrastructure projects, problems with road maintenance during winter and cuts in administration make up municipal agendas in 2010, according to a survey run by "Dnevnik" among mayors across the country. This is due to the cuts of 200 million leva in state subsidies in the 2010 draft budget, which for the first time in several years will allocate fewer funds than in previous years. Worst hit will be small and medium municipalities. The main concerns arise from the nearly twofold decrease in state transfers for capital expenditures. In 2010 they will be 117 million leva against 205 million leva in 2009.
***
According to "Standart News", the office of Education Minister will be contended be Plamen Legkostoup, Rector of the Veliko Turnovo University, and Deputy Education Minister Sergei Ignatov. "Telegraph" adds a third contender, Malina Edreva, Chair of the Education Committee with the Sofia Municipality.
***
In a "Troud" interview, political scientist Ognyan Minchev says that the government has a face of its own by running a clear line between its friends and foes. In his words, politics in Bulgaria has got rid of the tradition of hidden agreements between the political elite. One of the upsides according to Minchev is that the new government acts in a way that shows it is accountable before voters and it feels compelled to explain the steps it undertakes. Minchev highlights as the biggest problem the exclusion of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the National Movement for Surge and Stability from the audit carried out by GERB of the former government.
SOCIETY
Star-crossed lovers Albena Dimchova, 16, and Tsvetan Mirchev, 15, threw themselves under a train near a railway station in the Northwestern town of Brussartsi on Sunday morning, front-pages "Troud". Albena was a mayor's daughter, while Tsvetan was a poor Roma boy. As the 223-tonne train neared the station, the two jumped in its path holding each other. Albena died on the spot, while Tsvetan is said to be in critical condition. He has a serious head injury and crushed bones in his arms. His family was forced to sell a barn to pay for his treatment.
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 – November 17, 2009
· Sergei Ignatov will be nominated for the post of Education, Youth and Science Minister, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told journalists in Parliament. A Deputy Education Minister until now, Ignatov substituted for Minister Yordanka Fandakova who was elected Mayor of Sofia. He also held the position of Rector of New Bulgarian University since 2002 and has managerial experience which will help him in his job.
· The National Assembly passed Tuesday on first reading the national budget for next year. For the first time in many years, this did not follow debates but only a statement by Democrats for Strong Bulgaria leader Ivan Kostov. The MPs passed the bill with 135 votes "for", 44 "against" and no abstainee.
The priorities in the expenditure side of the budget are education, health care, the social sector, environment and road infrastructure.
The government commits itself to maintain a balanced budget which supports its efforts to restore the economy and proves that government spending is under control, PM Borissov stated during the parliament debate. According the Prime Minister there is no alternative to the scenario for the Bulgarian economy, incorporated in the 2010 budget, whereby the government seeks to attain economic development, fiscal stability and a stable macroeconomic environment.
· The police have arrested a 30-year-old man from Sofia for double murder after an incident near the Vacha Dam in Southern Bulgaria. Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov confirmed the murder that occurred at 21:00 Monday night after 3 men went fishing on a pontoon of the dam reservoir. An argument allegedly occurred at the lake side and the 30-year-old man pulled out a legally owned hand gun and shot his 30 and 35 year-old fishing colleagues.
Sofia, November 17 (BTA)
ECONOMY
Tuesday dailies lead on Parliament's first reading of the 2010 draft budget. In a "Dnevnik" interview, parliamentary Budget Committee Chair Menda Stoyanova says that public services will worsen unless the budget is tied with the implementation of reforms. According to her, 2010 budget revenues may come short of the target if EU outlooks about the end of the recession prove wrong. Bulgaria's is a small economy and it will pick up only after markets pick up. Stoyanova sees another risk if the Customs Agency and the National Revenue Agency fail in their efforts to curb the grey economy. Expanding grey economy under a crisis is a predictable phenomenon, which is why the two agencies are expected to tighten their control.
***
In a "24 Chassa" interview on the 2010 budget former prime minister Ivan Kostov [1997-2001] says that in 2010 Bulgaria's economy is more likely to contract by 3.7 per cent instead of government's projections of 2 per cent and that the government's attempts to create the false impression that it is keeping things under control are ill-timed. Kostov says that the government will not convince the banks to decrease interest rate just by magic spells and to this end he has proposed two packets of measures to the Finance Minister. Under one of the measures, the 70 per cent of the 1.7-billion leva pension Silver Fund deposited with foreign banks may be returned to Bulgarian banks under certain guarantees.
***
"Zemya" headlines "Budget of Panic."
***
"Pari" front-pages that instead of the extension of anti-crisis measures, businesses will have to pay a higher excise duty on electricity.
***
Responding to a question by "Troud" whether Bulgaria's natural gas agreements will be made public, Economy, Energy and Transport Minister Traicho Traikov says that certainly "steps will be made to that effect". However, Traikov goes on to say that the issue is sensitive as gas and gas agreements are only a link in a chain. Galina Tosheva will keep her post as Executive Director of the Bulgarian Energy Holding, the Minister added.
***
Under the headline "First Protest against Government," "Douma reports that Economy Minister Traicho Traikov refused to face the 200 workers of the Kremikovtzi steel mill who gathered Monday outside his ministry. Lyudmil Pavlov, leader of the Podkrepa Labour Confederation chapter at Kremikovtzi, said that the workers are against the mill's liquidation and see a recovery plan as the only viable option. They also demand that environment-friendly plants at Kremikovtzi remain in operation.
***
Non-performing leases increased by nearly 85 per cent quarter on quarter, according to figures of the Bulgarian National Bank. In September, non-performing loans were 688 million leva, against 374 million leva in the second quarter of 2009. In comparison, a year earlier they were just 50 million leva. New leases were worth 217.3 million leva, or 79.8 per cent down from the 860 million leva of the like period of 2008.
