Subject: Ta nea toy BTA 24-Feb-95 Ta nea apo thn Presbeia ths Boylgarias sthn Washington, D.C. . To koinoboylio enekrine sxedio gia allagh sthn shmaia ths Boylgarias. . Apofaseis ths kybernhshs. Anamesa sta alla egkriuei to poso twn 15 ekatom. ENM gia anapryjh dyo uermohlektrikwn staumwn. . To koinoboylio paramerise to beto toy Proedroy gia thn tropopoihsh toy nomoy peri epistrofhs ths idiokthsias. . To koinoboylio perase aruro to opoio janaepitrepei se prwhn hgetes toy kommoynistikoy kommatos na exoyn ychles ueseis sthn ekpaideysh kai episthmh. . H kybernhsh ua prosferei oikonomikh bohueia se agrotes. . H kybernhsh yiouethse diatagma gia thn ryumish twn ejagwgwn sidhroyxwn metallwn stis xwres ths EE. . Symfwna me Germaniko Institoyto h oikonomia ths Boylgarias exei syntribei. . Antiproswpia ths Boylgarias exei synomilies me Gallikh etairia gia thn anabaumish pyrinikoy ergostasioy ths Boylgarias. . O epikefalhs ths Dieunoys Trapezas gia thn Anatolikh eyrwph kai thn Asia episkeptetai thn Boylgaria. Giwrgos Kapodistrias ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: bulgaria@access.digex.net (Embassy of Bulgaria) Subject: BTA inf/Feb. 24, 95 Date: 24 Feb 1995 11:36:04 -0500 EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA - WASHINGTON D.C. BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY BULLETIN OF NEWS FROM BULGARIA FEBRUARY 24, 1995 CABINET APPROVES NEW PROJECT FOR COAT OF ARMS The cabinet today approved a project for a new flag and coat of arms. The coat of arms depicts a gold lion rampant on a dark background in the form of a shield. The project was developed by artists Kuncho Avramov and Emil Avramov, said Justice Minister Mladen Chervenyakov. The Justice Minister said the project corresponds to the coat of arms' description in the Constitution: a gold lion rampant on a dark gules shield". The lion on the project the cabinet approved today does not have a crown. Heated controversy on whether the coat of arms' lion should be a crowned or crownless one left Bulgaria without a coat of arms for five years. The first Bulgarian coat of arms known to exist dates back to the kings of the Shishmanovtsi dynasty in the 13- 14th century. It depicted a two-headed eagle. In the 19th century, when the Bulgarian nation started to fight against a 500-year Turkish rule, a National Revolutionary Committee adopted as its symbol a rampant lion. The Turnovo constitution, passed shortly after the 1879 liberation, described Bulgaria's coat of arms as a crowned gold lion on a red background. Wheat-ears, a five-pointed star and a cog- wheel appeared only later, when the Communists took power in 1944. The crown then disappeared and the red background changed to sky-blue. In 1990 the Grand National Assembly repudiated the Socialist-era coat of arms and introduced new requirements. Ever since then, this country has been without a coat of arms. A national coat of arms competition was invited in 1992. A jury headed by Hristo Dermendjiev, Bulgaria's top expert on heraldic, approved three projects. The then cabinet of the Union of Democratic Forces moved the projects at Parliament, but fell shortly after and the coat of arms was never put on the MPs' agenda. Another competition was invited by the next cabinet with prime minister Lyuben Berov. The winner was a project of Georgi Chapkunov and Kiril Gogov that had a crownless lion, wheat-ears and sunbeams. The project was rejected by the then parliamentary committee on culture. The project the cabinet approved today will be submitted at Parliament these days. The odds are that it will be adopted by the Socialist majority. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ GOVERNMENT DECISIONS The Government today set new melioration fees for 1995. In his report on the document, the Minister of Agriculture and the Food Processing Industry explained that the maintenance of the hydro-melioration facilities requires funds regardless of the degree of their exploitation. The irrigation system covers 940,000 hectares and 75,600 hectares have draining equipment. 162,200 hectares of land are protected from flooding. The area of farm land subject to melioration fees this year is 600,000 hectares, the report says. The fees will be collected form the owners of the farm land under irrigation who have been returned their land within its real boundaries. The Government approved a financial memorandum within the framework of the PHARE program for assistance in the field of conventional power engineering. The document provides for joint investment into an ECU 15 million project to develop the Maritsa Iztok - 2 thermo electric power station. The purpose of the project is to assist the structural adjustment of the power engineering sector and the transfer of technologies for the clean burning of coal in compliance with the environment directives of the EU, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Foreign Economic Cooperation Kiril Tsochev says in his motives to the memorandum. The Cabinet approved its legislative priorities schedule by the end of June. The bills have been arranged in 13 sections, by subject matter and months. The February priorities include 21 bills among which the defense and armed forces bill, the bill on the Central Service for Organized Crime Control, on the coat-of-arms, on the Social Security Fund and on amending the Act for Combating Profiteering. The Government approved bills on the ratification of bilateral agreements with France and Belgium within the framework of the agreement with the Paris Club signed last April. The recently signed agreement with Russia for cooperation in preventing and mitigating the consequences of industrial accidents, and natural calamities will also be moved in Parliament for ratification. