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News from Bulgaria / Jan 23, 96From: bulgaria@access1.digex.net (Embassy of Bulgaria)Bulgarian Telegraph Agency DirectoryEMBASSY OF BULGARIA - WASINGTON D.C.BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCYBULLETIN OF NEWS FROM BULGARIACONTENTS[01] PRESIDENT ZHELEV MEETS U.D.F. LEADER IVAN KOSTOV[02] PM VIDENOV: BULGARIA'S INTEGRATION IN EUROPEAN[03] COUNCIL OF MINISTERS DECISIONS[04] GOVERNMENT PROPOSES AMENDMENTS TO PUBLIC HEALTH ACT[05] ON BULGARIA'S BALKAN POLICY[06] WORLD BANK MISSION REVIEWS BULGARIAN PROJECTS[07] BUSINESS PRESS[08] AT&T AND BULGARIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY[09] 1995 REPORT OF BULGARIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE[01] PRESIDENT ZHELEV MEETS U.D.F. LEADER IVAN KOSTOVSofia, January 22 (BTA) - Bulgaria's foreign and home policy and the one-year tenure of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) were on the agenda of almost two hour long talks between President Zhelyu Zhelev and Ivan Kostov, leader of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces (UDF). The two told journalists that they did not discuss the forthcoming presidential elections and that they view points on the key issues were very close. President Zhelev, who hosted the meeting, voiced to Mr Kostov his alarm over the stranded reforms in this country. According to Mr Zhelev, the restitution of agricultural land ownership has been stopped and the farmer cooperatives (in which, according to the opposition, the land has not been restituted within physical boundaries) tend to become permanently established. Dr Zhelev also voiced concern over the environment in which mass privatization is carried out: "in the presence of organised crime, of mafia and quasi-mafia groups." "This makes me pessimistic about mass privatization, which I have always supported. It may degenerate into a nomenklatura privatization, a mafia privatization," the President fears. Discussing foreign policy issues, Dr Zhelev was particularly concerned about "Bulgaria's refusal to declare its categorical readiness to join NATO," which, in Dr Zhelev's view, may affect in some way this country's future membership in the European Union. Dr Zhelev told Mr Kostov that that there is a shift of the priorities in Bulgaria's Balkan policy. "I have been trying to pursue a balanced and consistent policy, maintain equally good relations with all our neighbours and never enter into too close relations with one country at the expense of or against others," the President explained. The UDF leader told reporters that he shares the views which the President expressed. "We agree that in its attempts to isolate the President, the Government wasted opportunities to advance Bulgaria's national interests during the President's visits to Portugal, Italy, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia," Mr Kostov said. At the meeting Mr Kostov expressed UDF's view that the BSP Government is harmful and dangerous for Bulgaria and that it must go. "Another view of ours which also met with understanding is that the Government is connected to organised crime which we insist should be called mafia," the UDF leader emphasized. Mr Kostov said that the UDF has evidence to prove this connection but it has to gather additional information before making it public. "If things keep going on like that, the natural result will be a parliamentary crisis. If the crisis deepens, we will act together," the President said and specified that he will act within his constitutional powers. "We agreed that the opposition should be united, that it should act as a single entity and bring down the BSP's Government," Mr Kostov said and added that the UDF expects the President to take definite actions." Asked to be more specific about these actions, Mr Kostov only said, "January 25 is coming soon" (referring to the day when the Socialist Government took office a year ago). President Zhelev also declined to elaborate.Reacting to the meeting between President Zhelyu Zhelev and UDF leader Ivan Kostov, the Supreme Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party today issued a statement, a copy of which was obtained by BTA. Following is the full text of the statement: "We are witnessing an unprecedented incident today: the incumbent President included in his election campaign direct threats to cause a parliamentary crisis. Evidently, this is how he counts on success. "The strangest thing is that the person who is at the bottom of the economic, political and social destabilization of our fatherland, is now showing a belated "concern" for the reform, for privatization, for organized crime control. The man who initiated the ruination of the Bulgarian countryside, the elimination of structures of our national security, the blocking of the country's industry, is the last person who has the right to pass moral judgement. To say nothing about foreign policy. "We have all witnessed the series of grave foreign-policy gaffes of the President and his advisors. His public statements in a head of state capacity on Balkan problems and the conflicts in the region have particularly grave consequences. He confronted us with a real risk of a persistent deterioration of our relations