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News from Bulgaria / 96-06-17Bulgarian Telegraph Agency Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Embassy of Bulgaria <bulgaria@access1.digex.net>EMBASSY OF BULGARIA - WASHINGTON D.C.BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY17 June, 1996CONTENTS
[01] FOREIGN MINISTER PIRINSKI NOMINATED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE OF RULING SOCIALIST PARTYSofia, June 16 (Iva Toncheva of BTA) - Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski was nominated presidential candidate of the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). He was nominated by the party's top leadership at a nearly ten-hour closed meeting. In his first statement after his nomination Pirinski said he is convinced in his victory. Economist Pirinski, 48, has been a foreign minister in the Socialist cabinet for nearly a year and a half.Pirinski will run for president against the candidate of the united opposition Peter Stoyanov. Other applicants to run in the presidential elections due in the autumn are the leader of the parliamentary Bulgarian Business Bloc (BBB) George Ganchev and the leader of the extraparliamentary Civil Alliance for the Republic Aleksander Tomov. In addition to Pirinski's candidature, the Socialist party also considered those of Socialist MPs Yordan Shkolagerski, Lyuben Petrov, Nikola Koichev, Ivan Gaitandjiev. After the debates, however, only Pirinski's candidature was put to the vote. In the open and roll- call vote Pirinski's candidature received the overwhelming support of 70 per cent of the participants, only one voted against and there were 16 abstentions. "I will stake on my belief that the BSP and the Democratic Left still represent the best alternative for Bulgaria. I shall do my best within my personal capacities, to stand to this position," Pirinski said in his first statement for the press after his nomination for a presidential candidate, when asked on what he would stake in his election campaign. He dwelled on the problem of national consent. "This is still an absolute necessity not less than it was at any other stage of our development since 1989. I believe that the society already has a much clearer notion of what consent is," Pirinski said in a reply to a BTA question. He said that the national consent will be one of the focuses in his election platform. About his key opponent, the presidential candidate of the united opposition Peter Stoyanov, Pirinski said that he is "a serious candidate who has the solid support of the political force which has nominated him." "If Mr Pirinski is the best that the BSP can rely on, then this is all the better and let us meet on the fast lane," said the presidential candidate of the opposition Peter Stoyanov, who returned today from a working visit to Great Britain. "I had no difficulties giving my consent to be considered as a potential president, taking into account the wide support my candidacy receives within the BSP. The problem for me was whether I adequately meet the constitutional and legal requirements. After this discussion I believe I have serious enough grounds to have no hesitations about my candidature," said Mr Pirinski already in the first statement after his nomination. He was nominated after the Socialist party discussed if he adequately meets the constitutional requirement for Bulgarian citizenship, because Pirinski was born in New York and his mother is a US citizen. A special commission of the Socialist party considered the legal aspects of the case. After the BSP's top leadership heard the commission's report today it lent its political support to Pirinski. [02] PETER STOYANOV ESTIMATES HIGHLY HIS MEETINGS IN LONDONSofia, June 16 (BTA) - "I estimate highly my meetings in London, because I was received by British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind," Peter Stoyanov, Deputy Chairman of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and single presidential candidate of the opposition said today upon his return from London. Mr Stoyanov was there on a working visit at the invitation of the Conservative Party. "I found out that Great Britain has not lost its interest in Bulgaria, in the processes going on in this country. London believes that Bulgaria should find its place among the European states," Stoyanov said.In London Mr Stoyanov raised before Foreign Secretary Rifkind the problem of Bulgaria's inclusion in the EU visa black list. Stoyanov said that Bulgaria should not be discouraged in its aspirations to join Europe, that it is an associated member of the European Union and should not be treated in this humiliating way. [03] DEFENCE MINISTER PAVLOV ADDRESSES NATO MEETINGBrussels, June 14 (BTA) - Bulgarian Defence Minister Dimiter Pavlov is taking part in the meeting of the defence ministers of NATO member-states and Partner-Countries in Brussels, the Defence