Bulgarian Press Review August 21, 2009

Press Review
Sofia, August 21 (BTA)


THE HOME SCENE

The Friday papers got their front-page stories at an extraordinary meeting of Parliament on Thursday and changes at the Interior Ministry.

"24 Chassa" gives prominence to the resignation of central bank governor Ivan Iskrov ("Iskrov Resigns to Be Reelected"). It says that Iskrov asked to step down three months after getting
re-elected for a second term as governor of the National Bank of Bulgaria and 50 days before the expiration of his first term. Parliament adopted the resignation but GERb immediately
nominated him again for the job.

"Dnevnik" writes that Iskrov's nomination by GERB will keep unchanged things in the high corridors of the central bank but the party shows that the last-minute decisions by the three-party coalition of the previous government will not be tolerated, especially if they go against the law and are technically challengeable. This paper quotes GERB sources as saying that the political arguments were in favour of Iskrov and that the decision to nominate him again was a courtesy bow to the National Movement for Surge and Stability who were behind
him.

"Dvenik" writes further than GERB wish to have somebody they trust in the office of central bank Vice Governor and Nikolai Nenovskit who takes it now, is considered to be close to former
Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and his Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski.

"24 Chassa" frontpages Parliament's decision to ask the National Audit Office to audit the previous government's management of finances and property ("Government Went Spending 2 Mln a Day
around Christmas"). The audit is to be implemented by September 30 and must be presented to Parliament by October 30. The resolution was passed by 201 votes in favour, with none against
and no abstentions.

A front-page story in "Troud" reports the replacement of Border Police chief Gen. Krassimir Petrov and quotes Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov as saying that having spoken to people in the Interior Ministry unit working on corruption at the border crossings, he knows that he has made the right decision.

"24 Chassa" quotes Tsvetanov as saying that Petrov's replacement is also over problems and unfinished work in preparation of Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area.

The Friday papers also report a meeting Thursday of Prosecutor General Boris Velchev, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov and with State Agency for National Security (SANS) Chairman Tsvetlin Yovchev and the subsequent announcement that mixed teams of the three institutions will start work in September to investigate high-profile cases.

A headline sampler: "New SANS Chief: Agency Should Keep a Low Profile" ("Dnevnik"); "Courts to Admit Information Collected by Special Surveillance Means before Start of Police Investigation" ("24 Chassa"); "SANS Chief: We Are a Secret Weapon" ("Troud").

"Dnevnik" quotes Yovchev as saying that SANS could be the government's secret weapon against corruption and that the Agency needs to shed the image it has acquired in the past year and should not be involved in public operations. He also said that the visions of the Interior Ministry and SANS differ on how the Agency should carry its duties but he is optimistic that
the right decision will be made.

Yovchev repeats that in a "Monitor" interview where he also says that a priority in the work of SANS should be fighting international terrorism.

"24 Chassa" highlights Boris Velchev's call for a change in the legislation to allow in court information collected by wiretapping and other special surveillance means before the start of the pre-trial investigation.

Dwelling on the mixed teams of prosecutors, police and SANS agents, Interior Minister Tsvetanov said that their task will be to collect quality proofs to secure good sentences against crime bosses and corrupt civil servants. The team members will be asked to forget their routine work and focus on the high-profile cases, he reportedly said.

***

In an interview run by several papers on Friday, Prime Minister Borissov says that he and President Georgi Purvanov have always been able to find "the right tone" so far.

Borissov says that GERB will have its own candidate for the mayoral elections in Sofia in November and will not back Martin Zaimov. Zaimov has said that he would run for the mayor's office if GERB agree to support him.

***

Bozhidar Dimitrov proposes that 60,000 applicants for Bulgarian citizenship be given passports right away, "Troud" reports. Some 60,000 people are on the waiting list for Bulgarian citizenship
every year and giving them passports in a one-off act will "unclog the system", Dimitrov argues. An added benefit is dealing with the population crisis: a large part of these people want to live and work in Bulgaria, says the paper.

***

A front-page story in "Sega" reports that the army has been involved in an unlawful hotel business. An audit of the former Military Clubs and Information Agency found outrageous contracts for millions of leva signed in violation of the rules and regulations.

***

In a "Troud" interview, Deputy Labour and Social Policy Minister Valentina Simeonova says everybody will get their welfare and child benefits. Commenting the delay of such payments in August, she says that the new ministry leadership found the budget for such payments used up when it took office earlier this month.

***

"24 Chassa" reports that before the end of this year the Sofia traffic police will put an end to the long lines of waiting people by offering a chance for booking a service on the Internet or by a text message on the telephone. "Troud" says that the Sofia traffic police now have a website where one can check how many people are waiting before him for a certain
administrative service.

***

"24 Chassa" says that the Recording Agency has proposed restrictions on the access to the commercial register as a measure against the increasingly frequent abductions of business people and company thefts.


