Bulgarian press review, January 11, 2010

Press Review
Sofia, January 11


THE HOME SCENE

"Boyko Borissov: 100 Per Cent Chairman": under this front-page headline "Troud" quotes Prime Minister and GERB leader Boyko Borissov as telling the delegates of his party's National Meeting on Sunday that "GERB's only opponent is GERB itself. The Complacency and corruption in government will not be tolerated. There will be no compromise for anyone who tries to steal." Borissov was elected unanimously party Chairman by 1,227 delegates.
"24 Chassa" quotes outgoing GERB chairman and Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov as saying at the National Meeting that "nothing can separate" him from Borissov. "I don't know how it cropped up that there is a conflict between Borissov and Tsvetanov. Can't any of those people realize that Tsvetanov would not have been Tsvetanov without Borissov? Can't any of those people realize that the GERB project would not have existed without a unity between Borissov and Tsvetanov?" He pledged that their tandem will not be broken up.
Under the heading "GERB between Power and Temptations," sociologist Yulii Pavlov comments in "Standart News" that European People's Party (EPP) Wilfred Martens gave a very important assessment at the forum. "He made it crystal clear that GERB is their partner in Bulgaria. This is the latest EPP acknowledgement of the role of GERB and especially of Boyko Borissov for the development of this country. It shows something more: that the traditional Right has lived out its time and is pushed into the fringe of political life. Any disputes about the authenticity of Bulgaria's Right are closed, as far as Europe is concerned."

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"Yane Yanev to Bring down Cabinet," "Troud" notes in a headline. Order, Lawfulness, Justice (OLJ) Party leader Yane Yanev said in Blagoevgrad on Sunday that he is launching active steps for the ouster of the Boyko Borissov Cabinet. "We are ruled by a party which is a hybrid of the BCP [Bulgarian Communist Party] and the Interior Ministry," Yanev said, calling on all Bulgarians to shed fear and resignation and to support the OLJ rally in Sofia on March 10. Later on, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told bTV: "The sudden riot of tobacco growers, the unlawful construction of something purporting to be a monument is things that test us as power holders. I think that in February-March, when the winter is severe and the crisis is at its height, they will try to destabilize and, certainly, Yane Yanev will help them."
"PM Best at Steps Back:" under this heading, "Troud" carries an interview with sociologist Zhivko Georgiev. He notes that "during the last three months of GERB's incumbency, the Prime Minister has shown growing sensitivity to criticism in the positive sense of the word. On several occasions he proved capable of listening to reasonable arguments coming from the outside: from the opposition, from social groups, from partners, from the President. The truest steps that GERB and above all the PM have taken in recent months have been the steps back. The PM's actions may seem inconsistent, but what matters more is that they correct the inadequate decisions of the more Tale ban-minded part of the GERB activists," Georgiev argues.

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GERB Floor Co-leader Iskra Fidossova says in an interview for "Klassa" that her party encounters great difficulties in areas with ethnically mixed population. "People there are afraid to come and see us," Fidossova says. "They sneak in, lest some of the local leaders of the MRF [Movement for Rights and Freedoms] see them. May be they are harassed in some way. But now that we have become a ruling party, the tangible change is evident. I think those people will gather strength to overcome fear and be a little more open to us."

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"Sega" notes in a comment that "Prime Minister Boyko Borissov fulfils quite a few popular wishes. All you need to do to have your wish fulfilled is meeting with Borissov. Still, little progress is being made. Parliament's efficiency is dismal, having completed its first session with 50 unfinished bills and at least as many that are urgent but have not been even started. The numerous decisions with hours-long shelf life wreak havoc and smack of incompetence. The lack of a coalition in practice liquidated the opposition, because Bulgarian experience shows that checks and balances are only possible with coalition government as partners are constantly on the watch for one another. Paradoxically, quite a few of the things for which the previous governments were detested have disappeared now, yet confidence in GERB is dwindling. One reason is that the 'public debate' invariably sticks to insignificant and populist issues, whose vacuity we discover only when they materialize."

