Bulgarian press review, March 18, 2010

Press Review
Sofia, March 18 (BTA)


HOME SCENE

"Troud" writes that the Finance Ministry denies to have drafted the 28 anti-crisis measures, publicized by the trade unions. However, the paper cites Konstantin Trenchev, leader of the Podkrepa Labour Confederation, as saying that the draft package of measures originates from the Finance Ministry. He specifies that they have received it from an "honest employee". Prime Minister Boyko Borissov was allegedly very angry because he insisted that the draft document be not discussed in public before being approved by him.

It is not the Finance Ministry but economist Georgi Angelov, who is believed to be the author of the 28 horrible anti-crisis measures, which mounted tension in the country. "24 Chassa" writes this referring to Podkrepa Vice President Dimiter Manolov. The five most sever draft measures envisage the following: depriving working pensioners of their pensions or halving their size; reducing the period of paid maternity leave to 225 days; imposing income tax on pensions above 136 leva; imposing tax on the social insurance contributions; and introducing mandatory unpaid leave.

The "Troud" paper quotes Bulgarian Socialist Party's Anton Koutev as saying that the Government's anti-crisis measures are unprecedented and would not settle the problems. In his view it is not the expenditures that are big in the country but, rather, its revenues are small. Ataka MP Ventsislav Lakov describes the expenditure plan as "balanced and feasible". He voices the idea of introducing taxes for expensive yachts and limousines. Blue Coalition Co-Chair and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria leader Ivan Kostov describes the measures as "suicidal policy" adding that this is not the right action in the time of crisis. Yane Yanev, leader of Order, Lawfulness, Justice (OLJ), threatens that unless Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov be relieved of his duties in the government within several weeks, OLJ will protest in front of the Finance Ministry until Djankov himself resigns.

The Government's anti-crisis measures are categorically unacceptable, as they are proposed, Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) MP Hasan Ademov comments.

These measures are not based on economic grounds but on panic, says Bozhidar Danev, President of the Bulgarian Industrial Association. They are indicative of the fact that Bulgaria is gradually falling into the trap of the double deficit: the one of the trade balance and the one of the current account. The first two months of the year witnessed increasing expenditures and falling revenues. If the country falls into this economic trap, the recession will deepen and there will be a risk of change of the key macroeconomic parameters, Danev warns.

"Troud" runs a commentary by political analyst Kuncho Stoichev, who says that reducing of maternity benefits or fining working pensioners does not constitute a reform. The real reform involves cutting expenditures on inefficient systems and structures maintained by the incumbents. The reform means to fill in the numerous holes through which tax-payers' money leak due to their inefficient and, often, criminal management. In other words, the reform entails harder work on the part of the incumbents and the administration at considerably lower expenditures.

"The confidence in the Cabinet allows the implementation of unpopular reforms." "Klassa" runs an interview with Vassil Tonchev, Director of the Sova Haris Agency, under this headline. Tonchev says that the situation in the country is very serious. The big confidence placed with the incumbents makes it possible to overcome easier the economic crisis. The Prime Minister should avail himself of that opportunity, according to him.

Whole guilds are planning to stage protests on Saturday against the anti-crisis measures, contemplated by the Cabinet. Protests of police officers will be staged in front of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre. They will be joined by military, security and even tax officers. Over 5,000 people, including mothers and pensioners, are expected to gather at the protest.

The strikes push Bulgaria towards the Greek scenario, says Menda Stoyanova, Chair of the National Assembly Budgetary and Finance Committee, cited by "Standart News". If people go on strikes and insist on payments higher than the budgeted ones, Bulgaria may have the same problems as Greece. Everyone sees that there are problems with the revenue part of the budget. This is why expenditures should not be exceeded and even ways should be sought to cut them, says she.

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The Interior Minister wants that the court enters the fight against crime, "Sega" writes. Speaking at a conference, Interior Ministry Tsvetan Tsvetanov said that there is political will, but no judicial will to deal with organized crime and corruption. In his view crime should be combatted by all institutions, the court inclusive.

