News from Bulgaria / Dec 14, 95

From: bulgaria@access1.digex.net (Embassy of Bulgaria)

Bulgarian Telegraph Agency Directory

EMBASSY OF BULGARIA - WASHINGTON D.C.

BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY

BULLETIN OF NEWS FROM BULGARIA

CONTENTS

[01] UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY VOTES RESOLUTION FOR ASSISTING STATES WITH LOSSES FROM THE EMBARGO AGAINST FY

Sofia, December 13 (BTA) - At its plenary session today the UN General Assembly voted unanimously in favour of a resolution providing for rendering economic assistance to states which sustained losses in implementing the sanctions of the UN Security Council against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), says a press release of the Foreign Ministry. The resolution was drafted and moved by the Bulgarian delegation at the 50th session of the UN General Assembly. Over 30 states, including directly affected states of the region, all EU member states, Russia, the US, India, Brazil, Argentina and other countries, backed the resolution as co-authors.

[02] BULGARIA INVITED TO BONN CONFERENCE ON BOSNIA

Sofia, December 13 (BTA) - Bulgaria is among the countries invited to participate in the December 18 conference in Bonn on confidence building measures and control on armaments as provided for by the peace accord for Bosnia and Hercegovina, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Radko Vlaikov told a regular briefing today. An invitation for the forum was sent to Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski and he is most likely to confirm his participation, Vlaikov said. He also said Bulgaria is happy to be invited to all forums on former Yugoslavia. Pirinski attended an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe forum in Budapest that discussed the role of the OSCE in the implementation of the Dayton peace agreement; he participated in the London Conference on December 8-9 and heads the Bulgarian delegation to the Paris Conference on Bosnia and Hercegovina starting today. In a view of the busy agenda of the Bulgarian Foreign Minister, his official visit to Cyprus scheduled for December 20-21 will be postponed, Vlaikov said. Following consultations with the Cyprian side, the visit was scheduled for early 1996, most probably in January.

[03] FOREIGN MINISTER PIRINSKI ENDS VISIT TO BRITAIN

London, December 13 (BTA) - Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski ended his official two-day visit to Britain at the invitation of his British counterpart Malcolm Rifkind. Atop Pirinski's London agenda were meetings with the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Rifkind, Secretary of State for Defence Michael Portillo, Shadow Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development President Jacques de Larosiere. The Bulgarian Foreign Minister also met businessmen of the Confederation of British Industry, interested in Bulgaria. The culmination of the visit was the signing of a bilateral agreement on mutual promotion and protection of investment at Foreign Office. The newly signed agreement and a 1988 accord on avoidance of double taxation are seen by British businesmen as a guarantee for investment in Bulgaria. The British Foreign Secretary voiced his expectation that the investment promotion agreement will bring an influx of fresh British investment to Bulgaria. The Chairwoman of the Bulgarian Foreign Investment Agency, Daniela Bobeva said British investment to Bulgaria total USD 25 million. Bulgarian-British commercial exchange last year amounted to USD 240 million, as in the January-October period this year it was up by 20% from the 1994 figure, BTA was told by the Bulgarian Embassy in London. At a meeting at the Confederation of British Industry, businessmen welcomed the signing of the investment accord and showed particular interest in the progress of privatization in Bulgaria, the government's priorities and the regulations in telecoms. It emerged during the meetings of the Bulgarian Foreign Minister that British businesmen enter Bulgaria warily because of the lack of timely and reliable information on the economic environment and investment climate in this country, said the Bulgarian Embassy. A step in this direction is a promotion conference on "How to Make Business In Bulgaria" to be held in London in February with the participation of Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Kiril Tsochev. Summing up his visit in a statement for BTA, Pirinski said: "Obviously, the visit was useful for several reasons. We hope that the signing of an investment protection and promotion agreement, which has been under preparation for several years, will have a strong impact on the development of bilateral economic relations. The British side confirmed its readiness to offer assistance in solving the most crucial issues of Bulgaria's full integration in the EU. It also pledged to provide technical assistance by training experts. This is all very important and positive." Pirinski delivered a lecture on "Bulgaria and the EU: Challenges of Enlargement" at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. He stressed Bulgaria's stabilizing role in Europe's most troubled region. This role has repeatedly been recognized as the greatest contribution to stability in South Central Europe and a barrier to a spillover of the Yugoconflict. Pirinski elaborated on Bulgaria's decision to apply for full EU membership at the Madrid summit of the EU member states and the associated countries. Pirinski's lecture met with a keen reception and was followed by many questions. Asked about Bulgaria's position on the strengthening of regional security, Pirinski listed five principles: inviolable state borders; steps towards the opening of borders between neighbouring countries; greater efforts to develop the regional infrastructure; promotion of trade and attracting investment; and cultural cooperation. Asked about the efforts of the Bulgarian government to get Bulgaria excluded from the EU blacklist, Pirinski said that being an associated country Bulgaria should not figure on such lists by rights and should get the same treatment as the other countries. Bulgaria does not pose a security threat to any country and does not exert immigration pressure on the EU member states. Now this country is working, on a bilateral basis, towards the relaxing of visa requirements and hopes to see positive results next year, Pirinski said.