THE HOME SCENE
GERB candidate Yordanka Fandakova has become Sofia's first woman mayor, winning 66.23 per cent of the vote at the Sunday by-elections, Tuesday dailies report. Runner-up Georgi Kadiev [Bulgarian Socialist Party] garnered 27.71 of the vote, show the final results. Albena Bachvarova of the Sova Harris polling agency writes in "Troud" that Fandakova nomination was supported by the younger and more active population. According to the agency, women, the well-educated and those with steady jobs made up the majority of voters. GERB, the Union of Democratic Forces and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria had agreed to run with a single candidate in the mayoral by-elections. Eleven per cent of the votes for Fandakova came from the Blue Coalition, described by observers as "modest". According to Vassil Tonchev of Sova Harris, the support of the rightist parties helped Fandakova avoid a second round of voting. At two per cent, even weaker was the support of GERB loyal ally Ataka. Analysts see it as yet another sign of the decline of the ultra-nationalist party, which is being taken over by GERB, according to Tonchev. Of all Roma voters, 60 per cent voted for Fandakova. BSP candidate Georgi Kadiev received some votes outside his party, but lost some of the socialist grassroot supporters. Twenty-five per cent of those who voted for Kadiev do not support the Bulgarian Socialist Party. In a commentary for "Standart News", Miroslava Radeva of MBMD says that the by-elections have beefed up GERB and finished off the Left.
***
Under the headline "Country Mayor Rebels against Sofia," "24 Chassa" reports that Sliven [South Central Bulgaria] Mayor Yordan Lechkov has threatened to alert the European Commission about a large-scale project in his native town, which has been blocked by the government. Lechkov protests over the suspension by the Environment Ministry of the contract award procedure for the second stage of the reconstruction of Sliven's water supply network, funded under the Operational Programme for the Environment. According to Lechkov, it is not fair for the country to work for the capital. Environment Minister Nona Karadjova has denied that funds have been frozen. In her words, Lechkov asked for a bigger advance payment than what had been agreed with former environment minister Djevdet Chakurov. Lechkov claims that Sliven is the only municipality with approved projects for the reconstruction of the town's water network to the amount of 41 million euro. "The Ministry should not interfere in an EU programme, which we have won and co-financed," Leckov says. He insists that EU funds which should be absorbed by local governments are being delayed by the government and that nearly 1,000 million euro have been channeled into the national budget.
***
Postponed infrastructure projects, problems with road maintenance during winter and cuts in administration make up municipal agendas in 2010, according to a survey run by "Dnevnik" among mayors across the country. This is due to the cuts of 200 million leva in state subsidies in the 2010 draft budget, which for the first time in several years will allocate fewer funds than in previous years. Worst hit will be small and medium municipalities. The main concerns arise from the nearly twofold decrease in state transfers for capital expenditures. In 2010 they will be 117 million leva against 205 million leva in 2009.
***
According to "Standart News", the office of Education Minister will be contended be Plamen Legkostoup, Rector of the Veliko Turnovo University, and Deputy Education Minister Sergei Ignatov. "Telegraph" adds a third contender, Malina Edreva, Chair of the Education Committee with the Sofia Municipality.
***
In a "Troud" interview, political scientist Ognyan Minchev says that the government has a face of its own by running a clear line between its friends and foes. In his words, politics in Bulgaria has got rid of the tradition of hidden agreements between the political elite. One of the upsides according to Minchev is that the new government acts in a way that shows it is accountable before voters and it feels compelled to explain the steps it undertakes. Minchev highlights as the biggest problem the exclusion of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the National Movement for Surge and Stability from the audit carried out by GERB of the former government.
SOCIETY
Star-crossed lovers Albena Dimchova, 16, and Tsvetan Mirchev, 15, threw themselves under a train near a railway station in the Northwestern town of Brussartsi on Sunday morning, front-pages "Troud". Albena was a mayor's daughter, while Tsvetan was a poor Roma boy. As the 223-tonne train neared the station, the two jumped in its path holding each other. Albena died on the spot, while Tsvetan is said to be in critical condition. He has a serious head injury and crushed bones in his arms. His family was forced to sell a barn to pay for his treatment.
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 – November 17, 2009
· Sergei Ignatov will be nominated for the post of Education, Youth and Science Minister, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told journalists in Parliament. A Deputy Education Minister until now, Ignatov substituted for Minister Yordanka Fandakova who was elected Mayor of Sofia. He also held the position of Rector of New Bulgarian University since 2002 and has managerial experience which will help him in his job.
· The National Assembly passed Tuesday on first reading the national budget for next year. For the first time in many years, this did not follow debates but only a statement by Democrats for Strong Bulgaria leader Ivan Kostov. The MPs passed the bill with 135 votes "for", 44 "against" and no abstainee.
The priorities in the expenditure side of the budget are education, health care, the social sector, environment and road infrastructure.
The government commits itself to maintain a balanced budget which supports its efforts to restore the economy and proves that government spending is under control, PM Borissov stated during the parliament debate. According the Prime Minister there is no alternative to the scenario for the Bulgarian economy, incorporated in the 2010 budget, whereby the government seeks to attain economic development, fiscal stability and a stable macroeconomic environment.
· The police have arrested a 30-year-old man from Sofia for double murder after an incident near the Vacha Dam in Southern Bulgaria. Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov confirmed the murder that occurred at 21:00 Monday night after 3 men went fishing on a pontoon of the dam reservoir. An argument allegedly occurred at the lake side and the 30-year-old man pulled out a legally owned hand gun and shot his 30 and 35 year-old fishing colleagues.
mandag den 16. november 2009
Bulgarian press review, November 16, 2009
Press Review
Sofia, November 16 (BTA)
THE HOME SCENE
Monday's press leads on Sunday's mayoral by-elections in five settlements.