with a number of neighbouring states. No one has given the President the right to predetermine our participation or non-participation in whatever military-political bloc. This is within the competence of the supreme sovereign: the Bulgarian people. "Today the President hurled coarse invectives at the Democratic Left coalition, which is making tremendous efforts to take Bulgaria out of the deep crisis for which Mr Zhelev himself, among others, bears a specific blame, a blame without redemption. "In fact, by his statement today Mr Zhelev again confirms that he will go down in Bulgaria's contemporary history as symbol of confrontation and destruction rather than of constructiveness and concord." [02] PM VIDENOV: BULGARIA'S INTEGRATION IN EUROPEAN"Bulgaria's integration in the European structures becomes the key priority of the policy of the Left. Bulgarian Left's joining the European and world Left is an important aspect of the process," Bulgarian Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Zhan Videnov said in his address to the participants in the international conference on "European Social Democracy and the Bulgarian Left" which opened here today.The process can be further activated if efforts are two-way, Videnov said. This will step up the consolidation of democracy and the development of the social market economy in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, he said further. The BSP does not claim that it covers the entire left spectrum in this country; the party is open to dialogue with other left parties and organizations, Videnov stressed. In his view, the complexity of the tasks facing Bulgaria on the road to democracy requires a growing national consensus about the transition's key problems, the active interaction among left forces being an important prerequisite for it. It is crucially important that the Bulgarian Left establish itself as a catalyst of the changes under way, Videnov said further. According to him, the left parties are called upon to mobilize the society's entire democratic potential to fulfill the tasks of the transition. The parties have to undertake a 'double modernization' and join in the concerted effort of the European Left to develop and implement the new Left project which has to delineate the new characteristic features of the future social progress, Videnov said. "The successes of East Europe's Left show that the region is facing new challenges. They can be met through the active participation of the left forces," Krassimir Premyanov, Deputy Chairman of the BSP Supreme Council, stated in his report. "Achieving a balance between right and left, between liberal and social is an an important prerequisite for a party's successful government," he said. The BSP seeks its place in the Socialist International, Premyanov said. In his view, this will accelerate the change of the party, will promote the lasting establishment of democracy in Bulgaria, and will help in its integration with Europe. The European countries' integration lessens the risk of conflicts and creates possibility for equality of interests and greater justice, Gernot Erler from the German Bundestag said. According to him, there is a consensus among the European left parties on the idea of promoting stability in Central and Eastern Europe. Before its enlargement, the European Union should carry reform of its basic structural funds and its single economic policy, Erler said. The associated countries should develop their economies to an extent to be able to compete with the European economies because the main problem for the former socialist countries' integration is that their economic development differs from that of the EU, Erler said. He projected that by the year 2010 Slovenia would account for about 80 percent of the average European revenue, the Czech Republic for 75 percent, Bulgaria for 36 percent anf Romania for 29 percent. [03] COUNCIL OF MINISTERS DECISIONSThe Council of Ministers considered two reports by Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski on bilateral relations with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Croatia respectively. Meetings of the Bulgarian-Yugoslav and Bulgarian-Croatian joint intergovernmental commissions on trade and economic cooperation are scheduled for February in Sofia. After the meeting of the Bulgarian-Yugoslav Commissions Bulgarian Prime Minister Zhan Videnov will visit the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Videnov plans to pay a visit to Croatia too.The Government approved the results of the session of the Bulgaria-EU contact group on ferrous metals which was held from January 15 through January 16. The session approved ferrous metals export regulations for deliveries from Bulgaria to the EU countries. [04] GOVERNMENT PROPOSES AMENDMENTS TO PUBLIC HEALTH ACTToday the Council of Ministers approved amendments to the Public Health Act which will be presented for voting to Parliament. Under the amendments, physicians and dentists who work for state- owned and public health establishments will not have the right to private medical practice. However, physicians and dentists may work for a private health establishment under an additional contract of employment with the permision of their employers. Private medical