[04] INTERIOR MINISTER NACHEV LEAVES FOR GREECE

Sofia, December 13 (BTA) - A delegation of the Interior Ministry, led by Interior Minister Lyubomir Nachev, left for the Hellenic Republic, the press office of the Interior Ministry said. The delegation includes Deputy Labour and Social Welfare Minister Milcho Dimitrov. During the visit the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior and the Greek Ministry of Public Order are expected to sign an agreement on readmission of illegal aliens. The two sides are also expected to sign an agreement on seasonal employment regulating the exchange of labour between the two countries, the press office said. The visit is at the invitation of Greek Public Order Minister Sifis Valirakis.

[05] AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE TO SUPPORT COOPERATION

Sofia, December 13 (BTA) - The visiting here delegation of the New York-based American Jewish Committee voiced readiness to make investments in Bulgaria and to assist Bulgarian companies in entering the U.S. market. The aim of this first visit to Bulgaria is that the members of the Committee voice their personal gratefulness for saving the lives of 50,000 Bulgarian Jews during World War Two, to obtain more information about the changes in Bulgaria over the past few years and to establish contacts with politicians and businessmen, who will assist for boosting cooperation between the business circles of the two countries, the Executive Director of the American Jewish Institute David Harris told a news conference at the end of the visit. According to Mr Harris, too little is known about Bulgaria in the U.S. and many people and institutions still associate this country's name with the Cold War. In his view, they will try to "unfreeze" and update Bulgaria's image among the American citizens. Improving the investment climate in Bulgaria by introducing amendments to the legal framework of privatization, improvement of the infrastructure, among other things by making fresh state investments in transport and telecommunications are the main prerequisites for attracting foreign investment in Bulgaria, Vladimir Kwint of the delegation says. Mr Kwint is director of New Markets Department with the Arthur Andersen company, one of the largest financial, auditing and consulting companies in the world. Asked by BTA what, in his view, is to be amended in the legal framework concerning privatization, Mr Kwint said that the recommendations are mainly in the appraisal of enterprises. He believes that the appraisal is to be done with participation of the major auditor companies and the price of the denationalized companies should depend not only on their current state, but also on the prospects for their future development. In this way the country's budget will receive larger contributions, he believes. Another reason for the small foreign investment in Bulgaria is considered the restricted market potentials of the country as compared to other rival countries in attracting foreign investment. The most promising spheres for future U.S. investment are believed to be tourism, oil processing, wine production and cosmetic industry. Let Bulgaria become more attractive for foreign investment, the delegation of the American Jewish Committee bid at yesterday's dinner given by President Zhelyu Zhelev, at today's formal luncheon given by Prime Minister Zhan Videnov and at the meeting with National Assembly Chairman Blagovest Sendov. The guests voiced readiness to assist large Bulgarian companies in entering the American markets.

