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.