Bulgarian press review, November 5, 2009

Press Review
Sofia, November 5 (BTA)


HEALTH CARE

A national flu epidemic will be officially declared on Monday, write "Monitor" and "Telegraf". The number of people sick with the H1N1 flu virus will probably reach 200 per 10,000 population by the end of the week, which is the target threshold for closing schools and calling off scheduled surgeries. "Sega" writes that all schools will be closed if flu cases reach the critical threshold. The daily also informs that a fifth H1N1 flu fatality was reported.

"24 Chassa" warns that face masks are running short. Of the 170,000 masks ordered by pharmacies, 50,000 will be delivered by Friday and the rest within a week. "24 Chassa" quotes parliamentary health committee deputy chair Vanyo Sharkov as saying that of all EU countries Bulgaria is trailing behind by failing to order vaccines for the H1N1 swine flu virus. The daily publishes a verbatim record of a May 8 cabinet meeting where former health minister Evgenii Zhelev's demand for an extra 3.78 million leva in connection with the swine flu was turned down.

THE HOME SCENE

"24 Chassa" reports that the government has pledged to raise wages. Increasing incomes tops the governance programme of the cabinet unveiled on Wednesday, provided there are "fiscal possibilities". The government will change the ratio of insurance contributions between the state, employers and employees and reduce the insurance burden from 12:10:8 per cent for 2009 to 12:8.9:7.1 per cent for 2010. It will also promote collective labour agreements. With the completion of the administrative reform and the removal of doubling functions and units, part of the economized funds could go towards increasing wages of public servants, says parliamentary Budget Committee Chair Menda Stoyanova in an interview for "24 Chassa". She also says that it is better for Bulgaria to tighten its belt and join the Euro area so it could be less of a risk for investors.

***
"Troud" reports that Prime Minister Borissov has set himself 157 goals to achieve by 2013. Under the 153-page governance programme of the cabinet, Bulgarians will become richer, will live safer lives and will have better roads. The cabinet has also vowed to give jobs to 300,000 people in 2010.

***
"Troud" runs an article by former state administration minister Nikolai Vassilev in which he criticizes the 2010 draft budget for making unreasonable expenditures, allowing a deficit, lack of reforms in the public sector and undermining the pension system in the long run. "Douma" quotes former finance minister Plamen Oresharski as saying that the budget does not set out priorities.

***
Prime Minister Boyko Borissov (70 per cent) enjoys the highest approval ratings among East European leaders, beating Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev (69 per cent) by 1 percentage point, writes "24 Chassa", citing a survey of the US Pew Research Centre. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Bulgarians find themselves among the most disappointed. Of 76 per cent in 1991, approval for democratic changes and transition to market economy fell to 52 per cent

***
"They dumped the "Communist Manifesto" to Keep the "Capital", headlines "24 Chassa" an interview with former Bulgarian president Petar Stoyanov (1997-2001). According to Stoyanov, November 10, 1989 [former communist leader Todor Zhivkov was overthrown on that day] is not a cause for celebration or national pride because it is the only date in recent East European history, which has nothing to do with widespread anti-communist attitudes among other East European nations. Stoyanov says that November 10 simply brought the news that Zhivkov was overthrown by his own associates of the leadership of the Bulgarian Communist Party. Stoyanov says that "20 years after the initial euphoria, we have to admit that the main reason for the fall of communism was neither the rage and protests of the East Europeans, nor the opposition of people like Vaclav Havel, Lech Waleca or Bulgaria's Iliya Minev, whose courage deserve our deepest respect, but the readiness of "those in the know" to "bankrupt" the system to secure "unprecedented economic gains".

***
In an interview for "Troud" former Bulgarian president Zhelyo Zhelev [1990-1997] says that one of the biggest mistakes of Bulgaria's transition period was that former communist leader Todor Zhivkov and the leadership of the ruling communist party had not been tried for treason. According to Zhelev, the most successful cabinet of the transition period was that of prime minister Dimiter Popov, as it carried out the monetary economic reforms, denounced the agreement with the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, signed the agreement for the disbanding of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and had as ministers the most prominent members of the Union of Democratic Forces and the Bulgarian Socialist Party.