[06] PARLIAMENT PASSES DEFENCE AND ARMED FORCES ACT

Sofia, December 13 (BTA) - Today National Assembly passed by large majority a Defence and Armed Forces Act. It relaced the 1958 General Conscription in the Republic of Bulgaria Act. After the collapse of totalitarian regime in 1989 several bills were moved in Parliament. The version, adopted today, was resubmitted by the Council of Ministers in March 1995. The former Parliament failed to pass the act due to the autumn 1994 cabinet crisis and parliament's early dissolution. The adoption of the Defence and Armed Forces Act was among the priorities in the legislative program of the Democratic Left (a coalition of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the Alexander Stamboliiski Bulgarian Agrarian National Union and the Ecoglasnost Political Club) which won the parliamentary elections in December 1994. The bill was adopted on first reading in May 1995 which made MPs of different parliamentary groups express satisfaction with the existing parliamentary consensus on a number of important provisions in the bill. The act provides the most important principles of the structure and management of the armed forces, which include the Bulgarian army, border troops, interior troops, state departments troops, security services and others. The Bulgarian army comprises the general staff, land forces, air forces, sea forces (including branches and special troops), military police, military intelligence and counterintelligence services, the operation of which will be regulated with special acts. The newly adopted act sets the principal activities in the sphere of defence: drawing up the country's national security concept and military doctrine and ensuring the implementation of the latter. The instrument also regulates other concrete activities in the sphere of defence. The act settles the civil management and control over the operation of the armed forces. A text in the act bans the use of the Bulgarian army in solving interior political problems. The National Assembly is the only body which may authorize the sending of Bulgarian troops abroad and the stay of foreign troops in Bulgaria. The Defence and Armed Forces Act sets the powers of the defence and armed forces managing bodies: Parliament, President and Council of Ministers. Under the Constitution, the President is Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. Decisions about imposing state of emergency, declaring war, conducting military operations and signing peace treaties may be taken in principle by Parliament. The president has the power to set up a supreme command in case of war. The act regulates the powers of the government, and the defence minister as its member, in the military sphere. The Minister shall be in charge of the overall management of the army, implementing the policy of the Government, and the Chief of General Staff for the army's immediate command. Any disputes between them shall be referred to the Government, according to the Act. The Defence and Armed Forces Act also regulates the economic basis of defence. It fixes the respective obligations of all economic structures. It lists the tasks of the military industrial complex and specifies the obligations of the National Bank of Bulgaria (BNB, the central bank) in forming a wartime foreign exchange reserve. This Act also regulates Defence Ministry funding by the national budget. The Defence and Armed Forces Act regulates the mandatory service of Bulgarian men in the army which is 18 months (12 months for university graduates). It fixes the grounds for postponing military service. Under the Act, all conscripts shall take an oath. Service in the army is obligatory for dual nationality holders of permanent residence in this country. The Defence and Armed Forces Act also regulates the functioning of the military educational establishments. The new act provides possibilities for alternative military service which will be regulated by a separate act. The brothers of conscripts who died while serving in the army shall be relieved of military service if they wish so. This right shall also refer to some other categories of pre-conscripts. The Act regulates wartime and contractual career service in the army, registration for military service, the drafting of reservists, etc. It also fixes service grades. The Defence and Armed Forces Act paves the way to a gradual transition to a professional army in the future. Members of the armed forces enjoy all civil rights provided for in the Constitution apart from the restrictions listed in the Armed Forces Act. Under the Armed Forces Act, the army is depoliticized. Professional military do not have the right to membership in political formations and to political campaigning. Conscripts and drafted reservists are required to freeze their membership in such organizations. Religious rituals shall be performed outside the units. Parliament voted down a motion by an MP of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces for the setting up of the institution of army clergymen. The Armed Forces Act sets up an Inspectorate (of civilians and military). It will control the observation of the laws and the orders of the Defence Minister and monitor the economic policy, expenditures, labour safety, complaints, applications, etc. in the army. The Armed Forces Act also regulates property and disciplinary liability of the members of the armed forces. Bulgarian is the obligatory language in the army. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (of the ethnic Turks) failed to push through its proposal for the formulation to be "official language". The members of the army have always been free to use their mother tongue in private conversations, representatives of other political forces and of the Defence Ministry told journalists repeatedly. The Act regulates a number of social issues referring to the military. These include specific rights and privileges, especially those of conscripts. Professional military shall retire between the age of 50 and 60 at the latest. They shall work 40 hours a week. The Act also regulates the specific rights of women in the army. It also regulates the setting up of insurance funds, credit cooperatives and the functioning of accommodation, catering and sports facilities in the army.

[07] CITUB AND PODKREPA WALK OUT OF COUNCIL FOR TRIPARTITE COOPERATION

Sofia, December 13 (BTA) - The representatives of the Podkrepa Confederation of Labour in the Council for Tripartite Cooperation (employers, trade unions and government) walked out of the Council's meeting today. Later they were followed by the representatives of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB), it emerged at a news conference in the Council of Ministers after the end of the meeting. "There are possibilities for a dialogue, but for the time being it would be meaningless due to the Government's firm stand in respect with income policy, set in the 1996 draft budget," Podkrepa Vice President Dimiter Manolov said. "There are no guarantees that the positions of the Government and the trade unions will be approximated," CITUB Vice President Ivan Neikov stated. The agenda of the meeting included discussions of the 1996 income policy and the bill amending the 1951 Labour Code. The positions of the Council members on incomes did not coincide. According to the trade unions, it is not the right time to amend the Labour Code, because the new amendments provide the establishment of an individual insurance deposit and the 1996 incomes are expected to be low. CITUB insisted on the removal of this issue from the agenda. According to Deputy Prime Minister Doncho Konakchiev, who is also a Chairman of the Council for Tripartite Cooperation, the social dialogue will continue.