Under the headline "GERB Keeps Control of Capital," "Troud" reports that Education Minister Yordanka Fandakova of GERB became Sofia's first woman mayor. With a record-low voter turnout, 22.5 per cent according to Alpha Research, Fandakova won between 65.6 and 70.3 per cent of the votes according to projection vote tabulations released by polling agencies after the close of the polls. "I am glad I presented GERB befittingly, and I hope to justify the confidence," the winner said after the end of the elections. The Socialists' candidate Georgi Kadiev came in second, with 22.5 to 26.5 per cent of the votes, again according to polling agencies. Twelve per cent of The Blue Coalition electorate in Sofia voted for Fandakova in Sofia on Sunday. Just 2 per cent of the Ataka faithful supported her, as did 1 per cent of the supporters of Order, Lawfulness, Justice, even though they had a candidate of their own.
"High turnout is needed for all elections, but this campaign is not charged with the emotion of the parliamentary race," President Georgi Purvanov said after casting his ballot, quoted by "Pari." As he put it, "every non-voting is a choice of something else." "These elections come a little too much for people," Prime Minister and GERB leader Boyko Borissov commented on the low voter turnout. He noted that in Sofia, with 22 borough mayors from GERB [out of a total of 24] and The Blue Coalition and 35-50 municipal councilors [out of a total of 61], there is no chance of a [municipality] mayor other than GERB's.
GERB Chairman Tsvetan Tsvetanov said shortly after the closing of the polls that Kostadin Shahov of GERB won the mayoral by-election in Vratsa, "Monitor" writes. The Northwestern town reported a recrord-low turnout of 23.05 per cent. The next mayor of Pravets, where 44.65 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots, will be GERB's candidate Nikola Nitov.
According to "Standart News," none of the five mayoral candidates in Razlog (Southwestern Bulgaria) got more than 50 per cent of the votes cast in the town, and the top two vote getters: GERB's Krassimir Gerchev and Blagoi Dounkin, backed by Patriotic Union for Razlog Municipality, will contest a second round of voting next week.
"Novinar" notes that the Village of Beglezh near Pleven (North Central Bulgaria) showed the highest turnout on Sunday, 73 per cent.
A signed comment in "Standart News" finds two obvious conclusions from Sunday's elections. "First, people refuse to play in a game with the score known in advance because they are sick and tired of the feeling that nothing depends on them. Secondly, both the Right and the Left are dominated by political scandals. Against this background, interest in policy tends towards zero, and GERB, with the exception of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, can do practically nothing to attract voters' attention."
* * *
Interviewed for "Troud," Supreme Administrative Court President Konstantin Penchev describes as "a disgraceful event" the unauthorized associations of magistrates with influence trader Krassimir "Krassyo" Georgiev. He argues that this is just "the tip of an iceberg." Penchev does not think that the Supreme Judicial Council is capable of extricating itself from the situation. "Some time ago we were at the other extreme," he says. "We had to reform the judiciary despite the resistance of the judiciary. Now it is the other way round, the judiciary must reform the judiciary by itself! No way, the credibility of the judiciary is so precarious that statehood is in jeopardy. Saving statehood is the business of all three branches of government and of all society which has a stake in this."
* * *
In an interview for "Klassa", Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov says that Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) leader Ahmed Dogan "is lying low" and this ties the Government's hands. That is why Boyko Borissov has cause for worry. According to Rashidov, the MRF will launch a strong aggression after the New Year. He expects that there will be organized ethnic riots then. The crisis will thus be used to destabilize the Government.
* * *
"The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences undoubtedly must meet the new conditions and produce better output," Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said Sunday, quoted by "24 Chassa." His statement was prompted by scientists' angry reaction to a remark by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov that the Academy was staffed by "feudal oldsters". "There are such people there. But there are also some very good academicians, corresponding members. A large part of them are our friends," the PM noted. However, he agrees with Djankov's view that scientific research should be engaged in at the universities and assured reporters that his words were not insulting.
* * *
National Assembly Health Committee Chairman Luchezar Ivanov told a "24 Chassa" interviewer that, under the revised version of the Health Insurance Act, all 8 per cent of the health insurance contribution will be spent on health instead of setting aside 2 per cent for the reserve. He notes that the earnings of doctors who provide medical services will not be decreased. Hospitals which exist for the sake of existence, however, will be affected. "We will not protect hospitals lacking the necessary equipment and qualified staff which run into debt instead of providing people with adequate services and care," he argues. "The quality of medical services will not deteriorate despite the reduced allocations in the 2010 budget," he promises.
ECONOMY
National Assembly Budget Committee Chair Menda Stoyanova told "Sega" that the 2010 draft budget is "the only possible one." She confirms that this is the first budget in ten years which has to cut spending compared to the previous year. "So far spending has always been increased, and the moot point has been over how to allocate this growth to the various activities. Now the moot point is how much to cut spending." Stoyanova notes that taxation policy in Bulgaria is a policy of low taxes and neutral taxation of all taxpayers. She believes that all reliefs, making holes in the tax system in one form or another, must gradually be abandoned.
Under the heading "Receivables from State Bankrupt Companies," "Troud" reports that the Exchequer's debt to companies has built up to 1,400 million leva, according to Finance Ministry figures. Of these, 450 million leva are most urgent for settlement, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said. Payments are delayed in order to balance the budget. For this reason, however, some companies may go bankrupt.