***
In an interview for "Monitor", Podkrepa Labour Confederation President Konstantin Trenchev said that the transition period is far from over. Trenchev adds that totalitarianism taught people to be double-faced.

***
Interviewed by "Pari", the Bulgarian Socialist Party candidate for Sofia mayor Georgi Kadiev sets the municipal budget as his priority, whereas GERB mayoral candidate Yordanka Fandakova places the underground and the waste top on her agenda.

ECONOMY

The banks and the government will work towards lowering interest rates, writes "Dnevnik". Within a week banks will put forward measures to the government on improving the conditions in which they work and if applied, they will pave the way for reducing interest rates on loans, bankers said after a meeting with Finance Minister Simeon Djankov. Later, the banks and the Finance Ministry will draw up a joint plan on how to alleviate conditions. Interviewed by "Dnevnik", Violina Marinova, DSK Bank CEO and Chair of the Managing Board of the Association of Banks in Bulgaria, said that the meeting discussed ways to secure financial resources cheaper than on the external markets and to improve absorption of EU funds. Banks will set out specific measures on how to improve the economic environment. Among the suggestions are better legal protection for banks against defaulting clients and a revision of a requirement for a 100 per cent guarantee in government bonds of funds from the budget with the commercial banks, according to Postbank CEO Assen Yagodin.

***
One million companies need to re-register by the end of 2010 if they want to continue operation, says Acting Registry Agency Director Atanas Georgiev in an interview for "Novinar". It is then when deadline for companies to register with the Agency expires under the Commercial Register Act.



***
Data of the Bulgarian Construction Chamber show that nearly 28 per cent of construction companies have put an end to their activities and orders have declined by 30-35 per cent, report "Klassa" and "Douma", citing Foros CEO Dobromir Ganev.

INTERIOR, JUDICIARY

Police officers run the contraband of cigarettes, reports in an extensive coverage "24 Chassa". According to figures of tobacco manufacturer Bulgartabac, the state loses 600 million leva [roughly 300 million euro] every year from the illegal import of cigarettes.

***
Former State Agency for National Security [SANS] Chairman Petko Sertov will be charged on two counts over a leaked classified report and eight misplaced secret papers, writes "24 Chassa".

A new classified SANS report was leaked on Spiegel Online, reports "24 Chassa". Journalist Renate Flottau details key points in a new secret SANS report for the first half of 2009. The e-zine claims that it has its hands on a report exposing EU funds embezzlement in agriculture, drawn up in the middle of 2009.

***
"Standart News" reports that Agriculture and Foods Minister Miroslav Naydenov submitted Wednesday a claim with the Sofia District Court for recovery to the state of all of the 1,600 ha of forests restituted to former prime minister and Bulgarian ex-monarch Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The state wants 5 million leva for the logged timber from the forests.

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 5, 2009

· A special unit of Russian police force stormed the premises of the Bulgarian Industrial Centre in Moscow although it is protected by diplomatic immunity, Bulgarian National Radio reported today.
The raid happened without any notice and explanation from police and, according to Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily who quoted sources at the Bulgarian embassy in Moscow, policemen acted in such a way that contravened normal protocol.
Russian Interfax news agency quoted Bulgarian embassy employees as saying that 23 police officers stormed one of the residential buildings at the centre.
Police officers had a warrant issued by prosecutors against a Bulgarian national living in the building. Police had to perform a search of his apartment in relation to an investigation of illegal production of CDs, Interfax said.
The raid prompted the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry to issue a statement expressing serious concern about the Russian police action and to say that it had asked the Bulgarian ambassador to intervene. This led to the police operation being halted.
The raid technically breached the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The centre is administered by the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism and is one of the biggest Bulgarian state-owned properties abroad. It is home to a number of Bulgarian companies that rent offices there.