[08] LOAN AGREEMENT WITH EBRD SIGNED

Sofia, December 13 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Government and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed today a loan agreement for financing a project on establishing manufacturer markets and exchanges for fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers in Bulgaria, the press office of the Finance Ministry said. The project is worth a total of 84 million US dollars and the loan granted by the EBRD is 35 million US dollars. The Government of Germany will assist the project with 6.7 million US dollars in grant aid and the remaining part has been planned to be financed from domestic sources. For Bulgaria the loan agreement was signed by Finance Minister Dimiter Kostov and for the EBRD, by Mr Juan Miranda, head of Agribusiness Sector in the EBRD's Banking Department. The project is part of the programme for promotion of markets and exchanges of fruit, vegetables and flowers, developed by the EBRD for the countries with which it operates. Similar projects have already been approved for Romania, Hungary, Belarus, Ukraine and Armenia.

[09] BUDGET DEFICIT INCREASED

Most dailes today report on the first reading vote in Parliament on the amendment to the 1995 National Budget Act to increase the budget deficit. "State in the Red Again" caps a front- page article in the opposition "Demokratsiya" daily. "Yesterday's plenary session on the amendment to the budget showed that the majority allows its cabinet to draw on public funds when and in whatever manner it wants to," "Demokratsiya" says. The article quotes the opinion of Union of Democratic Forces leader and former finance minister Ivan Kostov, according to whom the cabinet's regulation which converted the bad loans of the two Bulgarian troubled banks, the Economic Bank and Mineralbank, into seven-year high-interest bonds violated the Constition. "25 Per cent of Budget Allocated for Social Security" caps a story in "Douma" on the joint news conference of Finance Minister Dimiter Kostov and National Bank of Bulgaria Governor Todor Vulchev. Tansu Ciller's True Path Party woos Bulgarian immigrants in Turkey, "Douma" says in a front-page story. In its election campaign, the party promised them special privileges if they vote for its candidates at the December 24 elections, the article says, citing diplomatic sources. "24 Chassa" says that the leader of the Bulgarian ethic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms Ahmed Dogan will head a 50-member delegation on a visit to Turkey to mark the 11th anniversary of the Balgoc federation of Balkan immigrants. Dogan will meet Turkish Minister of State Cavit Caglar and discuss the problems of the immigrants' flow from Bulgaria to Turkey. Caglar allegedly promised that in his next term of office he will arrange that the 150,000 Bulgarian immigrants who now live illegally in Turkey be issued passports, "24 Chassa" says. Between 225,000 and 375,000 Bulgarians are working on the black leabour market, "Douma" says in a front-page story. According to figures calculated by sociologists of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, from 6 to 10 per cent of the active population work unprotected by the social safety net. These are mainly members of families who work unpaid and uninsured in their family companies. Some 150,000 pensioners earn additional money in the same manner. Nearly half of the working pensioners have not signed labour contracts, the experts say. At least 35,000 to 40,000 of those who work without contacts are officially registered as unemployed, but the National Employment Service catches as much as one third of the pseudo-unemployed only, the article says. Some six per cent of public sector workers take up additional jobs without signing contracts and paying taxes. "Troud" runs an interview with the leader of the Alliance for Social Democracy in the Bulgarian Socialist Party Chavdar Kyuranov. "We cannot but be concerned over the grain affair," Kyuranov says. Exports of bread grain led to a grain shortage in this country and caused a crisis in bread production. According to Kyuranov, the culprits for the crisis should take the full blame. The Alliance for Social Democracy is seriously concerned with the attempts at "coverging party and state positoins" in the government, Kyuranov says. Most dailies report on the opposition's decision to propose a no-confidence vote against the cabinet for the grain crisis and to stage protest rallies in the towns which already experience bread shoratges. "24 Chassa" and "Troud" run front-page commentaries on the draw in Paris for the 1998 World Cup in France. Bulgaria is undaunted by its rivals, says "Troud". "24 Chassa" describes the staisfaction of national soccer team coach Dimiter Penev with the good luck which sent Bulgaria into "one of the easiest qualifying groups".