"State Plans to Condemn Property without Pay," reads a front-page headline in "Sega." "The owners of properties outside nucleated settlements through which a motorway will run or a project of national importance will be implemented may not get a single lev in compensation. This emerges from draft revisions of the State Property Act, which will go before the Council of Ministers within days. The provisions were drafted by an interdepartmental working group at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works. The idea is to curb the scam of the huge compensations that owners of such properties manage to achieve in court. The compensations may be provided in kind, but owners will no longer have the right to contest their type and amount."
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 – November 16, 2009
· A loaded freight train has run over a teenage couple near the town of Brusartsi in Bulgaria’s north-west Montana region, killing the girl (16-year-old) outright and critically injuring the boy (15-year-old). The pair was going through a bad patch together and deliberately laid down on the tracks in front of the train on Sunday evening, according to the police.
· Macedonia is receiving and will keep on receiving Bulgaria's support for its Euro-Atlantic integration, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said emerging from a meeting with his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski on Monday.
The Bulgarian side insists not to tolerate groups in Bulgaria creating problems, not to aspire to conflicts but to keep the bon ton and avoid the language of hatred, he added.
· Bulgaria's Cabinet will go ahead with plans to deposit small portion of its fiscal reserve with local banks, Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov told Financial Times in an interview published on November 16. About one billion leva, or 12 per cent of the fiscal reserve, would be deposited with Bulgarian subsidiaries of foreign-owned banks in an attempt to lift the economy out of recession, Dyankov said.
“This measure would stimulate the economy by helping bring down interest rates for borrowers (…) and, if required, more liquidity could be made available,” Dyankov was quoted as saying.
· Workers of Sofia's Kremikovtzi steel mill gathered at a protest rally in the square outside the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in central Sofia Monday morning to protest what seems like imminent liquidation of the company. They believe that recovery is a feasible option and want to hear the government's firm position on the recovery plan, said the leader of the influential Podkrepa Labour Confederation, Konstantin Trenchev.
The protest comes about a week after Economy, Energy and Tourism Minister Traicho Traikov said that Kremikovtzi has become a hollow industrial structure in which many economic partners like the national railway and electricity company were cheated out of their money, and liquidation is the only real alternative for it.
Sofia, November 16 (BTA)
THE HOME SCENE
Monday's press leads on Sunday's mayoral by-elections in five settlements.
Under the headline "GERB Keeps Control of Capital," "Troud" reports that Education Minister Yordanka Fandakova of GERB became Sofia's first woman mayor. With a record-low voter turnout, 22.5 per cent according to Alpha Research, Fandakova won between 65.6 and 70.3 per cent of the votes according to projection vote tabulations released by polling agencies after the close of the polls. "I am glad I presented GERB befittingly, and I hope to justify the confidence," the winner said after the end of the elections. The Socialists' candidate Georgi Kadiev came in second, with 22.5 to 26.5 per cent of the votes, again according to polling agencies. Twelve per cent of The Blue Coalition electorate in Sofia voted for Fandakova in Sofia on Sunday. Just 2 per cent of the Ataka faithful supported her, as did 1 per cent of the supporters of Order, Lawfulness, Justice, even though they had a candidate of their own.
"High turnout is needed for all elections, but this campaign is not charged with the emotion of the parliamentary race," President Georgi Purvanov said after casting his ballot, quoted by "Pari." As he put it, "every non-voting is a choice of something else." "These elections come a little too much for people," Prime Minister and GERB leader Boyko Borissov commented on the low voter turnout. He noted that in Sofia, with 22 borough mayors from GERB [out of a total of 24] and The Blue Coalition and 35-50 municipal councilors [out of a total of 61], there is no chance of a [municipality] mayor other than GERB's.
GERB Chairman Tsvetan Tsvetanov said shortly after the closing of the polls that Kostadin Shahov of GERB won the mayoral by-election in Vratsa, "Monitor" writes. The Northwestern town reported a recrord-low turnout of 23.05 per cent. The next mayor of Pravets, where 44.65 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots, will be GERB's candidate Nikola Nitov.
According to "Standart News," none of the five mayoral candidates in Razlog (Southwestern Bulgaria) got more than 50 per cent of the votes cast in the town, and the top two vote getters: GERB's Krassimir Gerchev and Blagoi Dounkin, backed by Patriotic Union for Razlog Municipality, will contest a second round of voting next week.
"Novinar" notes that the Village of Beglezh near Pleven (North Central Bulgaria) showed the highest turnout on Sunday, 73 per cent.
A signed comment in "Standart News" finds two obvious conclusions from Sunday's elections. "First, people refuse to play in a game with the score known in advance because they are sick and tired of the feeling that nothing depends on them. Secondly, both the Right and the Left are dominated by political scandals. Against this background, interest in policy tends towards zero, and GERB, with the exception of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, can do practically nothing to attract voters' attention."
* * *
Interviewed for "Troud," Supreme Administrative Court President Konstantin Penchev describes as "a disgraceful event" the unauthorized associations of magistrates with influence trader Krassimir "Krassyo" Georgiev. He argues that this is just "the tip of an iceberg." Penchev does not think that the Supreme Judicial Council is capable of extricating itself from the situation. "Some time ago we were at the other extreme," he says. "We had to reform the judiciary despite the resistance of the judiciary. Now it is the other way round, the judiciary must reform the judiciary by itself! No way, the credibility of the judiciary is so precarious that statehood is in jeopardy. Saving statehood is the business of all three branches of government and of all society which has a stake in this."
* * *
In an interview for "Klassa", Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov says that Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) leader Ahmed Dogan "is lying low" and this ties the Government's hands. That is why Boyko Borissov has cause for worry. According to Rashidov, the MRF will launch a strong aggression after the New Year. He expects that there will be organized ethnic riots then. The crisis will thus be used to destabilize the Government.