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PARLIAMENT OVERRIDES PRESIDENTIAL VETO ON RESTITUTION By a majority of 130 of a total of 214 votes, Parliament today passed for a second time the amendments to the Act Restoring Ownership in Nationalized Immovable Property, popularly known as the Privatization Act, extending the term for the restitution of some property by another three years. Thus it overrode the suspensory veto imposed by President Zhelev on the amendment act. In today's vote it was the majority of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) that passed the act. The MPs of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces (SDS), Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and Popular Union voted against the amendments. The new act is expected to the promulgated in The Official Gazette and enter into force tomorrow. In early February this year, the majority of the BSP and its coalition partners in Parliament, passed amendments to the Restitution Act, extending the term for restoring the ownership of property nationalized by the communist regime by three years. According to the Restitution Act, passed by the former Parliament on the motion of the then ruling SDS, the term by which the occupants of nationalized property had to move out and the owners enter into possession, expired tomorrow, February 24. The proposed amendment also postpones the restitution of buildings housing kindergartens, schools, medical establishments and cultural institutions. Yesterday the President signed a decree returning the amendment act for further debate in Parliament. According to President Zhelev, these amendments only postpone but do not solve the housing problems of people affected by restitution. The President also criticized the amendment act for not binding the government and the local authorities to solve the problems both the occupants and of the owners. In his motives Zhelev also mentioned some violations of the parliamentary rules of procedure in the process of passing the amendment act. During today's debates Socialist MPs stressed once again that though not solving the problems created by restitution, the amendment act will give time to seek a just solution for both sides - occupants and owners, without throwing out the occupants in the street. Different figures are cited of the number of those affected by restitution. According to some, they number scores of thousands and according to SDS floor leader Yordan Sokolov, the occupants affected by the Restitution Act do not exceed 4,000 for the entire country. The SDS, the DPS and the Popular Union (a coalition of the Democratic Party and the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union) declared they shared the President's motives. According to the opposition groups, the amendment act imposed by the majority of the BSP violates the Constitution which proclaims private property inviolable. The opposition is expecting the Constitutional Court to declare the amendment act unconstitutional. Later this evening the President's press office announced that the President had ordered the promulgation of the Act to Amend the Act Restoring Ownership in Nationalized Immovable Property in The State Gazette. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PARLIAMENT REVOKES DECOMMUNIZATION OF SCIENCE ACT Parliament today passed an act revoking a law barring former Communist party functionaries from high offices in science and education, passed by the previous Parliament. The opposition voted against the new act. In December 1992, the then majority of the Union of Democratic Forces and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms passed an Act to Introduce on a Provisional Basis Certain Additional Qualifications for Senior Members of Scientific Institutions and the Supreme Commission for Academic Awards, with which they sought to bar persons who had taken offices at different levels of the then Communist Party system, from high positions in scientific institutions for a period of five years. At the parliamentary debates, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), successor to the Communist Party, condemned the law. In their platform for the December 18, 1994, elections, that they won, the Socialists, pledged to cancel it. The newly passed act envisages that, upon its entry into force, the members of the presidium of the Supreme Commission for Academic Awards (SCAA) and of SCAA scientific commissions be relieved of their office and new members be appointed by the Prime Minister within a month. By October 30, new leadership should be named at all scientific institutes and organizations. The MPs of the opposition described the new act as a re-communization one. Addressing parliament today, BSP floor leader Krasimir Premyanov said the Socialists attach great importance to the democratic achievements in this country. He believes the new law would prevent the interference of politics in science. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CABINET TO AID SPRING FARM OPERATIONS The cabinet will provide 750 million leva in financial support for the spring farm operations. It will subsidize 50 per cent of the interest on loans to farmers. A cabinet decree adopted today recommends that commercial banks issue target loans to farmers, that will also go towards the growing of the winter crops. Loans will be available to all farmers. Borrowers will repay one third of the agreed interest, while the rest will be repaid in monthly installments to the commercial banks by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food- Processing until November 30. The decree makes it possible to secure 2,200-2,450 million leva in loans, Agriculture Minister Vassil Chichibaba told the press today. The cabinet intends to stop financing individual operations and crops, he stressed. Several banks have pledged to issue 1,000 million leva in loans, including the United Bulgarian Bank, the Central Cooperative Bank and First Private Bank. This year's crops will cost an estimated 31,000 million leva to grow. The minister of agriculture believes that a comprehensive mechanism for farmer protection is needed. The cabinet today discussed a Bill on state protection of Bulgarian farmers, aimed to build modern farming meeting the standards of the European markets. Guaranteed purchase prices, lower interest rates and protection against dumping are some of the key mechanisms envisaged in the Bill. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ GOVERNMENT REGULATES FERROUS METALS EXPORT The Government today adopted a decree regulating the conditions and order for licensing ferrous metals exports to the EU within the framework of the agreement on the setting up of the European Coal and Steel Community. This decree was issued following notification by the European Commission of a relatively high jump of Bulgarian ferrous metal exports to the EU over the first six months of 1994. The two sides agreed to expand the system of monitoring of Bulgarian ferrous metal exports to the EU. The system provides for the issue of export licenses by a competent Bulgarian institution prior to the issue of the import licenses of the respective EU member state. The introduction of a double licensing system is aimed at preventing possible unilateral measures on the part of the EU. The agreement enters into force on March 1 and will be operative till the end of 1995. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ THURSDAY NEWS BRIEFS Bulgaria's economy has bottomed out, according to the German Institute for Economic Research. While after 1989 the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) slumped by nearly 30 per cent, in 1994 no further drop was identified, Deutsche Presse-Agentur said quoting this Berlin-based Institute. Real industrial production rose 4 per cent. According to figures of the Institute, the transition from centrally-planned to a market economy shrank the share of agriculture and the processing industry; the opposite trend was observable in services. Investments dropped, while consumption and the foreign trade deficit rose; privatization was sluggish, the Institute reportedly said. According to Bulgarian figures, the private sector accounted for over one-fifth of the 1994 GDP. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Revision of an agreement on upgrading the Kozlodui Nuclear Power Plant, on the Danube, was high on the agenda of a meeting at Kozlodui with Electricite de France, BTA learned from its local correspondent. Over the past two years, this French company implemented 36 million Frank- worth projects for furnishing the Kozlodui N-Power Plant and improving the management of the National Electricity Company, said this BTA correspondent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Michael Wiehen, head of World Bank Department on Eastern Europe and Asia, started an official two-day visit to Bulgaria, said the National Radio. His talks at the Finance Ministry, the central bank and with Prime Minister Zhan Videnov and the cabinet's economic team, would focus on the 150 million US dollar Finance and Economy Structural Adjustment Loan, which Bulgaria is negotiating with the World Bank. In the meantime MPs of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) met World Bank Resident Representative to Bulgaria John Wilton and Mr. Wiehen. The guests reiterated the requirements of the international financial institutions on the extending of the FESAL and the loans for the water supply system and power production. The requirements include speedy privatization, restitution of land to its lawful owners, rehabilitation of state-run enterprises and stiff control on state-owned banks, the National Radio recalled. ==============================================================================