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"Djankov will be perceived as the necessary evil," sociologist Anatolii Gulubov predicts in an interview for "Sega." He does not expect the stability of the GERB government to come under serious threats during the new political year as long as it presses ahead with the reforms. "GERB's policies and conduct could most probably change in terms of accelerating the pace of reforms and the competence of the members of Parliament. This has everything to do with the relations between GERB and The Blue Coalition, insomuch as the reformist experience is concentrated precisely there. So far Bulgaria has had just a single reformist cabinet in conditions of a serious crisis, and this has been the Kostov Cabinet."

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"No Handover Interface? It's a Load off Interior Ministry's Back," Deputy Interior Minister Vesselin Vouchkov says in a "Troud" interview. He notes that "the idea is that operators should identify to the Communications Regulation Commission a contact point which will be constantly accessible to prosecutors, investigating police officers and other such. It is very important to fix a maximum time limit within which the Interior Ministry should receive the traffic data, say, two hours after the court ruling. We at the Interior Ministry do not need interface. On the contrary, giving up the interface will be a load off our back because otherwise abuse will always be suspected."

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In "Standart News," Health Minister Bozhidar Nanev says there are several options of addressing the issue of the under funding of medical services. One way is to seek a possible increase of the health insurance contribution. The other way is to create a health insurance model including other pillars as well. The third way is to require patients to co-pay a certain percentage of the service. But this need not be money out of their own pocket. It may be an incentive for supplementary insurance, above all voluntary, the Minister explains.

ECONOMY

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov say’s in an interview for "24 Chassa" that an agency will be managing state property worth 50,000 million leva. He attaches great importance to it because the State owns enormous assets. "We have an idea to pool minority interests in one place and transfer the proceeds from dividends directly to the Silver Fund for pensions. I expect that we will concentrate state-owned majority interests worth 30,000-40,000, even 50,000 million leva in the agency. Just imagine the Bulgarian Energy Holding! We have not yet decided whether that agency should take over the ministries' property as well. Another option is to decentralize in municipalities. In any case, the setting up of such agency is exceedingly important from a fiscal point of view because the State must be a good administrator of its property and must prudently reallocate the yield of this property to the benefit of citizens."
"The State dips deeply into our pockets. But what does it give us?" Peter Ganev of the Institute for Market Economics comments in "24 Chassa." He notes that in 2010 Bulgarians will produce an average 174 million leva per calendar day, according to the expected GDP. Therefore, generating the 26,400 million leva planned budget revenues will take nearly 152 days in 2010. Bulgarians will be working for as long as five solid months to fill the public purse. What they get in exchange is a different matter. Bad health care, problematic education, low pensions and, worst of all - an impossibility to guarantee security and justice."
The lump-sum end-of-life fee paid upon import of a car older than 10 years has been increased from 220 leva to 242 leva, the Environment Ministry warns, quoted by "Troud". The end-of-life fee for brand new cars is hiked as well, from 121 leva to 133 leva. Vehicles manufactured up to five years ago will require a fee of 182 leva, up from 165 leva before, and those aged between 5 and 10 years, 230 leva, compared to 209 leva so far.

BULGARIA - EU

"Bulgaria Closes 67 Dairy, Meat Farms for the Sake of EU,"
"Sega", reports. Despite the numerous postponements granted by the EU, they have failed to meet the hygiene requirements, the Agriculture Ministry said on Sunday. Brussels gave Bulgaria until the end of 2009 to have all its cheese producers modernize their buildings, meet hygiene requirements and introduce a product traceability system. Just months ago, Brussels extended until the end of 2011 the modernization deadline for 80,000 Bulgarian companies which supply milk processors and meat packers with milk and meat.

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 – Sofia, January 11, 2010

· Czech power utility company CEZ Bulgaria has announced that starting from February 1, 2010 it will now regulate and monitor electric consumption on a monthly basis. It said in a media statement that the company "has proven that it respects the Bulgarian institutions, the decisions of the energy sector, and that it operates in the best interest of its customers".

· Employees of BDZ ( the national railway transport company)-Passenger Transportation’s maneuver brigades have mounted a protest at Central Railways Station Sofia, press center of the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) told FOCUS News Agency. The reason for the demonstrations is unpaid monthly salaries for last November.