Bulgarian Press Review August 10, 2009

Press Review
Sofia, August 10 (BTA)

HOME SCENE

"Borissov Promises Culprits to Be Sentenced," "Sega" says in a headline. "Let's not ruin the festive occasion with stories about what those rascals did during the years - swapping forests, taking possession of half of Galata peninsula. But the culprits will get their due in the next couple of months," Prime Minister Boiko Borissov is quoted as saying at a ceremony marking the 130th anniversary of the Bulgarian Navy in Varna. "The judiciary has finally seen what the EU expects it to do. It is independent but not independent from the people. When the people wants a change, it must change. I can see a change in the judiciary," he said. Earlier Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov announced that two former ministers were under investigation.
"Sega" carries an item, according to which GERB has opened Pandora's Box. However, its author notes that the traps the new incumbents are laying for themselves - lack of knowledge, unrestrained threats and ill-considered promises - are dangerous. The Borissov cabinet has started to refer scandalous deals to the prosecution. "But from now on it becomes dependent - on the independent judiciary. It is going to be difficult for GERB - Pandora's box has proved to be a black hole. It is easy to carry out reforms during a crisis. Now more than ever the Bulgarians are craving for order and justice and are ready to pay a high price for it. GERB stands a chance to cut everything that is rotten in the high echelons of power."

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"Two members of the previous government have the bead drawn on them," "Troud" writes. They are former agriculture ministers Nihat Kabil and Valeri Tsvetanov who are expected to be charged with various abuses in office. Former deputy agriculture minister and former senior official at the Agriculture Ministry, Saliha Emin, are facing similar charges.

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"Sega" reports that Dourhan Moustafa MP of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) is investigated by the Bourgas District Prosecution Office for his activities as mayor of Rouen Municipality. According to auditors, Rouen got nearly one million leva for projects that were not implemented at all. If enough evidence is collected, Moustafa will have to be stripped of parliamentary immunity in order to be sued, District Prosecutor Angel Angelov is quoted as saying.

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All swaps of forests will be entered in a public register, Agrarian Minister Miroslav Naydenov says in an interview for "Sega." In his words, an inspection is going on and charges will be made for leaving 70 blanks in the register in order to make back-date entries in it. Commenting on the frozen SAPARD funds, Naydenov says Brussels may be expected to deblock them in September.

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Environment and Water Minister Nona Karadjova says in "24 Chassa" that the National Audit Office will be requested to make an audit at her Ministry and that one of the first cases to be referred to the prosecution office will be the ones involving the villages of Drundar and Mudrevo. The previous leadership of the Ministry poured a lot of money in the two villages without reason; in addition, there are projects of one and the same villages awarded for execution to one and the same contractors that have been financed more than one. Ten public procurement contracts are being inspected at the moment as there are doubts that the projects were financed several times from different sources. "What we found is a great volume of actions that are unlawful in our opinion," Karadjova says.

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"Standart News" carries an interview with Physical Education and Sports Minister Svilen Neykov who proposes to reduce taxes for those who invest in sports, revising the existing legislation accordingly.

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"Sega" announces that a former high-positioned officer of the Defence Ministry will be tried for having concluded an unprofitable deal. The question is about Peter Nenkov, ex-chief of the State Property Executive Agency. Evgeni Ivanov of the Sofia Military prosecution Office is quoted as saying that if proven guilty, Nenkov may get up to five years in prison. According to the investigating authorities, in 2003 Nenkov knowingly signed an unprofitable contract for repair works as a result of which the Agency lost over 21,000 leva.

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"24 Chassa" runs an analysis, according to which the new government will be remembered for its quick start. The cabinet was not only formed quickly but from the very first its members undertook to clean the Augean Stables left by ex-PM Sergei Stanishev's government. "But between the bomb defusing stage and the program implementation one Borissov's team will have to live through an intermediary stage - the resistance of the affected circles. Its members are obviously well-prepared and will produce results when the time comes for them to apply the policy for which they have been chosen. The question is if they can reach that point and whether they will yield to the resistance or overcome it. This does not depend only on the qualities of the new ministers. It is a job the prime minister has got to do. And he must do it quickly and firmly."