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"I do not think there is a war between the Interior Ministry and the court," Supreme Administrative Court President Konstantin Penchev says in an interview for "24 Chassa". "Besides, I am categorically against such conflicts because they undermine the prestige of all parties involved." Power is conditionally divided into three branches: legislative, executive and judiciary. Each has its field of actions and the failures of one of them may not give dividends to the other. This is why, it is inadmissible that they quarrel and criticise one another as every conflict undermines people's confidence, Penchev also says.

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"24 Chassa" publishes the results of a March poll carried out by the National Public Opinion Centre. The poll shows that the scandal with the published transcript of the talk between President Georgi Purvanov and Finance Minister Djankov has affected the popularity rating of both of them. Yet, the popularity of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and his deputy Tsvetan Tsvetanov has increased.

On March 5 the President's Office published the verbatim record from a meeting between the President and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov. The two met at Djankov's initiative and were expected to iron out frictions resulting from Djankov's participation in a TV show and controversial remarks that were exchanged there about the President. GERB argue that Djankov was not aware his conversation with the President was recorded and was not asked for permission to make the recording public, which they say was a violation of the Constitution. GERB has said that this week signatures will start to be collected on a motion to impeach President Georgi Purvanov.

The poll, published by "24 Chassa" shows that the approval of the Cabinet has dropped by 6 per cent. However, Borissov's rating remains unchanged: he keeps on being at the top of the ten politicians enjoying highest approval with 68 per cent. He is followed by his deputy Tsvetanov with 66 per cent. According to the poll, if elections were held now, GERB would have won them by 36 per cent.

BULGARIA - EU

The European Commission backed the Bulgarian Government's plans to tighten the belts, "Troud" writes. The Commission says that if the economic growth and the tax revenues are below the target, this would be compensated by the financial restrictions. The Commission reminds the Cabinet, however, that, apart from economizing, it should also implement structural reforms.

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"Sega" reports about a letter from DG Agriculture and Rural Development notifying Bulgaria that it will have to pay about 50 million leva for violations in the 2008 single area direct payment campaign for farmers. Only a month ago Brussels said that Bulgaria will be fined by 40 million leva for the payments made in 2007. The fine is most likely to be deducted from the nearly 1,000 million leva that are to be extended in subsidies.

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 – March 18, 2010

· The Bulgarian parliament approved Thursday the appointment of a minister with responsibility for stamping out corruption in the use of EU funds. Tomislav Donchev, 36, is a former director of the Sofia branch of George Soros' Open Society Institute and has worked extensively in the area of EU project management and consulting. Amid concern over corruption Brussels froze 825 million euros in pre-accession aid for Bulgaria in 2008 and subsequently stripped Bulgaria of 200 million euros of that money. Last month, Sofia obtained permission from Brussels to apply for some 6.4 billion euros of post-accession aid available between 2007 and 2013. Nevertheless, a parliamentary commission recently found that the country risked losing most of that aid because Bulgaria has so far used just 1.3 percent of the total of 15 billion euros of pre- and post-accession aid. A member of the ruling right-wing GERB party, Donchev was elected mayor of the small town of Gabrovo in 2007, where he managed to win Brussels' approval for a water distribution project worth 63 million euros (86 million dollars).
· Bulgarian MPs unanimously passed the leading proposal moved by MP Lachezar Toshev for ban on cultivation and release of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in protected areas, Focus News Agency reporter announced.
· Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania are the catching-up countries in the EU in terms of innovation performance, with performance levels significantly below the EU average. However, all three countries are rapidly closing their gap to the average performance level of the EU, and Bulgaria and Romania have been improving their performance the fastest of all Member States.This observation is contained in a survey on innovation performance in the EU, which was presented on Wednesday by Antonio Tajani, European Commission Vice President responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, and by Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science.

· The European Commission urged Bulgaria to pursue “strict” fiscal policies that will compensate for “slightly favorable assumptions on growth and revenue collection”. Prime Minister Boiko Borissov’s government envisages economic growth of 0.3 percent this year after last year’s contraction of 5.1 percent. The government ran up a deficit of 500 million lev ($350 million) in January and projects the gap will widen in February and March as it completes outstanding payments on infrastructure projects and other public orders.