Bulgarian press review, December 9, 2009

Press Review
Sofia, December 9 (BTA)

BULGARIA - EU

The European Commission will extend the term of validity of the financing memorandum for absorption of the funding from ISPA only in respect of the Vidin-Calafat bridge over the Danube, but the extension will be for just a third of the period requested by Bulgaria, "Pari" reports. This means that 30 million euro expected from the EU for the Lyulin Motorway and the Plovdiv-Svilengrad railway are under question mark, unless the projects are completed on schedule, the paper reasons.

Bulgaria will absorb some 73 per cent of the 445 million euro allocated under the pre-accession SAPARD Programme, which is concluded at the end of the year. This means that the country will lose some 120 million euro, or almost a third of the entire funding under the programme, "Dnevnik" reports on its front page. "Unfortunately, the assessment for the conclusion of SAPARD is pessimistic," Silvia Indjova, Director of the National Fund at the Ministry of Finance, which handles payments for all EU-financed projects, told the National Assembly Committee on European Affairs.

Bulgarian citizenship will be granted within a year and a half, "Novinar" writes in the title of an online Q & A between readers and Minister without Portfolio Bojidar Dimitrov.

Under the heading "France: the New 'Charme' of the Balkans," "Troud" comments that while US ineterest in "Europe's backyard" has waned, Paris is seeking strong positions in the region.

THE HOME SCENE

Under the headline "Borissov, Purvanov Write Energy Strategy Together", "Novinar" quotes Prime Minister Boyko Borissov as saying, without elaborating, that the Government will prepare a uniform strategy on the energy projects which will be coordinated with President Georgi Purvanov. "I firmly back the Government. A common energy policy is a must," the head of State said, reacting to the news. Regarding the implementation of the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis Oil Pipeline Project, Borissov said that it will go ahead only if the Environment Ministry allows it.

Under the heading "More Mine Gifts Will Go Off," "24 Chassa" notes that not a single lev was spent throughout 2009 on destruction of surplus ammunition. This gives Deputy Defence Minister Valentin Radev, who also chairs the association of ammunition experts, a strong cause for concern. "Tonnes of arms stake their victims in Bulgaria," "Sega" writes.

"We will not withdraw our confidence from the Cabinet until January, but if the police state tricks continue, we will react using all possible democratic means," Atanas Semov MP of Order, Lawfulness and Justice told "Douma" in an interview headlined "They Force Us into Opposition."

"The only sensible conclusion from the case of Tagarinski is that the proportional representation electoral system is total crap and must be immediately dumped," Valeri Naidenov writes in "24 Chassa". He argued that if all 240 MPs were elected directly and each had a constituency of his own, this would not have happened. "First, because Mr Tagarinski would not have made it to Parliament. Secondly, because even if did, he would have been awfully afraid of voters and would not embark on such antics. And thirdly, if Mr Tagarinski represented a single-member constituency, the voters would have recalled him by a local referendum."

Ataka leader Volen Siderov forced almost all Ataka MPs to complete personal guarantees to the benefit of an off-shore company to the amount of 150,000 euro each, in their capacity as natural persons, SKAT TV owner and independent municipal councillor in Bourgas Valeri Simeonov told "Troud." He specified that these guarantees have the status of promissory notes: they are drawn up in a single copy which is held by Siderov and, upon demand, the signer incurs liability for the amount of 150,000 euro secured by his property. "I will sue Simeonov for this lie," Siderov reacted.

MPs will be able to spend half of the amount for foreign trips allocated by previous National Assembly Chairman Georgi Pirinski, "Monitor" writes in its top story. Shortly before leaving office, Pirinski decided to sign a 4 million leva deal for plane tickets only. His successor Tsetska Tsacheva is planning to spend a little over 1.8 million leva, inclusive of VAT.

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"How many Roma are there in Bulgaria? Devla tujane (God only knows)," writes "Troud." According to the latest census conducted by the National Statistical Institute and non-governmental organizations dealing with minority problems, the Roma in this country number slightly over 370,000 - as many have identified as Roma. Antonina Zhelyazkova, Director of the International Center for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations, counts 650,000, while Roumyan Sechkov, Director of the Creating Effective Grassroots Alternatives (C.E.G.A.) Foundation, puts the figure at 800,000. According to Roma leaders, including Tsvetelin Kunchev, their community is 1.2 million strong, of whom 800,000 are qualified voters. The leader of the Roma party DROM Iliya Iliev notes that 1 million Roma live in Bulgaria. Eighty per cent of them do not have hot running water, 40 per cent are illietrate, and 59 per cent of young Roma are unemployed, "Troud" writes. Three thousand Roma study at universities.

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"Ataka" and "Monitor" front-page the news that amidst unprecedented security, the authorities started demolishing the unlawful oppulent beach houses in the Chengene Skele locality near Bourgas. The first four out of a total of 257 luxury buildings there were bulldozed to rubble as their owners looked on. The spectacular demolition operation was guarded by over 200 gendarmes in full riot gear.