Ministry's press office said. In his speech before the forum, Pavlov said that the three-year old Partnership for Peace programme is entering a mature stage of cooperation which seeks more concrete and tangible forms of interaction. Pavlov went on to stress the importance which the Republic of Bulgaria attaches to the cooperation within the PfP initiative in its role of a catalyzer of the reform promoting a united Europe that has no dividing lines.Pavlov attended a meeting with U.S. Defence Secretary William Perry and together with the other participants joined the working lunch given by NATO Secretary General Javier Solana. In his speech, Pavlov spoke about the experience of the Bulgarian cadets who took part in the Peace Shield exercise in Ukraine. The Bulgarian Defence Minister called upon his fellow-ministers to support Bulgaria's initiative to hold a meeting of Balkan defence ministers in the autumn. Pavlov held talks with the defence ministers of Albania, Belarus, Belgium, Greece, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Turkey, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and others. The talks focused on issues of bilateral co-operation. [04] BULGARIA'S INITIATIVE FOR BALKAN ANTI-CRIME PROGRAMME SUPPORTEDSofia, June 14 (BTA) - Bulgaria's initiative for a programme against crime in the Balkans was supported by the justice ministers of the Balkan countries, Justice Minister Mladen Chervenyakov said on his return from Budapest. He attended the 20th conference of justice ministers of the Council of Europe member countries.On Bulgaria's proposal the initiative was put forward at the forum and a questionnaire was drafted to gather information needed for the preparation of the programme. The information includes crime rates in the Balkan countries, criminogenic factors, the organization of crime control and the related conventions to which each state has acceded. "As a first step, we expect comments from all Balkan countries; afterwards we shall expect the filled-in questionnaires to be returned and a group of experts will submit a report on the state, structure and factors of crime in the Balkans," Chervenyakov said. He added that it had been suggested to discuss the adoption of the programme at a conference of the justice ministers, and maybe also of the interior ministers of the Balkan countries in 1997. The need for such a programme is obvious, given the location of the Balkan countries which turns them into a transshipment point for drugs, stolen cars, etc, Chervenyakov said. In his view, the situation calls for joint action and the initiative received deserved support in conversations even before the conference. [05] BULGARIAN, AUSTRIAN HEALTH MINISTRIES STEP UP COOPERATIONSofia, June 14 (BTA) - The Bulgarian and Austrian health ministries signed a plan for cooperation here today. The two sides agreed to exchange experience in health policies, funding of outpatient and hospital medical services, prophylaxis and treatment of cardiovascular and oncological diseases, etc. Bulgarian experts will be acquainted with the organization of primary medical aid in small population centres in Austria whose experience could be used in Bulgaria. The document also provides for encouraging cooperation between the national institutes and scientific societies in the field of oncology, neurology, dentistry, spas and transplantations. The two sides will exchange visits by experts of up to 40 days a year.[06] PRESIDENT ZHELEV ADDRESSES THE NATIONSofia, June 14 (BTA) - "Democratic Bulgaria is shocked by the fact that at least eleven opposition MPs supported Zhan Videnov's Government yesterday," President Zhelyu Zhelev said in his address to the nation broadcast by the national media.Yesterday out of 235 MPs present, 135 MPs voted against the no confidence motion in Videnov's Socialist Government and 99 MPs supported it. The ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party has 125 MPs in the 240-seat National Assembly. The no confidence motion, prompted by "the failure of the Government's economic policy", was tabled last week by 75 opposition MPs of the Union of Democratic Forces, the Popular Union and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. "The opposition is a corrective of the power, bargaining with the incumbents is untypical for it. It should always be prepared to come out with alternatives programmes and teams, all the rest is just showmanship," Mr Zhelev said in his address. "The wave of public discontent will sweep away this opposition if it continues to look upon the power just as a means for reaping personal benefits instead of seeing it as an instrument of taking the country out of the crisis, the gravest crisis since WW II," Present Zhelev stressed. [07] PM VIDENOV ANSWERS QUESTIONS IN PARLIAMENTSofia, June 14 (BTA) - During regular question time in the National Assembly today Prime Minister Videnov answered