establishments should register with court in compliance with the provisions contained in the Public Health Act with the permision of the Health Minister. The proposed amendments allow one year for the re-registration of private practice. Physicians and dentists are required to have a length of service of at least four years to qualify for private practice.The amendments specify the range of free medical services, including the free choice of personal physician or dentist. Compulsory vaccinations, immunizations and the medicines prescribed for outpatient treatment of some diseases will be free. All other health services will be paid for according to a rates schedule which is to be approved by the Health Ministry shortly. Stiffer fines will be imposed on persons promoting alcohol and tobacco in places not allowed by the law. Smokers breaking a no- smoking ban will also have to pay heavier fees. Under the amendments, every Bulgarian of full age can refuse to become a donor of organs for transplantation, evidenced by an entry to this effect in his passport or another document. AIDS tests for Bulgarian citizen who return from abroad will no longer be compulsory. Only foreigners or stateless persons should undergo such tests after their entry into Bulgaria. Drug addicts and alcoholics will be subject to compulsory treatment. [05] ON BULGARIA'S BALKAN POLICYToday Ivan Hristov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, gave a news conference devoted to Bulgaria's policy in the Balkans. "Developments in the former Yugoslavia have entered upon a new stage with the signing of the Dayton Agreement," Hristov said. "The agreement creates specific conditions enabling the neighbouring countries to make specific efforts that will lead to taking the Balkans out of the shadow of the conflict, and to take, on a larger scale, actions for regional stabilization, security and active cooperation," he said. "It is from this point of view that we assess Bulgaria's foreign policy and make plans for a shorter or a longer term," the Deputy Foreign Minister said.Bulgaria took part in all recent conferences on the former Yugoslavia. It assumed a commitment, informing a number of international organizations about its readiness to do so, to send observers within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and to provide civilian policemen for the international police contingent acting under the aegis of the United Nations; Bulgaria declared to NATO its readiness to contribute to IFOR. "Bulgaria sees in the Dayton Agreement and its implementation as an element and a phase in the overall reconstruction of the region," Deputy Foreign Minister Hristov said. "The Bulgarian side believes there is room for bilateral and multilateral initiatives for the stabilization of the whole region, for mapping out a package of measures for building confidence and strengthening security," Hristov said and added that the Bulgarian side is guided by the understanding that this Balkan-wide process of intercourse and cooperation should not be a process closed within the region, but one that is opened for European integration. In the words of the Bulgarian diplomat, any other form of developing Balkan-wide cooperation would divert it from a primary goal: building up single democratic Europe. Bulgaria intends to promote bilateral relations in the region with this goal in view. Deputy Foreign Minister Hristov stressed Bulgaria's desire, its readiness and practical actions taken to activate relations with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He recalled the visits of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade Kiril Tsochev to Yugoslavia and of President Zhelyu Zhelev to Croatia and Bosnia. "Bulgaria sees Croatia as a promising partner - both in a political and an economic aspect, and will act accordingly," Hristov said. Bulgaria established diplomatic relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina; the opening of a Bulgarian diplomatic mission in Sarajevo is forthcoming. Various political and economic contacts with Yugoslavia are being specified at the moment. The Deputy Foreign Minister emphasized Bulgaria's desire to avoid any imbalance in its relations with those countries. Invited to comment on a statement by President Zhelev today who believes that there is a shift in the highlights of Bulgaria's Balkan policy, Hristov said he cannot understand where the President could have drawn arguments and reasons for such an opinion. "At the very beginning the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Minister [Georgi] Pirinski took actions to demonstrate Bulgaria's balanced and equal treatment of the Balkan countries and the countries of former Yugoslavia," Hristov said. He rejects the opinion that there is drastic imbalance in Bulgaria's Balkan policy. Bulgaria has the ambition to subjugate its active participation in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) to the objective of Balkan-wide cooperation that would lead to European integration. Bulgaria plans to launch an initiative for interaction between the BSEC and the Central European Initiative in specific areas, involving the implementation of infrastructure, transport, communication and telecommunication projects. Bulgaria believes