Vehicular speed in Sofia averages 12 km/h because of the traffic jams, "24 Chassa" found in an experiment. Many of the traffic jams are caused by parents driving their children to school, according to Sofia Chief Architect Peter Dikov. According to him, nobody send their children to the neighbourhood school any longer, which adds to peak hour congestions.

ECONOMY

More than 60 per cent of the global companies with business in Bulgaria will continue to invest in this country, and one-third will even take advantage of the current situation to increase their investment, The Economic Intelligence Unit found in a survey of 70 leading managers of global companies, reported by "Klassa" on its front page. The good news is that just 12 per cent are planning to cut back their investments in Bulgaria.

Most managers (75 per cent) are concerned with macroeconomic instability. Another 55 per cent fear corruption and 43 per cent are apprehensive of the lack of political will for reforms and the business environment.

Housing prices will fall by at least 10 per cent on the average this winter, brokers forecast to "24 Chassa." They expect a slack market until spring, after which a pick-up is possible only provided the economy starts recovering.

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS

"I will sue everybody who invented the product Krassyo," Krassimir "Krassyo" Georgiev says in a "24 Chassa" interview. Georgiev is a witness in a case on trade in influence in the judicial system. He says that once the investigation is completed, he will take legal action against those who marred his prestige. Supreme Judicial Council member Ivan Kolev will have to prove in court that Krassimir Georgiev is the "Krassyo" who offers judicial appointments for money, he adds. "My statements can cause at least ten more scandals like this one," the interviewee says. He has retained a "renowned foreign law firm."

"Troud" found that judges may get up to two wages in Christmas bonuses, but just 20 per cent of prosecutors and investigating magistrates will receive bonuses of one wage. To be eligible, they must have concluded cases of great public interest. The discrepancy emerged after the Supreme Judicial Council decided on the handout of 24 million leva in "personal bonuses."

The proposed amendments to the Penal Procedure Code restrict citizens' access to cassation and to resumption of criminal cases: in this way, the State reconciles itself to a huge number of miscarriages of justice, which can be corrected only in Strasbourg, Supreme Bar Council Chair Daniela Dokovska says in an interview for "Troud." As she puts it, the worst thing is that the amendments presume that both the defence lawyer and the defendant act in bad faith when they exercise their procedural rights, because the right to defence is treated as abuse of the right to defence.

* * *
Lord Edward Davenport, 24, of the UK, was engaged in scams of Bulgarian seaside properties worth millions, "Standart News" writes in its top story. Davenport and two other persons were charged last week with conspiracy to defraud and money laundering. This is the largest international investigation about loan swindling in history. The criminal group handled properties in Austria, Turkey, Cyprus and other countries.

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"Braggarts Can Be Found among Freemasons, Too:" under this heading, "Troud" runs an interveiw with Grigorii Vazov, Master of the United Grand Lodge of Bulgaria. "We have 24 lodges in Sofia, many of them have temples of their own," he says. "In the world, real masonic temples are open to public visits. This is not yet the case in Bulgaria, but will happen too. A masonic temple will go under construction within my term of office," Vazov notes.

* * *
The most successful Bulgarian businessman in the US, Shefket Chapadjiev, personally inspected the world's first tourist spaceship that will be launched in 2012, the papers reports. In the Mojave Desert, New Mexico, Chapadjiev toured Space Two, on board of which he will spend two and a half hours, of which 5 minutes in zero gravity. Together with the Madan-born millionaire, another 300 enthusaists will head for outer space. They have paid 200,000 US dollars each for the thrill.


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 –December 9, 2009

· The National Assembly decided Wednesday to relieve Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) MP Emilia
Maslarova of her duties as chair of the parliamentary Labour and Social Policy Committee.
The debate of the draft resolution on relieving Emilia Maslarova of her duties, moved by Blue Coalition Co-chairman Ivan Kostov and a group of MPs, began last Friday.
After the vote the BSP MPs left the hall, with the Chairman of the Coalition for Bulgaria parliamentary group declaring that the left will give up chairing all commissions in which they participate.
Maslarova told journalists that she is leaving the Labour and Social Policy Committee.
Earlier in November, Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev asked MPs to strip Maslarova of her immunity from prosecution which she had under Bulgarian law as an MP. Maslarova voluntarily renounced her immunity before the matter was tabled for debate.

· The parliamentary group of Order, Lawfulness and Justice (OLJ) has been erased from the register of parliamentary groups, National Assembly Chair Tsetska Tsacheva said Wednesday after announcing that Mario Tagarinski has submitted an application for leaving the group.
Tagarinski's move reduced the number of the OLJ group to nine MPs and according to the parliamentary rules of organization and procedure the group has terminated its existence as the number is below the minimum of ten members, Tsacheva explained.
OLJ Chairman Yane Yanev declared at a briefing in Parliament that an understanding between Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, President Georgi Purvanov and the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) has led to the eradication of the parliamentary group of the party he leads. According to him, the reason is to remove him from the Consultative Council on National Security with the President.