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News from Bulgaria (96-06-04)Bulgarian Telegraph Agency Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Embassy of Bulgaria <bulgaria@access1.digex.net>EMBASSY OF BULGARIA - WASHINGTON D.C.BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY4 June, 1996CONTENTS
[01] MINISTER PIRINSKI DEPARTS FOR BERLIN TO ATTEND NACC MEETINGSofia, June 3 (BTA) - Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski departed for Berlin to attend the June 4 meeting of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council."It will be interesting to receive information about the meeting of the foreign ministers of NATO member-states as it is very important as regards the process of reforms within the North Atlantic Treaty itself," Pirinski said before his departure this afternoon. "The Bulgarian Government's positions are known to the countries participating in the Partnership for Peace programme. We shall confirm our readiness to take part in the discussions of the issues of the European security architecture and the processes under way in the debate of the new formulas of European security as well as those within the North Atlantic Cooperation Council," Pirinski said. "The way into which the possible expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty will be implemented should not lead to situations in which some dividing line is moved eastwards; the Treaty member-states should, now as well as in the future, become participants in a sufficiently broad relations of co-operation, partnership, and not of some kind of a division," Pirinski said answering a question. He added that this is the position which this country stressed before NATO Secretary General Javier Solana during his visit to Sofia in early May. Meanwhile, diplomats and politicians discussed at a seminar here today Bulgaria's place in the future European structures for security. The key topic of their discussion was the possible Euro-Atlantic structures' expansion eastwards and whether these structures are the only guarantee for the European security. "The processes of transition in the relations among the partners of the European Union and NATO will be completed by the end of the century; then we shall be able to speak in more concrete terms about the integration of other countries in a new common system of European security," John Ropper of the London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs said. Neutrality, a possible membership in the North Atlantic Treaty, or a categorical request for a full integration in NATO are the ways into which Bulgaria can guarantee its security, ambassador at large with the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry Todor Chourov said. According to him, the choice among the three options can be made by means of a referendum. [02] DEFENCE MINISTER LEAVES FOR UKRAINESofia, June 3 (BTA) - Today Defence Minister Dimiter Pavlov left for Ukraine to observe the beginning of multinational military exercises held under the auspicies of NATO's Partnership for Peace. The participants are Bulgaria, Ukraine, Poland, the United States, Romania, Belarus, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine. The purpose of the exercises is to drill units for peacekeeping operations, easing tension between belligerent countries, delivery of humaniatarian aid, evacualtion of people from hit areas and blockading areas of conflicts. Defence ministers W.Perri of the Unites States, G.Tinca of Romania, G.Keleti of Hungary, P.Creanga of Moldova and others are expected to arrive in the area of the exercise.[03] BULGARIAN DELEGATION TO HABITAT II SUMMIT TO MAKE A REPORTSofia, June 3 (BTA) - The Bulgarian delegation to the UN conference Habitat II on human settlement in Istanbul will present a report on settlement development in this country drawn up by experts, said the delegation leader Doncho Konakchiev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development and Construction. The last global UN conference of the 20th century will be attended by Environment Minister Georgi Georgiev, Deputy Foreign Minister Konstantin Glavanakov, representatives of other ministries and MPs.The core of the report is a Bulgarian proposal for complex strategies for regional development of settlements. The Bulgarian delegates will state their support for regional cooperation in sustainable development. "Also raised will be an issue which is to materialize in Bulgaria - providing adequate housing to every person," Konakchiev said. There are 403 homes per 1,000 population in Bulgaria, which ranks seventh in Europe according to this indicator, the report on the settlement development shows. However, 45 per cent of these homes do not qualify as adequate housing as some of them lack sanitation and clean water, said Mityo Videlov, an architect at the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction. Bulgaria is among the European countries with the smallest number of urbanized housing. Housing construction in Bulgaria badly needs investment. It has dropped tenfold in the last few years and has nearly come to a standstill, the Ministry also said. [04] CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONSofia, June 3 (BTA) - The legislation and international activities of the European countries in the area of environmental protection and conservation are in the focus of a two-day international conference which opened in Sofia today. Improvements in the environmental legislation of the European countries will be discussed by representatives of the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, MPs from Britain, Russia, Belarus, Romania, Macedonia, Ukraine, Estonia, Moldova and other countries.This is the first international conference on this subject held in Bulgaria since last October when Sofia hosted the Third Ministerial Conference "Environment for Europe", Parliament Chairman Blagovest Sendov said in his welcoming speech. Over the past 18 months Bulgarian Parliament has ratified eleven international treaties and conventions, recalled Boris Kolev, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Environmental Protection and Waters. The passage of the Clean Ambient Air Act on May 15 