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"Public relations are no substitute of politics," Roumyana Buchvarova, Head of the Prime Minister's Office, says in an interview for "Novinar." The drafting of political decisions cannot be a noisy public activity but it should not be shrouded in mystery either. All political decisions must be reasonable, principled, made by taking into account the realities and harmonized with the government's priorities. "


ECONOMY
"A country with a currency board mechanism cannot afford a deficit," Deputy Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov says in an interview held with "Dnevnik." In his words, the countries which can play with the volume of money in circulation may afford a deficit as a tool against the drop in internal consumption but Bulgaria cannot afford it as it has a currency board. "We cannot reduce the reserves of the government and the reserves which support the currency board. Secondly, a deficit in 2009 certainly means a larger deficit in 2010 which pushes us towards a spiral leading to a rather bad situation."

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"There are no reasons to be optimistic about the crisis," Rouslan Stefanov, expert at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, says in an interview given to "Monitor." In his words, the expectations are for a second surge of the crisis. "In March and April there was some talk about a recovery in the largest European, Germany, but now they say that there are signs to the contrary and that there is a downward trend in the economy again. That is why there is no reason to be optimistic that the crisis is nearing its end. In Bulgaria there is a six-month delay in respect to the crisis compared with the countries in the Eurozone. This means that the crisis will be the worst in the third and the fourth quarter of 2009."

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"Standart News" reports that currency exchange offices will be closed for tax evasion or misleading customers with their exchange rates. The National Revenue Agency is conducting checks at all currency exchange offices and the ones which have not paid their taxes or social insurance contributions will be written off the register and deprived of license.

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"Dnevnik" says that real estate transactions declined by 35 per cent in the first six months of 2009 compared with the like period of the previous year. This is what data of the Registration Agency show. In Sofia, Varna and the area around Samokov real estate deals shrank by as much as 50 per cent. The reason is the lack of bank loans, brokers say.

BULGARIA - EU

In 32 months, Bulgaria has absorbed 1 per cent of the European funds, "Sega" reports. Since its accession to the EU, Bulgaria has utilized only 1 per cent of the 7,000 million euro available under the seven operative programs, and 2009 may prove to be a "zero" year in this respect. There is a real danger of having to refund the EU money received, too. At this stage the country it entitled to advance payments only. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 Brussels transferred to Bulgaria 635 million euro in advance payments or less than 10 per cent of the total amount.

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"In the EU we will be in the group of realists," Foreign Minister Roumyana Zheleva says in reply to the "Troud" question what position Bulgaria will support regarding Turkey's bid for EU membership. "We are in the Balkans, we want stability and security. Our southern border is with Turkey. We will follow the discussion of Turkey's progress and the process of negotiations very carefully. We realize that the EU enlargement process should go on but we should be realistic as to what is possible and pragmatic and should react the soonest possible," Zheleva says.


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 – August 10, 2009

• The Editor in Chief of the Bulgarian web-site europe.bg, Ognyan Boyadzhiev, was beaten black and blue in his apartment in Sofia's Ivan Vazov quarter. The 34-year-old man has been taken to Military Hospital in the capital. His condition is stable, and there is no threat for his life, officials reported. The accident happened just before midnight on Sunday. The signal to the police was sent by neighbors who heard cryings for help.

• The deputy from The Blue Coalition Ventsislav Varbanov removed his immunity for the second time in order not to hinder the legal procedure started against him. "In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the Statute for the organization and proceedings of the National Assembly, I declare my written consent for the commencement of penal procedure and the reinstatement of the lawsuit against me", is stated in Varbanov's appeal to the NA chairperson.

• Bulgaria will take five urgent measures to fight the illegal import of vegetable and fruits from Macedonia and Greece. This has been announced Monday by the Bulgarian Deputy PM and Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, while he was in the Southern Petrich municipality where he pet with farmers from the region.