Bulgarian Press Review, November 10, 2009

Press Review
Sofia, November 10 (BTA)

HOME SCENE

"Troud" reports that two parties in Parliament - Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) and Ataka - have called for President Georgi Purvanov's impeachment for different reasons. DSB leader Ivan Kostov, co-leader of the Blue Coalition, said the party would move for impeachment if it was proved that in his previous capacity as leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party Purvanov asked Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for assistance. As to Ataka, it claims that the President failed to obey the Constitution and update Parliament on his performance, and that he impeded Bulgaria's Europeanization. Purvanov's office said this campaign was completely beside the point.

"24 Chassa" says that commenting on the impeachment threats, former premier Sergei Stanishev said that after Purvanov criticized the government, the "rapid reaction groups" in GERB, DSB and Ataka snapped into action. They were joined by Finance Minister Simeon Djankov, who proposed a cut in the President's budget by 1 million leva. "The authoritarian nature of Borissov's regime is becoming increasingly prominent," Stanishev says.

An analysis in "24 Chassa" says that Purvanov and Borissov are actually good for each other. Both Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Purvanov are democrats. As such Borissov cannot do without opposition, but there is none of it on the political scene now. Purvanov also knows that a government needs opposition and has taken it upon himself to act as a corrective. He can afford this because this is his second term and he is not running for re-election. However, the two most stable institutions would do well to draw the match instead of engaging in a fierce fight.

"Troud" comments that in Round 2 of the fight between the President and the Prime Minister, things are taking a dramatic turn. The cabinet wants to recall the ambassadors to Turkey and the US for violations of the elections last summer, while Purvanov refused to recall them. Unless Boyko Borissov cancels his decision, the ambassador will be recalled and the cabinet will appoint a replacement, but the President will not issue a decree, so the level of Bulgaria's representation in one of the great powers will be lowered. Neither the state nor the government leader can afford to do this, the only thing they can do is reach agreement.

***
In "24 Chassa" four sociologists say that between 300,000 and 400,000 people will vote in Sofia's mayoral election on November 15. MBMD's Mira Radeva says people are tired and lack interest, hence the lack of a campaign. Vassil Tonchev from Sova Harris says the outcome seems predictable: the question is if GERB candidate Yordanka Fandakova will win with 4:1 or a 5:1 margin. Yulii Pavlov of the Centre for Analysis and Marketing expects Fandakova to win 200,000 votes and Socialist candidate Georgi Kadiev to win 60,000 votes. Tsvetozar Tomov of the Scala polling agency says he would be surprised if voter turnout exceeded 400,000.

***
"Troud" says senior administration officers will be checked for abuse in the absorption of EU funding for the strengthening of administrative capacity. Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov stressed that the persons in question were not ministers. He unveiled an Integrated Strategy for Prevention and Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime, which will go before the Council of Ministers by mid-November and is designed to "win back public confidence in the state bodies".


***
"Troud" reports that Hristo Monov, the former director of Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ), has been charged with signing a loss-making contract with Arwex of Switzerland. Last November he signed a deal for 30 sleeping cars, causing detriment to the amount of 9,990,000 euro - the balance between the selling price of 550,000 euro and the real cost of 217,000 euro per sleeper.

***
In "Standart News", Ataka leader Volen Siderov says: "Boyko didn't disappoint me." Siderov's party has been GERB's staunchest supporter of all right-wing parties. He calls for joint lists with GERB and the other right-wing parties in the next parliamentary elections. All should make a compromise for the good of the country, he says. Siderov adds that the new cabinet has Europeanized Bulgaria and is the first to have called the previous power-holders to account.

GERB is a party without memory, former prime minister Sergei Stanishev, recently re-elected Socialist Party leader, says in "Troud". He says GERB has engaged in farcical politics in the last four months, running the country on discrediting materials. All the power-holders are doing is "revision", which is clearly politically motivated, Stanishev claims. Neither Borissov nor most people in GERB know what democracy is. Unlike the Left or the Right, they were not part of the processes of building democracy in Bulgaria.

***
The dailies highlight the 20th anniversary of the end of the communist regime in Bulgaria, marked on November 20. In "Sega" political analyst Ivan Krustev comments that while corruption supported communism through the redistribution of goods as well as of power, the exchange of favours bestowed power on the little man. After the revolution he was free to talk, travel and consume, but he lost his leverage on the elite, says Krustev. Now the grocer may earn more but he lost his well-connected friends.

In "Monitor", former BTA journalist Petko Bocharov says that Bulgaria stood in one place for 20 years, and now GERB has a will to change things. Commenting on the fall of the communist regime, he says: "They manipulated the change under our noses." It is GERB's task to bring Bulgaria back to the place from which it was diverted 20 years ago.

In "Douma" Georgi Pirinski, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly, says: "We should not revel in empty nostalgia." Asked when the ideals of 1989 died, he says the ideals were seriously eroded by the inability of the new democratic forces to prove that the new society will be more just and the democracy will lend a new quality of life.

THE ECONOMY

"Troud" quotes an UniCredit Group analysis showing that interest will fall by 2 per cent by 2012. The January-September lending interest for households in Bulgaria was 11.67 per cent on
average, while the average interest rate in 2012 is projected at 9.80 per cent, says Kristofor Pavlov, Chief Economist at UniCredit Bulbank. Deposit interest is expected to fall from 5.22 per cent now to 3.94 per cent in 2012.

"Pari" says the 2010 budget is based on the worst-case scenario. The budget parameters reflect the most pessimistic scenario, former prime minister Stanishev says. The Finance Ministry projects a 2 per cent drop in GDP, while the Bulgarian National Bank expects 0.5 per cent growth. Stanishev views this as a buffer that would allow the government to boast higher revenue collection in 2010.

"Troud" reports that the mothers of twins will see their allowance halved from 1,200 leva to 600 leva a year in 2010, while student mothers will lose their allowance of 2,880 leva for the child's first year, the Present and Future Mothers Association said, commenting on the draft budget. The saving is expected to top 1.5 million leva.

Desislava Taneva, Chair of the Parliamentary Agriculture Committee, says in "Dnevnik" that the decrease in aid to farmers will not be too damaging. Last week the Committee approved the draft budget on first reading. Farmers criticized it for the reduction in national complementary payments and state aid. This year agriculture received 211 million leva, while the appropriation for 2010 is 150 million leva. If revenue collection exceeds the target, farmers will get another 150 million. Taneva says the projected subsidies reflect the ongoing slump.

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 10, 2009

• Regions in southwestern Bulgaria are reeling from sustained torrential rains that have causes extensive flooding in villages in the Municipality of Kyustendil. The villages of Dolno Selo, Garlyano, and Rasovo have been heavily affected by a combination of heavy precipitation and the Bistritsa river which over-flooded. Once the river burst its banks, the surge of water has threatened, and damaged infrastructural installations, residential and administrative buildings in the area, as well as the hydro-electric power plant situated in proximity to the village.

• A man who presented himself as a court judge in Sofia's court palace, promised people to help them solve their legal disputes. The imposter, who had not yet been identified, dressed himself in the black robes of court judges and walked around the court house taking money from people, promising them help in solving their cases.