* * *
"The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences undoubtedly must meet the new conditions and produce better output," Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said Sunday, quoted by "24 Chassa." His statement was prompted by scientists' angry reaction to a remark by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov that the Academy was staffed by "feudal oldsters". "There are such people there. But there are also some very good academicians, corresponding members. A large part of them are our friends," the PM noted. However, he agrees with Djankov's view that scientific research should be engaged in at the universities and assured reporters that his words were not insulting.
* * *
National Assembly Health Committee Chairman Luchezar Ivanov told a "24 Chassa" interviewer that, under the revised version of the Health Insurance Act, all 8 per cent of the health insurance contribution will be spent on health instead of setting aside 2 per cent for the reserve. He notes that the earnings of doctors who provide medical services will not be decreased. Hospitals which exist for the sake of existence, however, will be affected. "We will not protect hospitals lacking the necessary equipment and qualified staff which run into debt instead of providing people with adequate services and care," he argues. "The quality of medical services will not deteriorate despite the reduced allocations in the 2010 budget," he promises.
ECONOMY
National Assembly Budget Committee Chair Menda Stoyanova told "Sega" that the 2010 draft budget is "the only possible one." She confirms that this is the first budget in ten years which has to cut spending compared to the previous year. "So far spending has always been increased, and the moot point has been over how to allocate this growth to the various activities. Now the moot point is how much to cut spending." Stoyanova notes that taxation policy in Bulgaria is a policy of low taxes and neutral taxation of all taxpayers. She believes that all reliefs, making holes in the tax system in one form or another, must gradually be abandoned.
Under the heading "Receivables from State Bankrupt Companies," "Troud" reports that the Exchequer's debt to companies has built up to 1,400 million leva, according to Finance Ministry figures. Of these, 450 million leva are most urgent for settlement, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said. Payments are delayed in order to balance the budget. For this reason, however, some companies may go bankrupt.
"State Plans to Condemn Property without Pay," reads a front-page headline in "Sega." "The owners of properties outside nucleated settlements through which a motorway will run or a project of national importance will be implemented may not get a single lev in compensation. This emerges from draft revisions of the State Property Act, which will go before the Council of Ministers within days. The provisions were drafted by an interdepartmental working group at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works. The idea is to curb the scam of the huge compensations that owners of such properties manage to achieve in court. The compensations may be provided in kind, but owners will no longer have the right to contest their type and amount."
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 – November 16, 2009
· A loaded freight train has run over a teenage couple near the town of Brusartsi in Bulgaria’s north-west Montana region, killing the girl (16-year-old) outright and critically injuring the boy (15-year-old). The pair was going through a bad patch together and deliberately laid down on the tracks in front of the train on Sunday evening, according to the police.
· Macedonia is receiving and will keep on receiving Bulgaria's support for its Euro-Atlantic integration, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said emerging from a meeting with his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski on Monday.
The Bulgarian side insists not to tolerate groups in Bulgaria creating problems, not to aspire to conflicts but to keep the bon ton and avoid the language of hatred, he added.
· Bulgaria's Cabinet will go ahead with plans to deposit small portion of its fiscal reserve with local banks, Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov told Financial Times in an interview published on November 16. About one billion leva, or 12 per cent of the fiscal reserve, would be deposited with Bulgarian subsidiaries of foreign-owned banks in an attempt to lift the economy out of recession, Dyankov said.
“This measure would stimulate the economy by helping bring down interest rates for borrowers (…) and, if required, more liquidity could be made available,” Dyankov was quoted as saying.
· Workers of Sofia's Kremikovtzi steel mill gathered at a protest rally in the square outside the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in central Sofia Monday morning to protest what seems like imminent liquidation of the company. They believe that recovery is a feasible option and want to hear the government's firm position on the recovery plan, said the leader of the influential Podkrepa Labour Confederation, Konstantin Trenchev.
The protest comes about a week after Economy, Energy and Tourism Minister Traicho Traikov said that Kremikovtzi has become a hollow industrial structure in which many economic partners like the national railway and electricity company were cheated out of their money, and liquidation is the only real alternative for it.
fredag den 13. november 2009
Bulgarian press review, November 13, 2009
Press Review
Sofia, November 13 (BTA)
PRESIDENT'S REACTION TO POSSIBLE IMPEACHMENT PROCEDURE
All of the dailies report on the statement President Georgi Purvanov made on Thursday about the possible impeachment. "I intended not to make any statements [about the possible procedure of impeachment], but things got too rough lately," he said, quoted in "24 Chassa". "Things got too rough" are the most quoted words from Purvanov's statement. In the course of 50 minutes the President did not mention once the name of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, "Troud" notes in a front-page story. Purvanov said that the attack against him is absurd in legal and political terms. "They are not going to scare me but the aim is to scare off many other people, including businessmen and journalists," the President said in his statement.
"Troud" interviews GERB MP Iskra Fidossova, Chairperson the parliamentary Legal Committee, who says that "there is a bit of a tension, and not war, between the institutions".
Interviewed by "Klassa" social analysts Antonii Gulubov and Yurii Aslanov say that there is not a clash between institutions in Bulgaria and that the President stands to gain from the campaign against him.
In an interview to "24 Chassa" President Zhelyu Zhelev (1990-97) describes as not serious the possible motion of an impeachment against Purvanov. The motion, yet to be launched, is in connection with Purvanov's refusal to sign a cabinet proposal for the recall of Bulgaria's ambassadors to Turkey and the United States over voting irregularities at the July 5 parliamentary elections. Zhelev tells of a similar problem with recall of ambassadors he had had during the Zhan Videnov cabinet.
Zhelev also comments Prime Minister Boyko Borissov whom he says he likes. Zhelev describes the Prime Minister as a serious politician who should not yield to the advice offered by other people.