FOREIGN POLICY

"Troud" carries a front-page story with the latest in a high-profile dispute between a Bulgarian father and a Polish mother over the custody of their two children. In a new development on Thursday, the second child, too, was taken by the mother with the assistance of Bulgarian police close to three months after she took the first child. "Troud" reports the Thursday events in great details.

***

"Novinar" reports that Bulgarian national Spaska Mitrov has got a new ten-month conditional sentence for insulting the Macedonian judges trying her custody case.

Mitrova, 23, who lives in Gevgelija, Southwestern Macedonia, was recently sentenced to three months' imprisonment and a large fine for refusing to provide accommodation at her parents' house
for her ex-husband to visit their six-months-old daughter. The child was separated from her mother, and Mitrova was taken to the Idrizovo Prison in Skopje to serve her sentence. The case
has got a lot of media attention.

The new sentence against Mitova was confirmed by the Foreign Ministry, writes "Novinar".


ECONOMY

"Klassa" reports on its front page that an IMF team is coming to Bulgaria to inspect the budget receipts and expenditures. Deputy Finance Minister Ana Mihailova is quoted as saying that a
possible agreement with the IMF will not hurt Bulgaria's chances for joining the euro-zone. Mihailova says further that with its very establishment the new government has helped lower
by more than 1.5 per cent the political and financial risk for the whole nation.

***

The losses the public purse sustains from illegal fuel trade total over 350 million leva a year, the petrol and gas association said Thursday as quoted by "24 Chassa". They say that there were attempts in the recent days to play down the problem with fuel smuggling.

***

"Standard News" reports on its front page that Bulgarians work an hour to earn for a BigMac. This places Bulgaria last among the European countries, according to a UBS survey in 73 major world cities.

***

"Dnevnik" quotes a remark by Economy Minister Traicho Traikov who said that the Belene N-plant is not vital for Bulgaria's generating capacity. He also said that bulgaria does not need this N-plant to secure its electricity supplies until 2020.


SOCIETY

"Novinar" reports a ban on crisps and cakes that is freshly introduced in school cafeterias. The ban will be effective from the start of the new school year and is aimed to discourage unhealthy eating habits. Offenders will be fined 100 to 5,000 leva.

"Monitor" reports that too many of the first-graders are hypertonics and/or diebetic. Use of medications for children has gone up 19 per cent since 2004, according to Health Ministry figures.

***

"24 Chassa" carries an interview with Danka Panchova of the French humanitarian organization Action against Hunger, who returned to Bulgaria on Wednesday after nine months in Somali captivity. She says she never felt her life was hanging by a thread but admits that she would never go back to Somalia and that she has not decided yet whether to stay in Bulgaria or go
somewhere else.

Panchova was kidnapped in Somalia on November 5, 2008, by heavily armed rebels from an airport near the town of Dhuusamareeb in central Somalia. She was released on August 11, 2009 together with another five hostages - two French, a Belgian and two Kenyans.


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 21, 2009

• Until the end of September there will be a clear idea of the faith of the Bulgarian Belene Nuclear Power Plant. The Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism, Traicho Traikov, announced that the future of the project, whether it will be continues, or not, and if continued under what conditions will be decide in a month. In his words, is not a vital power resource, but rather a business project, and there are several opportunities for the power plant construction. One of the possibilities is the project to be completed under the current conditions - 51% of Belene are owned by the Bulgaria State Electric Company (NEK), and the other 49% are in the German RWE hands. Another options is to reduce the state share and another investor, who will complete the project, to be found. In this way Bulgaria will have blocking amount of shares, and will use them in taking decisions later. In this way the responsibility will be decreased, too, experts say.

• The insurance business in Bulgaria has not been affected by the global economic crisis, and even shows some growth. According to statistics of the Financial Supervision Commission, the profit of that sort of business increased by 1,2% in the first half of 2009 year-on-year, the Pari Daily reported. The data shows that the gross premium income of the insurance companies in the first six months of 2009 was BGN 735,6 M, and the claims were for BGN 359,223 M. There is a serious increase in the voluntary health insurance. The incomes of the insurance companies were for BGN 23,15 M in 2009's first half, compared to BGN 15,118 M for the same period in 2008. The claims paid in 2009 amounted BGN 10,349 M. The health insurance reserves increased by 24,7% in the first half of 2009 year-on-year.

• MPs from the ruling GERB party will propose the creation of two Parliament Committees to investigate the previous Bulgarian government. The MPs started Thursday collecting signatures in order to file a bill for the creation of the committees, the Sega (Now) Daily reported. "The first committee will investigate why at some places abroad were opened many evoting sections, and at others there were almost none. In Spain and Germany, for example, many people were not able to cast their votes", Alexander Nenkov from GERB said. The previous government earlier explained that the voting sections were opened on request from the voters, and in some countries like Germany, no voting urns were allowed outside diplomatic missions. If this committee is created, it will be the third authority that investigates the elections abroad.