was a great stride towards the approximation of Bulgarian and European law, Kolev said. Noise and water laws come next, he said, adding that they are expected to pass during the autumn session of Parliament. On Sunday the international delegates saw some of the scenic places in Mount Rila, the protected national park in Southwestern Bulgaria. They visited the Rila Monastery, which is protected by the Government. The largest monastery in the Balkans was turned into museum under the communist regime until 1989, but is functioning once again. Many delegates were impressed by Bulgaria's natural beauty. It is an invaluable wealth which could attract sizeable foreign investment, "Daily News" learned from Lyudmila Loginova, who is in charge of environmental safety at the Ecology Committee of the Russian State Duma. On Tuesday the conference will discuss aspects of the European countries' national legislation on environmental protection, including the competence and interaction among the state bodies, penalties, and the right of access to information on the environment. [05] FOUR MORE BANK BANKRUPTCIESFour more banks should be declared bankrupt by June 15, for the World Bank to release the SAL-2 structural adjustment loan, the economic daily "Pari" writes on its front page. Late last week the central Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) requested the opening of bankruptcy proceedings for two insolvent Bulgarian banks.The World Bank called for urgent measures by the Government, rehabilitation programmes for all lending institutions and the signing of a memorandum before signing an agreement, the paper says. The cabinet and central bank measures should conform to World Bank demands, the daily goes on to say. The World Bank calls for commercial banks to improve their loan portfolios and cut spending, stop lending to ailing companies and companies undergoing liquidation, put a ceiling on interest rates on deposits, and stop competing on the basis of interest rate levels, "Pari" reports. BANKS [06] LOSE 47,600 MILLION LEVACommercial banks losses totalled 47,600 billion leva, according to their aggregate balance sheet for March 1996, "24 Chassa" writes on its front page. According to the paper, their May losses hit 45,300 million leva. The week to May 31 was the last in which banks could get refinancing from the BNB, "24 Chassa" says. On May 29 the central bank suspended all lending to commercial banks, to drain their dollar resources, the paper recalls. BNB refinancing last week hit 48,454 million leva, 4,200 million leva up from a week earlier, "24 Chassa" recalls.The BNB Governing Board decision to cut lending to commercial banks is part of a package intended to stabilize the foreign exchange market, Georgi Petkov, Head of the BNB Lev Transactions department. According to him, it will be very difficult to stabilize the market, if the central bank keeps throwing money in. "We realize leva restrictions will have a negative impact on banks facing liquidity difficulties," Petkov says. "It should finally be made clear the BNB is the last-instance creditor; there is enough liquidity in the system which is blocked by the lack of trust among the banks themselves." [07] TRADE UNIONS, OPPOSITION PROTEST CABINET'S ECONOMIC POLICYSofia, June 3 (BTA) - The headquarters of one of Bulgaria's most influential trade unions today decided to stage one-hour token strike and protests on June 7. With this the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) protests against the economic policy of the government. These will be civil rather than trade union protests, said CITUB leader Krustyu Petkov.At the same time, the parliamentary opposition decided to move tomorrow at Parliament a vote of no confidence in the Socialist government over the failure of its economic policy. The decision was taken by the leaders of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces, Ivan Kostov, of the Popular Union (of Democrats and Agrarians) Anastasia Moser and Stefan Savov, and of the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Ahmed Dogan. on behalf of the four opposition leaders, Ivan Kostov said they accuse the government of pursuing an unfeasible programme for what it described as a Left transition, that brought about the current crisis; of striking incompetence and incapacity to take responsibility. The CITUB said its decision followed the introduction of draconian prices by the government and the unjustifiable and forcible liquidation of enterprises. Another motive is "the government's refusal to provide effective protection of the income of those affected by inflation and the closure of enterprises" and "its disregard for social dialogue". The token strike will be staged with a demand for a 75% average markup of wages and other payments as of July 1 and a 100% adjustment to the price shock of the past month. The CITUB also demand compensations for the employees of the 64 state-owned loss- makers the cabinet has earmarked for liquidation as part of its programme for structural adjustment of the economy. The national strike committee of another powerful labour organization, the Podkrepa Labour Confederation, today is having a meeting. The like body of the CITUB is due to meet tomorrow. They will discuss concrete scenarios for protests but the decisions will not be publicized, journalists were told by sources of the two labour organizations. The CITUB and Podkrepa leaders had meetings with the UDF leadership. Following an hour's meeting with the UDF leader, Podkrepa deputy leader Dimiter Manolov said this trade union agrees with the motives for the no-confidence motion and will back it with trade union actions. He also said they will not join the June 7 protests of the CITUB, adding that Podkrepa has its own strategy which it would not announce, as well as the day on which the protests are scheduled. "A decision for national protest actions will be taken after more talks," said Manolov. On Wednesday Podkrepa leaders are due to meet representatives of the parliamentary opposition, said Podkrepa national strike committee leader Iren Zafirova. Podkrepa and CITUB today got a message faxed by European Trade Union Confederation leader Emilio Gabaglio. The