THE HOME SCENE
Proposed changes to the health care system which Health Minister Bozhidar Nanev announced Thursday are one of the most commented topics in the November 13 newspaper. In 2011 the rate of the health insurance contribution will be increased by 2 percentage points, from 8 per cent now to 10 per cent. The increase will be entirely for the account of the health insured persons, without burdening employers. The Health Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the National Assembly Health Committee have agreed on a concept which envisages the introduction of a three-pillar model of health insurance as from 2011: first pillar (compulsory), second pillar (supplementary compulsory), and third pillar (supplementary voluntary). The first pillar will be managed by the National Health Insurance Fund, and the other two, by private funds, "Troud" writes.
* * *
The November 15 mayoral by-elections in Sofia and another three towns are another much commented topic in the Friday newspapers which run latest opinion polls.
"24 Chassa" publishes the results of a survey conducted in November 6 to 10 by the Centre for Analyses and Marketing according to which GERB runner for Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandakova would get 43.1 per cent of the vote and her closest rival, Georgi Kadiev of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, 11.1 per cent. If voter turnout is 30 per cent, Fandakova would win 69.5 per cent, and Kadiev, 19.2 per cent. Thus, pollsters are pretty sure that Fandakova will win an outright victory, "24 Chassa" says.
Under a headline, "GERB's Victory May Be Postponed" social analyst Kolyo Kolev writes in "Troud" that three days before election day, 20 per cent of Sofianites do not know the date or even that mayoral by-elections are held. A poll of Mediana shows that 40 per cent would vote for Fandakova, 20 for Kadiev, 2.2 per cent for Iliya Bozhinov, nominated by the Bulgarian Left Party, and as much for Sava Gurbouzanov of the United Pensioners' Party. Kolev says it is true that Sofia does not vote socialist but one cannot say either that it is totally pro-GERB. He argues that irrespective of the assurances of the co-chairmen of the Blue Coalition, Ivan Kostov and Martin
Dimitrov, that their parties will support GERB's candidate Fandakova, one cannot be so sure how the grassroots members of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria and the United Democratic Forces will vote given the disparaging attitude towards the Blue Coalition GERB demonstrated in the formation of the cabinet and the submittal of the draft 2010 budget. Kolev argues further that GERB's apparent wish is to get hold of the rightist space and relegate the parties of the Blue Coalition as "old faces which have to be tolerated willy-nilly".
JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS
"Troud" writes that former defence ministers Nikolai Svinarov and Vesselin Bliznakov are about to be pressed charges for a scam with the exchange of land including the Bozhourishte Airfield near Sofia which defrauded the state by 37 million leva.
* * *
"Monitor" writes in a leading report that the former head of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) Roumyana Todorova will be questioned in an investigation for illegal trade in medicines. The newspaper says that acting on an alert by the State Agency for National Security, the prosecuting magistracy and the Organized Crime Control Directorate General conducted a special operation two days ago and searched eleven homes of senior officials of the Health Ministry and NHIF on suspicions of contraband trade in medicines. Computers and documents were seized as evidence for the scam, says "Monitor".
* * *
A front-page report in "Express" writes, citing sources from the prosecuting magistracy, that four Bulgarian football bosses may be arrested soon for embezzlements and fraud.
* * *
"Troud" cites Bulgaria's standing in a survey of the Rule of Law Index - a new tool, created by the World Justice Project, which measures countriesТ adherence to the rule of law. The World Justice Project, based in Washington, DC, is a multinational, multidisciplinary initiative to strengthen the rule of law worldwide. According to the Rule of Law Index, Bulgaria gets the highest marks in: access to justice of defendants with language barriers; the powers of the government and its officials and agents are defined and limited by the constitution; the fundamental law may be amended only in accordance with the rules and procedures set forth in the fundamental law; prosecutors, judges and judicial officers are of sufficient number; the laws protect the security of property and the right to engage in private economic activity. Bulgaria gets the lowest marks in: civilian control over police and the military; military, police, prison officials, and their agents are held accountable under the law; laws are clear, publicized, stable and fair, among others.
ECONOMY
The leading report in "Dnevnik" informs that the economic downturn has brought deflation. For the first time in ten years, consumer prices in Bulgaria dropped year-on-year, says the report, citing data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI). Inflation in Bulgaria in October against September was 0.1 per cent. Inflation since the beginning of this year (October 2009 against December 2008) is zero. Annual inflation in October 2009 against October 2008 was minus 0.3 per cent. NSI said on Thursday. "Dnevnik" notes that although these figures sound good to consumers, they indicate negative trends, such as shrinking consumption which makes sellers and producers opt for lower prices. Economists warn that a new drop in prices could be expected in the coming months, driven by growing unemployment and further reduction in consumption.
* * *
"Troud" cites a survey of the Thomson Reuters & OeKB Business Climate Index in Central and Eastern Europe, according to which the climate for investments in Central and Southeast Europe improves, with Bulgaria is the leading country. The survey polled representatives of nearly 400 Austrian companies with investments in 19 countries in the region. Thirty-three per cent of the respondents expect growth in their business in the next six months. The investors said the worst of the economic downturn in Central and Southeast Europe was at the beginning of 2009. Forty-four per cent were positive about the development of their business in Bulgaria.
* * *
"Klassa" cites a survey of Deloitte, according to which the big international funds for equity investment have come back to Central Europe. Todor Todorov, Deputy Director of Corporate Finances of Deloitte Bulgaria, tells the daily that the return of interest in the region is tangible. Big names such as Advent, Mid Europa, EQT V announced transactions with market leaders in Bulgaria. He says that in the past few weeks his company has held more talks with financial investors about potential deals than their total number in January-September.
