Bulgarian Press Review August 27, 2009

Press Review
Sofia, August 27 (BTA)

BULGARIA-EU

Bulgaria may be brought to court in Luxembourg in October over continuing violations of EU environmental protection law, EU Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said on Wednesday. "Troud" quotes her as saying that Sofia has no EU-compliant standards for waste storage and processing. The commissioners are holding a regular meeting on infringement procedures against member states on September 30. The European Commission is expected to announce its decisions about Bulgaria in early October, Kuneva said. A case may last up to two years. If things come to this, it would be the first case against Bulgaria in nearly three years since it joined the EU.

The dailies report that Finance Minister Simeon Djankov has dismissed Raika Ontsova, Executive Director of the Audit of EU Funds Executive Agency, as ordered by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. Letters dated August 12 and 13 by which the European Commission rejected compliance assessment reports on the operational programmes "Technical Assistance", "Transport" and "Competitiveness" were not submitted to Borissov for nearly two weeks, "Klassa" says on its front page. The rejection became known in Bulgaria only when EC Spokesman for Regional Policy Dennis Abbott made a statement on August 24.

In a "Klassa" interview Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva says there are plans for the prime minister to make his first foreign visit to Brussels and to meet representatives of all EU institutions there. He will be accompanied by eight ministers.

Yuliana Nikolova, who will become secretary of the Council of EU Funds Management in September, says in "Klassa" that the rejection of the compliance assessment reports will delay the absorption of EU funds, which is a major problem. An evaluation scheduled to start in mid 2010 will check which country has used how much and will be followed by a redistribution of funding, she says.

Evgeni Angelov, Deputy Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism, says in "Troud" he has received numerous complaints about EU-financed projects. Talking about the Kremikovtzi iron and steel mill, he says it should not be allowed to run new debts to state-owned companies. It should be seen first if a new rehabilitation plan would work there.

Former Bavarian Prime Minister Guenther Beckstein says in a "24 Chassa" interview that motorway construction should make progress. To this end EU money should be unblocked, he says, adding that what he heard made him believe that Bulgaria was striding in this direction and the necessary reforms had begun.

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Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Justice Minister Margarita Popova, the State Agency for National Security's Chairman Tsvetlin Yovchev, Stanimir Florov, head of the Organized Crime Directorate, and Prosecutor General Boris Velchev will visit the United States in late September, "Standart News" reports. The daily describes this as "Washington's invitation to Boyko Borissov's anti-Mafia team".

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Three Bulgarians were arrested in Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy, on charges of credit card cloning, "24 Chassa" writes. The three men, who do not live in Italy, were caught while installing an ATM skimming device. More such devices, 3,000 euro, a laptop and satellite navigation devices were found in their Bulgarian-registered BMW. The police in Abruzzo reportedly said that Bulgarians were increasingly becoming the perpetrators this type of fraud, previously committed mostly by Romanians.

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Bojidar Dimitrov, the minister responsible for Bulgarians abroad, says in a "24 Chassa" interview that a rapprochement between Bulgaria and Macedonia depends solely on the government in Skopje.

ECONOMY

The dailies report that when passed, amendments to the Commercial Code approved by the government on Wednesday would lower the minimum capital for establishing a limited liability
company from 5,000 leva to 2 leva (about one euro) as GERB promised during its election campaign. The first reduction in the minimum capital needed for registering the most widespread type of company was from 50,000 leva to 5,000 leva. International studies show that there is no minimum requirement for company registration in 75 countries including Britain, "Troud" says.

Social insurance contributions will fall by 2 percentage points in 2010 after the cabinet approved a medium-term fiscal programme for 2010-2013, "Pari" says. A cut by a further 1 percentage point is planned for 2011-2013. VAT may be reduced by a total of 5 per cent in the course of 2010. This will be discussed on June 15, 2010, and the decisions will depend on the state of the economy. The finance minister says the fiscal framework is based on a 2 per cent drop in GDP in 2010.

Quoting the prime minister, who presented the macroeconomic framework of the budget, "Monitor" reports that 500 million leva will be allocated for pensions and a further 220 million leva for survivor pensions in 2010. "Zemya" quotes Social Policy Minister Totyu Mladenov as saying that wages, pensions and welfare benefits will increase only after mid-June 2010.

HOME SCENE

"24 Chassa" publishes a Gallup International poll showing that Boyko Borissov started his term in office with 64 per cent approval, higher even than the rating of Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha at the start of his term as prime minister. President Georgi Purvanov is second with 52 per cent, followed by Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov with 47 per cent and EU Commissioner Meglena Kuneva with 46 per cent. Ex-premier Sergei Stanishev is 13th with 20 per cent approval. The Bulgarian Socialist Party is going through one of its worst crises, the proportion of sympathizers being 13.8 per cent of Bulgarians in August. GERB's sympathizers are 46.3 per cent.

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"Troud" reports that 20 auditors will check the previous government's accounts. The Audit Office started two audits ordered by Parliament at the Council of Ministers on Wednesday. They will check the financial management of the budget and the implementation of the Council of Ministers' budget in 2009 until the time GERB took office.

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Bozhidar Danev, President of the Bulgarian Industrial Association, says in "Troud" that harmful emissions should be sold for 1,000 million euro to fill the budget shortfall. He also calls for stronger pressure on shady businesses.

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A gang tried to sell a building in central Sofia owned by Agrohold using a counterfeit power of attorney, "24 Chassa". Agrohold is owned by Vassil Zlatev, father of businessman Valentin Zlatev. No one at the Interior Ministry or the prosecution office was available for comment on this particular attempted fraud after it was officially announced on Wednesday that a real estate fraud gang had been caught while closing another transaction in a notary's office.

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Interviewed by "Troud", humanitarian worker Danka Panchova, who was kidnapped in Somalia last November and returned home on August 19, says that life in captivity is fraught with fear, hunger and helplessness. She declined to give details about the abduction so as not to harm other people. SN/DD

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 27, 2009

• Minimum wage in most West European countries has increased despite the economic crisis. About 20 European countries have legally defined minimum wage as in most of them their level has increased since the beginning of 2009. Thus minimum wage in Luxemburg tops the list of highest salaries-EUR 9.73 per hour, followed by France-EUR 8.92, Ireland-EUR 8.65, Netherlands- EUR 8.65 and Belgium-EUR 8.41. Despite minimum wage in the UK is the lowest in West Europe, EUR 6.41 per hour, it is much higher than minimum wages in Bulgaria and Romania, respectively EUR 0.71 and EUR 0.83.

• A 43-year-old Bulgarian was shot dead in front of a Greek coffee house in the Aspropyrgos area in the Western part of Attica region. This accident happened around 5.30 pm local time on Wednesday. The man was immediately taken to the hospital in Elefsina, where he died of his wounds. According to the police, the perpetrator, who ran away from the crime scene by a motorcycle, knew the victim, and had a bone to pick with the Bulgarian man.

• A total of seventy members of parliament from the ruling GERB party and their right-wing allies have proposed that a commission be set up to probe deals, expenses and appointments made during the last year of the ousted Socialist government term. The news comes a week after Bulgaria's MPs approached the National Audit Office to make an audit of how the previous cabinet of Socialist leader Sergey Stanishev handled its finances and property over the last year and seven months.