to MP questions. No suggestions for the introduction of rationing have been received at the Council of Ministers, Videnov said, answering a question by an MP from the UDF if it has been planned to introduce rationing in connection with the grain crisis. There is fodder grain shortage but there is no bread shortage, he also said. According to Mr Videnov, statistics has shown increased bread consumption by the population.The Prime Minister denied press reports that the hospital beds in the country will be reduced by two-thirds. At the same time he said that it has been planned to consider suggestions from the regional health centres and the local administrations for restructuring the hospital bed stock in the country and its bringing in line with the demand for medical aid and the prospects for its efficient usage. There are 104.7 beds per 10,000 people in the country which is more than the average European levels, Prime Minister Videnov said. [08] JUSTICE MINISTER CHERVENYAKOV: DEATH PENALTY HAS NO PLACE IN A MODERN COUNTRY'S LEGISLATIONSofia, June 14 (BTA) - The death penalty has no place in the Penal Code of a modern state, Justice Minister Mladen Chervenyakov told journalists here today. According to him, using capital punishment as a measure of last resort demonstrates the inability of the state to crack down on crime. Imposing sanctions in conditions of crime does not solve the problem, Chervenyakov said.In his June 6 address to the National Assembly Chairman and to several parliamentary committees, Interior Minister Nikolai Dobrev demanded the lifting of the death penalty moratorium and the regulation of the issue with a special law. The moratorium on the death penalty was imposed in 1990. Dobrev supported his demand with the raging crime in Bulgaria and stressed that in the conditions of transition, the imposition of severe punishment does not mean restriction of human rights. Prosecutor General Ivan Tatarchev met with Dobrev on June 12, 1996 and took a stand in favour of the Interior Minister's proposal to lift the death penalty moratorium. [09] NEW ENERGY MINISTER MEETS THE PRESSSofia, June 14 (BTA) - "The energy sector needs 30 million dollars for nuclear fuel, 20 million dollars for coal and 8,000 million leva for repairs to operate adequately next winter," the Minister of Energy and Energy Resources, Roumen Ovcharov, said at his first news conference today. Mr Ovcharov, formerly deputy chairman of the Energy Committee, headed the Ministry of Energy and Energy Resources when Parliament approved Prime Minister Zhan Videnov's proposal to restructure the Committee into a mininstry on Monday, June 10."The sector's normal operation is also hindred by unsettled debt to the National Electric Company adding up to 20,000 million leva and the lack of fresh investments for five years now," Mr Ovcharov said. According to him, the losses of the energy sector amount to 30,000 million leva. For a start, the expenses of the energy sector are expected to be covered by loans from foreign financial institutions (negotiations have already been opened, though they are still at an early stage), collecting receivables under unpaid bills worth over 9,000 million leva, reducing expenditure to a minimum and increasing electricity prices. Soon the new Energy Minister will propose the Council of Ministers a new method of electricity pricing. It is planned to calculate the prices of electricity on a monthly basis, taking into account the exchange rate of the US dollar, the prices of imported and local fuel and the monthly rate of inflation. "By applying this method the pricing decisions will no longer be political ones made by the Council of Ministers, but purely economic, based on the relevant economic factors," Mr Ovcharov stressed. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is discussing options for protecting the socially disadvantaged against the increase in electricity prices. One of them is to set limits which users will pay at lower prices; the price will go up if the limit is exceeded. In Mr Ovcharov's opinion, a special approach should be applied to some of the enterprises in the energy sector included in the lists of units subject to liquidation and isolation from lenders. (The Government made the lists public several weeks ago; the liquidation and isolation of loss-makers is the first step to structural reform in the real economy.) Enterprises, such as thermoelectric power stations for instance, should be allowed access to loans, while viable units of other enterprises should be made independent and should go on operate in the future. [10] PARLIAMENT PASSES PROFITS TAX ACTSofia, June 14 (BTA) - Parliament today passed conclusively the Cabinet-sponsored Bill on Profits and Juristic Persons' Income Tax and on Contributions from Profits to Municipalities. The Act sets the rate of profits tax at 26 per cent for taxable profit not exceeding 