* * *
Chairperson of the Association of Banks in Bulgaria Violona Marinova tells "24 Chassa" that once the economy recovers, interest rates will drop. Marinova stresses once again that the state should speed up the payment of money it owes to businesses.
In an interview to "Pari" Chairman of the Supervisory Board of D Bank Stoyan Alexandrov once again voices his opinion that the current levels of interest rates "kill business". In his view, normal interest rates would be 5-6 per cent for deposits, and 7 to 10 per cent for loans. Alexandrov describes the 2010 draft budget as sensible.
* * *
The record-high jackpot in the national lottery, which is set to reach 3.3 million leva (roughly equal to 1.65 million euros) until the next time when numbers are drawn, which will be on Sunday, continues to make headline news.
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 – November 13, 2009
· Two MPs from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) party, now in opposition, voluntarily gave up their MPs' immunity from prosecution following a request by Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev. Gyunai Sefer and Mithat Tabakov are the first MRF members to face investigation and possible charges. Sefer is being investigated over document fraud while Tabakov is being probed for malfeasance in office from the days when he was mayor of the small Doulovo town. Sefer used to be municipal councillor in Doulovo.
· Bulgaria's ambassador to Turkey, Branimir Mladenov, has filed his resignation today. The resignation comes a week after Foreign Minister Roumyana Zheleva and the Cabinet asked President Georgi Purvanov to recall Mladenov and Bulgaria's ambassador to the US, Luchezar Petkov, because of a number of violations of electoral law during the July 5 2009 elections for Bulgarian Parliament.
Foreign Minister Zheleva explained that she evaluates highly this act. The minister added that she expects for the Bulgarian ambassador to the USA to do the same.
The Cabinet's decision to recall the two ambassadors became the formal reason for tension between President Purvanov and Prime Minister Boiko Borissov.
· Influenza sick rate has dropped by around 10% compared to the previous week, Bulgarian Ministry of Healthcare announced. Despite the drop, the sick rate in the country is still of more than 200 per 10,000 people, which is the threshold for declaring state of epidemic in the country.
Sofia, November 13 (BTA)
PRESIDENT'S REACTION TO POSSIBLE IMPEACHMENT PROCEDURE
All of the dailies report on the statement President Georgi Purvanov made on Thursday about the possible impeachment. "I intended not to make any statements [about the possible procedure of impeachment], but things got too rough lately," he said, quoted in "24 Chassa". "Things got too rough" are the most quoted words from Purvanov's statement. In the course of 50 minutes the President did not mention once the name of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, "Troud" notes in a front-page story. Purvanov said that the attack against him is absurd in legal and political terms. "They are not going to scare me but the aim is to scare off many other people, including businessmen and journalists," the President said in his statement.
"Troud" interviews GERB MP Iskra Fidossova, Chairperson the parliamentary Legal Committee, who says that "there is a bit of a tension, and not war, between the institutions".
Interviewed by "Klassa" social analysts Antonii Gulubov and Yurii Aslanov say that there is not a clash between institutions in Bulgaria and that the President stands to gain from the campaign against him.
In an interview to "24 Chassa" President Zhelyu Zhelev (1990-97) describes as not serious the possible motion of an impeachment against Purvanov. The motion, yet to be launched, is in connection with Purvanov's refusal to sign a cabinet proposal for the recall of Bulgaria's ambassadors to Turkey and the United States over voting irregularities at the July 5 parliamentary elections. Zhelev tells of a similar problem with recall of ambassadors he had had during the Zhan Videnov cabinet.
Zhelev also comments Prime Minister Boyko Borissov whom he says he likes. Zhelev describes the Prime Minister as a serious politician who should not yield to the advice offered by other people.
THE HOME SCENE
Proposed changes to the health care system which Health Minister Bozhidar Nanev announced Thursday are one of the most commented topics in the November 13 newspaper. In 2011 the rate of the health insurance contribution will be increased by 2 percentage points, from 8 per cent now to 10 per cent. The increase will be entirely for the account of the health insured persons, without burdening employers. The Health Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the National Assembly Health Committee have agreed on a concept which envisages the introduction of a three-pillar model of health insurance as from 2011: first pillar (compulsory), second pillar (supplementary compulsory), and third pillar (supplementary voluntary). The first pillar will be managed by the National Health Insurance Fund, and the other two, by private funds, "Troud" writes.
* * *
The November 15 mayoral by-elections in Sofia and another three towns are another much commented topic in the Friday newspapers which run latest opinion polls.
"24 Chassa" publishes the results of a survey conducted in November 6 to 10 by the Centre for Analyses and Marketing according to which GERB runner for Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandakova would get 43.1 per cent of the vote and her closest rival, Georgi Kadiev of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, 11.1 per cent. If voter turnout is 30 per cent, Fandakova would win 69.5 per cent, and Kadiev, 19.2 per cent. Thus, pollsters are pretty sure that Fandakova will win an outright victory, "24 Chassa" says.
Under a headline, "GERB's Victory May Be Postponed" social analyst Kolyo Kolev writes in "Troud" that three days before election day, 20 per cent of Sofianites do not know the date or even that mayoral by-elections are held. A poll of Mediana shows that 40 per cent would vote for Fandakova, 20 for Kadiev, 2.2 per cent for Iliya Bozhinov, nominated by the Bulgarian Left Party, and as much for Sava Gurbouzanov of the United Pensioners' Party. Kolev says it is true that Sofia does not vote socialist but one cannot say either that it is totally pro-GERB. He argues that irrespective of the assurances of the co-chairmen of the Blue Coalition, Ivan Kostov and Martin
Dimitrov, that their parties will support GERB's candidate Fandakova, one cannot be so sure how the grassroots members of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria and the United Democratic Forces will vote given the disparaging attitude towards the Blue Coalition GERB demonstrated in the formation of the cabinet and the submittal of the draft 2010 budget. Kolev argues further that GERB's apparent wish is to get hold of the rightist space and relegate the parties of the Blue Coalition as "old faces which have to be tolerated willy-nilly".
JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS
"Troud" writes that former defence ministers Nikolai Svinarov and Vesselin Bliznakov are about to be pressed charges for a scam with the exchange of land including the Bozhourishte Airfield near Sofia which defrauded the state by 37 million leva.
* * *
"Monitor" writes in a leading report that the former head of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) Roumyana Todorova will be questioned in an investigation for illegal trade in medicines. The newspaper says that acting on an alert by the State Agency for National Security, the prosecuting magistracy and the Organized Crime Control Directorate General conducted a special operation two days ago and searched eleven homes of senior officials of the Health Ministry and NHIF on suspicions of contraband trade in medicines. Computers and documents were seized as evidence for the scam, says "Monitor".
* * *
A front-page report in "Express" writes, citing sources from the prosecuting magistracy, that four Bulgarian football bosses may be arrested soon for embezzlements and fraud.
* * *
"Troud" cites Bulgaria's standing in a survey of the Rule of Law Index - a new tool, created by the World Justice Project, which measures countriesТ adherence to the rule of law. The World Justice Project, based in Washington, DC, is a multinational, multidisciplinary initiative to strengthen the rule of law worldwide. According to the Rule of Law Index, Bulgaria gets the highest marks in: access to justice of defendants with language barriers; the powers of the government and its officials and agents are defined and limited by the constitution; the fundamental law may be amended only in accordance with the rules and procedures set forth in the fundamental law; prosecutors, judges and judicial officers are of sufficient number; the laws protect the security of property and the right to engage in private economic activity. Bulgaria gets the lowest marks in: civilian control over police and the military; military, police, prison officials, and their agents are held accountable under the law; laws are clear, publicized, stable and fair, among others.
ECONOMY
The leading report in "Dnevnik" informs that the economic downturn has brought deflation. For the first time in ten years, consumer prices in Bulgaria dropped year-on-year, says the report, citing data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI). Inflation in Bulgaria in October against September was 0.1 per cent. Inflation since the beginning of this year (October 2009 against December 2008) is zero. Annual inflation in October 2009 against October 2008 was minus 0.3 per cent. NSI said on Thursday. "Dnevnik" notes that although these figures sound good to consumers, they indicate negative trends, such as shrinking consumption which makes sellers and producers opt for lower prices. Economists warn that a new drop in prices could be expected in the coming months, driven by growing unemployment and further reduction in consumption.
* * *
"Troud" cites a survey of the Thomson Reuters & OeKB Business Climate Index in Central and Eastern Europe, according to which the climate for investments in Central and Southeast Europe improves, with Bulgaria is the leading country. The survey polled representatives of nearly 400 Austrian companies with investments in 19 countries in the region. Thirty-three per cent of the respondents expect growth in their business in the next six months. The investors said the worst of the economic downturn in Central and Southeast Europe was at the beginning of 2009. Forty-four per cent were positive about the development of their business in Bulgaria.
* * *
"Klassa" cites a survey of Deloitte, according to which the big international funds for equity investment have come back to Central Europe. Todor Todorov, Deputy Director of Corporate Finances of Deloitte Bulgaria, tells the daily that the return of interest in the region is tangible. Big names such as Advent, Mid Europa, EQT V announced transactions with market leaders in Bulgaria. He says that in the past few weeks his company has held more talks with financial investors about potential deals than their total number in January-September.
* * *
Chairperson of the Association of Banks in Bulgaria Violona Marinova tells "24 Chassa" that once the economy recovers, interest rates will drop. Marinova stresses once again that the state should speed up the payment of money it owes to businesses.
In an interview to "Pari" Chairman of the Supervisory Board of D Bank Stoyan Alexandrov once again voices his opinion that the current levels of interest rates "kill business". In his view, normal interest rates would be 5-6 per cent for deposits, and 7 to 10 per cent for loans. Alexandrov describes the 2010 draft budget as sensible.
* * *
The record-high jackpot in the national lottery, which is set to reach 3.3 million leva (roughly equal to 1.65 million euros) until the next time when numbers are drawn, which will be on Sunday, continues to make headline news.
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 – November 13, 2009
· Two MPs from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) party, now in opposition, voluntarily gave up their MPs' immunity from prosecution following a request by Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev. Gyunai Sefer and Mithat Tabakov are the first MRF members to face investigation and possible charges. Sefer is being investigated over document fraud while Tabakov is being probed for malfeasance in office from the days when he was mayor of the small Doulovo town. Sefer used to be municipal councillor in Doulovo.
· Bulgaria's ambassador to Turkey, Branimir Mladenov, has filed his resignation today. The resignation comes a week after Foreign Minister Roumyana Zheleva and the Cabinet asked President Georgi Purvanov to recall Mladenov and Bulgaria's ambassador to the US, Luchezar Petkov, because of a number of violations of electoral law during the July 5 2009 elections for Bulgarian Parliament.
Foreign Minister Zheleva explained that she evaluates highly this act. The minister added that she expects for the Bulgarian ambassador to the USA to do the same.
The Cabinet's decision to recall the two ambassadors became the formal reason for tension between President Purvanov and Prime Minister Boiko Borissov.
· Influenza sick rate has dropped by around 10% compared to the previous week, Bulgarian Ministry of Healthcare announced. Despite the drop, the sick rate in the country is still of more than 200 per 10,000 people, which is the threshold for declaring state of epidemic in the country.
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