Bulgarian press review, January 5, 2010

Press Review
Sofia, January 5

HOME SCENE

The majority is mulling cutting the number of constituencies, "Sega" reports. The topic will be discussed during the drafting of the new Electoral Code, it emerged on Monday. A group is expected to start work on it next week. The need to change the constituencies has drawn comments from electoral law expert Prof. Mihail Konstantinov several times since the present parliament was elected. It has been suggested that the existing 31 constituencies be reduced to 20.

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"Troud" says that the nine MPs of the Order, Lawfulness, Justice (OLJ) party, led by Yane Yanev, will not attend the plenary sittings at the start of the new session from January 13 until they go into opposition. The daily quotes OLJ member Tsvetan Tsvetanov. The reason he gives is that the MPs will be touring the country to meet people. This will also help the party keep its promise to support GERB during its first six months in office ending on January 27. However, relations between the two parties were strained a lot earlier.

"Monitor" runs an analysis on how Yanev did not wait until January 27. The writer says the party's abdication from Parliament is a poorly concealed attempt to divert public attention from OLJ's disintegration. Apparently, there will not be a coup as one of the spokespersons said, but OLJ members are increasingly talking about replacing Yanev, or else some will quit and look for another party. This would hardly be a tragedy for Yanev, who is used to flitting from one party to another, the story says.

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"Sega" reports that after the operation codenamed "The Impudent" the police have launched another one, "The Robbers". After the first operation led to the arrest of more than 30 people involved in an abduction gang, the Interior Ministry is taking on the rest of the criminals, it emerged from a statement by the Ministry's Chief Secretary Kalin Georgiev. The operation codenamed "The Robbers" is targeting mostly drug pushers, car thieves and robbers.

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"Troud" reports that GERB will hold the shortest party congress on Sunday. It is scheduled to end at 3:30 pm. Boyko Borissov and Tsvetan Tsvetanov are expected to be re-elected chairman and deputy chairman. However, the term of the executive commission is ending and an election must be held at the forum. Borissov argues that no one substitutes players when the team is successful. Still, some of the current members are likely to drop out.

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In a "24 Chassa" interview Ivan Kostov, leader of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB), says people talk that he is running the country to anger Borissov. Kostov says it is only to be expected that the power-holders should listen to DSB. "For instance, when the budget was updated, the debate was basically between DSB and the Bulgarian Socialist Party. We stand up for the principles that DSB shares with GERB. On the one hand, we want to help, and on the other, GERB badly needs help. This party has not been in office. It thinks that the world starts with it," Kostov says.

THE ECONOMY

In "Standart News" Economy Minister Traicho Traikov calls on Bulgarians to look for new opportunities. He says that although things are unstable now, new partners will emerge who have not looked at Bulgaria before. New opportunities will appear in different countries. In addition, the opportunities offered by EU programmes should be followed carefully. He also says that Bulgartabac will be sold by mid-year, shares of the Bulgarian Energy Holding will be listed on the stock exchange, and Kintex's privatization still is problematic, its chief assets being people and contacts.
Interviewed by "Sega", sociologist Zhivko Georgiev says that during its first six months the cabinet tried to cope with the crisis with the wrong methods. He says it became an obsession to end the year with a balanced budget or at least with a minimal deficit - a pattern which, to some extent, was first used by the State, to be followed by widespread default of obligations to lending institutions, partners and customers which paralysed the economy. Georgiev says he is afraid that when the world starts emerging from the crisis, the Bulgarian economic players will lose what little ground they had.
Financier Andrei Prumov says in "Klassa" that 2010 will bring growth contrary to the government's forecast. His prediction is based on the optimistic end of 2009 in the world financial markets and on a rise in Bulgarian stock exchange indexes. This means that investors predominantly expect to see restored economic growth in 2010 despite the problems left behind by the financial crisis. Prumov predicts economic growth in Bulgaria in 2010, based on statistics which show green shoots both in the markets and in many industries.Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov says in "Troud" that the number one task in 2010 is to bring back to normal the operation of the Agriculture Fund, especially concerning the Rural Development Programme, so as to meet the expectations of municipalities and farmers, because it has the largest funds, but is also plagued by the worst problems. What is coming up next is the start of the registration of agricultural producers for assistance in February.
"Sega" headlines a story "Djankov Concedes He's Holding Money Back to Keep Up Bulgaria's Image in EU". The public purse had enough money to pay out to doctors, judges, farmers and disabled people at the end of 2009 but Finance Minister Simeon Djankov did not approve the payments. He wanted to keep the year-end deficit below the 500-million-lev mark, which is the best achievement in the EU. "We need this to show the Europeans, the European Commission, that we can join the euro area, as well as to attract investors," Djankov said. However, economists say in "Sega" that the Commission needs to see more than the reported deficit - it wants to see the amounts carried over to 2010 as well.
"Sega" writes that doctors will demand money from all patients from Tuesday. Doctors threatened unprecedented protests at delayed payments. Patients will have to pay for all medical services they receive in hospitals and from their general practitioners unless the National Health Insurance Fund pays the November allocation to hospitals and GPs on Monday, said Tsvetan Raichinov, President of the Medical Association.

BULGARIA, EU

"Sega" comments that the bugbear of safeguard clauses for Bulgaria is gone after the three-year trial period. Still, Brussels has options to keep Borissov's government on its toes. This year the EU has 123,000 million euro, most of which is intended to accelerate the development of the member states and bring closer their living standards. Bulgaria has a choice: to remain poor with a prosperous top crust, or to make an effort to catch up with the countries it wants to look like. The trouble is that the never-changing Establishment must decide what sacrifices to make to gain access to EU money, which, though no longer officially frozen, still is out of reach.
Nadezhda Neinski MEP says in "Troud" that the choice of a Bulgarian EU commissioner should have been discussed. It is obvious that GERB had its way by nominating Rumiana Jeleva, which is the party's right. Still, it would have been better if a debate had been held about the qualities and the portfolio of the Bulgarian commissioner, Neinski says, adding that this is her idea of a democratic election. Neinski, member of the Union of Democratic Forces, says she will support Jeleva because they both are from the European People's Party.


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 5.2010

· Notorious TV and radio anchorman Boby Tsankov was killed in a shootout in central Sofia in broad daylight around noon on Tuesday. Tsankov has recently finished a book on Bulgaria's underworld where he is believed to have had connections. He has recently started to become known as the country’s new mafia stories writer, not unlike Georgi Stoev who was shot in 2008. The Interior Ministry said that two other men are in hospital to be treated for wounds from the shootout.

· Heavy snow across North and Western Bulgaria has caused traffic delays and has bought much of the capital Sofia to a halt as traffic jams have built up in the city center. The Sofia Municipality has reported that most of the public transport lines in the city are being delayed by up to 1 hour and even with the ongoing winter cleaning efforts drivers reported problems across the city with uncleaned roads and ice. Huge traffic jams in the center of Sofia have brought many people to a halt. Bulgarian traffic police reported over 150 accidents in Sofia because of the icy conditions on Tuesday morning.

· Bulgaria’s Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, stated early Tuesday that Bulgaria’s criminal contingent must be bought into the public eye “which unfortunately has not yet been done.” Tsvetanov said that the arrest of the high-profile kidnappers’ gang busted recently in the special operation codenamed “The Impudent” had shown that the Interior Ministry could act within the law to deal correctly with bandits.