that there are conditions to open preliminary talks on resuming the process interrupted in Tirana in 1990 and continue to hold different forums on Balkan-wide cooperation. Arranging a meeting of Balkan foreign ministers is a possibility in this respect. [06] WORLD BANK MISSION REVIEWS BULGARIAN PROJECTSA World Bank mission headed by Kennet Lay, recently appointed Director for Europe, began its work in Sofia this morning. The purpose of the experts' visit is to review all the World Bank projects for Bulgaria and discuss the strategy for the next three years with the Bulgarian Government, the Resident Mission of the international financial institution said. Today the members of the mission met with Prof. Todor Vulchev, Governor of the National Bank of Bulgaria, Roumen Gechev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development, and Finance Ministry officials.The World Bank has floated a lot of loans to Bulgaria, the major ones being a Structural Adjustment Loan (250 million US dollars), a Telecommunications Loan (30 million), Energy 1 (93 million), a Debt and Debt Service Reduction Loan (125 million) and an Agricultural Development Project (50 million). The Bank's new projects are concerned with social protection and unemployment, environmental conservation and modernization of this country's irrigation system. The visit of the World Bank mission is paid prior to the round of talks with the International Monetary Fund on a fourth stand-by agreement, expected to be held in February. About a year ago the IMF linked the signing of this agreement to the success of negotiations on the World Bank's Finance and Economy Structural Adjustment Loan. The two financial institutions stipulated they would extend funds on the following conditions: acceleration of privatization, reform in finance and financial discipline at state enterprises. [07] BUSINESS PRESS"The crawling peg will only upset the market," Chief of the Foreign Exchange Operations Department of the National Bank of Bulgaria (BNB) Stoyan Shoukerov says, interviewed by the financial "Pari" daily about the renewed discussions on the introduction of a crawling peg to replace the effective floating lev/dollar exchange rate. According to Shoukerov, the new measure will deal a blow on the market mechanisms in this country.As from January 22, all savers' deposits to up to 50,000 leva are 100 per cent guaranteed in the event of failure, while the guarantee on those between 50,000 to up to 100,000 leva is 80 per cent, "Continent" says. People's deposits will be repaid to up to three months after the revocation of the bank's license from a fund in which banks are required to pay initial and annual contributions, "Continent" says. The absence of deposits protection legislation was one of the reasons for BNB buying AgrobusinessBank for one lev in late 1995, "Continent" recalls BNB Governor Professor Todor Vulchev as saying earlier. A similar bank bailout operation, however, will not happen again, the daily says. The Bank Consolidation Company (BCC) prepares the consolidation of the banking capital, "Continent" quotes BCC Executive Director Valentin Tsvetanov as saying. BCC will approve the establishment of a consortium, Tsvetanov says. The first banking consortium will be a joint-stock company with 1 million leva in authorized capital distributed in 10,000 shares at a par value of 100 leva. Representatives of the founding banks are expected to hold a meeting on the consortium's establishment on January 22 or 23. Foreign investment in Bulgaria dropped 2.5 times in 1995, "24 Chassa" quotes Union of Democratic Forces MP Alexander Bozhkov as saying on the national radio yesterday. A total of US$ 240 million flowed in Bulgaria in 1994, while foreign investment in 1995 dropped to US$ 101 million. A Trade Ministry-sponsored bill will deprive private entrepreneurs of the right to buy tobacco from tobacco growers, "24 Chassa" says, citing a statement by MP Hassan Ali. According to Ali, the proposed amendments are against the interests of tobacco growers. All dailies report on a raid in the Black Sea resort of Golden Sands in which bulldozers demolished several eating establishments on the beach. The raid was carried out by the order of the resort's director Ilko Zapryanov who invoked amendments to the Golden Sands' constructional project and the expiry of the lease contracts. According to the tenants, more than 10 eating establishments are included in the list for demolition. The tenants blame the resort's managers for their biased attitude in the renewal of lease contracts for 1996. They filed complaints with the Committee on Tourism and Parliament. "Balkancar Struggles to Survive" caps a front-page article in "Pari". Balkancar is this country's biggest manufacturer of I.C.E. trucks and electric trucks. The daily claims that United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) is willing to write off 45 per cent of the principal of Balkancar holding's 570 million leva debt to it. The situation is further complicated by the nearly 5,000 million leva the holding owes to Balkanbank. Negotiations are currently under way in the Industry Ministry on debt-equity swaps. [08] AT&T AND BULGARIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANYInternational travellers, owners of the subscription card of the U.S. company AT&T will be able as of today to contact the United States, dialling from any town or village in Bulgaria. According to Mike Jeffrey, AT&T Managing Director for Central Europe, the service AT&T USA Direct offers a fast and easy way of making phone calls to the United States. As part of the plans for updating the telecommunications infrastructure, AT&T and the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC) are using the advantages of the network to improve quality and increase capacities for making direct telephone calls between Bulgaria and the U.S. According to Mr Jeffrey, the international travellers who subscribe to the new service, will not need to know the procedure of dialling long distance numbers, speak the local language or carry local currency with them if they want to make a call to the United States. In Mr Jeffrey's view, this will facilitate foreigners in making business in Bulgaria and will attract more businessmen who want to travel round the country. The proceeds from the telephone calls will be distributed between the BTC and AT&T. Mr Jeffrey thanked the Bulgarian company for the offered help in the introduction of the new service. AT&T has long been cooperating with the BTC and will continue investing in Bulgaria with view to increasing the number of communication links between the two states and improving their quality, Mr Jeffrey said.[09] 1995 REPORT OF BULGARIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEENo serious or significant improvement in the observation of human rights was registered in 1995. A number of them have remained unrealized, said Chairman of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee Krassimir Kunev, presenting the Committee's 1995 report. According to the report, the judiciary in Bulgaria is unable to cope with the escalating crime. The slowness in the administration of justice on criminal cases and the poor coordination between police, investigation and prosecution have been the reason for considerable prolongation of the term (two to six months) envisaged for preliminary detainment on a number of cases, the report says. In some cases the term has been prolonged for two years. According to the report, the freedom of conscience, religion and belief continued to be a serious problem in Bulgaria into 1995. The refusal of the Council of Ministers to recognise as juristic persons the religious groups "Word for Life" and "Jehovah's Witnesses" made the executive interfere in the life of these organisations and confiscate legal religious literature. The system of penitentiaries in Bulgaria is rather centralized. In most prisons in Bulgaria habitual criminals are not separated from non- habitual ones as the law requires. The dire living conditions, the large number of prisoners and the poor administrative control have been creating prerequisites for physical harassment and perversions, some of have had fatal ending. Although moratorium was declared on death penalty in 1990, in 1995, as well as in the preceding years, the courts continued to impose this penalty. There were several attempts to lift the moratorium and re-introduce executions, Mr Kunev said. The reform in the criminal justice envisaged introduction of "life sentence" in May as an alternative to the death penalty. The final version, however, preserved both penalties. A downward trend in the overall low level of protection of the rights and the cultural identity of the various ethnic minorities in Bulgaria has been observed. Bulgaria is among the five states which refused to sign the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe. "Skinheads" and other neo-Nazi groups were more active during the year and victimized mainly Gypsies and some categories of foreign citizens. Nine cases of serious violence on ethnic motives on part of private persons over Gypsies were registered during the year, according to the report. The report also registers aggravation of the problems of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers in Bulgaria. The National Bureau of Territorial Asylum and Refugees is the only instance in the country which has been authorized to consider individual applications for asylum, however the procedure has not been guaranteed by a law yet. In its annex the report also considers the problem of censorship of information in the media and of hostile speech in Bulgaria. In November and December the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee conducted an investigation into the control over information in the media by interviewing journalists from several national media. Fear, self-restriction of expression, as well as supervision on topics and participants, bans of no obligatory nature, administrative control have become an impediment to providing adequate information to the society, shows the poll which seeks to determine the availability of censorship in the mass media. The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee is an independent non-governmental organisation for protection of human rights. It was established on July 14, 1992 and is formally affiliated with the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. |
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