fax reads in part, "On behalf of the European Trade Union Confederation I express our support for the protest of the workers against the economic and social policy of the Bulgarian Government. [08] POLITICIANS SPEAK ABOUT EARLY ELECTIONSSofia, June 3 (Iva Toncheva of BTA) - Recently, politicians in Bulgaria speak more often about early parliamentary elections. Peter Stoyanov, who won the opposition's preliminary elections for single opposition candidate to run in the presidential poll, considers the opposition's victory at the presidential contest in late autumn as a prelude to parliamentary elections two years before the end of the four- year term of the present National Assembly. The possible opposition's victory at the presidential elections is a trump card in the hands of this country's largest opposition force, the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), for early parliamentary elections. President Zhelyu Zhelev too speaks about the possibility of holding early parliamentary elections. Ahmed Dogan, leader of the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), made a sensational statement today saying that it is very likely that there will be early parliamentary elections this autumn which will postpone the presidential ones. Dogan motivated his statement with the current crisis and the people's discontent with the steep markup of bread prices and the bread shortage.Zhan Videnov's Cabinet faces serious ordeals in the next few days. The three opposition forces, UDF, the Popular Union, and MRF, will move a vote of no confidence in the Government in Parliament on Tuesday. The no-confidence motion will be proposed over the Cabinet's economic policy which the opposition describes as a total failure. The opposition intends to call upon the two biggest trade unions and to some extra-parliamentary non-communist organizations to support the no-confidence motion, UDF leader Ivan Kostov said. The Cabinet, formed in January 1995, survived two votes of no confidence proposed by the opposition. However, heated controversies flared in the leadership and the parliamentary group of the Left. At a plenum on Saturday the Left will discuss personal and structural changes in the Cabinet and the senior leadership of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). There are speculations that Socialist MPs who are dissatisfied with Videnov's policy may support the opposition and vote against the Cabinet. Opposition leaders describe as very successful the opposition's preliminary elections for a single candidate at the presidential poll. The more than 800,000 people who voted in the poll are said to have voted for not only a single presidential candidate of the opposition but against the BSP and its Cabinet. "The united opposition is a fact and its possible joint actions may lead to a collapse of the powers that be at the backdrop of the current crisis," Dogan said. opposition makes it clear that it relies on the pending strikes and civil protest actions. Appearing on public places on various occasions in the past few days, Prime Minister Videnov, his Cabinet ministers and Socialist MPs were booed by the people. [09] VALUABLE ARCHIVES TO BE BROUGHT TO BULGARIASofia, June 3 (BTA) - Part of the richest in the West private collection of Bulgarian documents and editions in Bulgarian language will be brought to Bulgaria, says in an interview for BTA Director of Abagar centre in Rome (Italy), 70-year old Professor Georgi Eldurov says. The archive contains some 10,000 volumes of books and several thousands of documents and old history books. "I collected the archives for 30 years and they belong to Bulgaria," Prof. Eldurov says. According to experts the price of a large part of the books is measured with 4-5 digit figures.The majority of the materials are related to the Bulgarian revival in Thrace and Macedonia, Mr Eldurov says. In his view the oldest book in the collection is "Medical Encyclopaedia" dated back to 1510. The collection includes also books like the 16th c. "Customs of All Nations", a 1921 edition of Ivan Vazov's "Under the Yoke" with the author's signature and a 1869 "History of Bulgaria". "I also have 18 notebooks belonging to Bulgarians who lived in Tsarigrad (currently Istanbul in Turkey) around the year 1860, the diary of the Bulgarian Metropolitan Nil Izvorov during his journeys round Macedonia on the eve of the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation (1877-1878) and some 1,000 books on Bulgarian topics that have been published abroad," Mr Eldurov says. "The Abagar centre also keeps my personal archive which I have been collecting for fifty years," the centre's director said. Beside books, the centre keeps artefacts and works of art- 20 original seals of neighbourhoods in Istanbul and Edirne dating back to 1860-1870, silver church plates from Edirne and Thrace, graphic works by Russian artists from the period of the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1978) and a unique princely mantle. but not least, Georgi Eldurov mentions his collection of 270 photos of statesmen, politicians and cultural figures, including writers who worked from the turn of the century to the 1940s, bearing their autographs. The Abagar house (named after the first book in modern Bulgarian) and the church archive in Rome were dedicated on October 25, 1983. The ceremony was attended by representatives of churches, universities and monasteries from nearly 20 countries. Eldurov says he welcomed 325 Bulgarians and 532 foreigners from 28 nations over 15 years. Eldurov was born in 1926 near Yambol (southeastern Bulgaria) in a Catholic-Orthodox family. He attended a Catholic lyceum in Assisi (Italy) and graduated in theology in Rome. He took orders in 1951, and in 1955 became a teacher at the Seraphicum pontifical department of theology. From 1960 to 1966 he helped organize the Second Vatican Council after which he was appointed visitor delegate of Bulgarian catholics (through 1992). For many years he headed the Bulgarian section of the Vatican radio. He founded the Abagar publishing house. Bulgarian Telegraph Agency Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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