2 million leva and at 36 per cent for taxable profit exceeding this amount. Taxpayers will also contribute 6.5 per cent of their profits to the municipalities. For the purposes of the Act, taxpayers include local and foreign juristic persons, non-profit corporations, state-financed juristic persons which carry on business, foreign partnerships which are not juristic persons and foreign companies' subsidiaries in Bulgaria. The profits which local juristic persons derive from all sources in Bulgaria and abroad will be subject to profits tax and contributions to municipalities. Foreign persons will be liable for tax only on the profit dervied from business in Bulgaria, including business carried on in the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf. The Act specifies a procedure for charging depreciation which is deducted from the total when taxable profit is calculated. Commercial partnerships in which, after their privatization, the State holds an interest which does not exceed 33 per cent, will be allowed to retain the entire amount of tax due in the first three years after the privatization and half of this amount in the following two years, provided they post an ever larger income annually, invest at least 50 per cent of the retained tax in fixed assets, and pay their obligations to the Exchequer. Cooperatives and cooperative enterprises will also be allowed to retain the profits tax due for five years, according to a provision of the Act voted on motion by Prof. Stefan Stoilov MP of the Democratic Left. Retention of the tax will be subject to the condition that the national cooperative unions create special funds, to which the cooperatives will contribute 50 per cent of the tax retained. The money in these funds will be spent on investment only. Commercial partnerships in which foreign persons hold an interest will also be allowed to retain their profits tax for the same periods if not established as a result of a privatization transactions and if the value of the fixed capital is at least 5 million US dollars and the foreign participating interest is at least 50 per cent. In this case, at least 50 per cent of the retained tax must be invested in tangible fixed assets. Two per cent of the profits tax will be relocated to the Land Improvement Fund. The Act enters into force on July 1, 1996.[11] BUSINESS PRESSSofia, June 14 (BTA) - The cost of living is expected to go up by 10% in June-July and a new inflation boom is imminent, "Standart News" writes citing Velichka Rangelova, municipal councillor of the Bulgarian Business Bloc and former chief of the Price Statistics Division of the National Statistical Institute. The situation may be aggravated by the 15% decrease in foreign currency revenues and the withdrawal of foreign currency from the banks by the public. Rangelova claims recession will be further deepened by the closure of a number of companies which will push up unemployment. If the US dollar is not kept below the 200 leva mark, the inflation will be three- digit, Rangelova warns. Nevertheless, if the necessary measures are taken, this country may emerge from the crisis towards the end of 1997.Confidence in the banks is returning, "Pari" writes. For the first time since the beginning of the year this week saw an increase in the volume of deposits, "Pari" reports, citing Bulgarian National Bank Governor Lyubomir Filipov. Though small, this increase is the first sign of a turning point in depositor confidence. One of South Korea's powerful groupings - the L.G. Group, also known as Lucky Goldstar, intends to take part in the privatization of "Sodi" - Devnya (Northeastern Bulgaria), "24 Chassa" and "Troud" report. The other bidders are the Belgian Solvei, the British Brooner and Mond and the French Rhone Poulenc and the British Imperial Chemicals giant. The L.G. intends to impose the Sodi trademark in the Far East. The only condition is to increase ammonia soda ash production. In 1995 Sodi-Devnya exported 95,000 tonnes of soda and 110,000 tonnes have been contracted for export in 1996. [12] SERB PATRIARCH VISITSofia, June 14 (BTA) - Patriarch Pavle of Serbia today started an official five-day visit to Bulgaria returning the last year's visit to Serbia of Bulgarian Patriarch Maksim. The guest and the delegation of the Serb Orthodox Church accompanying him were received at the Sveta Nedelya Cathedral by Patriarch Maksim, members of the Holy Synod, clergy and members of the public. "We come as brothers and may we support each other and our faith in these difficult times," the guest said in his address to the clergy and laity. "We'd better lose our heads than out souls," he said. Before delivering his address, the Serb Patriarch paid homage to the relics of St. King Stefan Milutin. Accompanying Patriarch Pavle are the Bishops of Nis, Timok, Vranja, and the Lipovac Monastery.[13] SIMEON II ENDS VISIT TO BULGARIASofia, June 16 (BTA) - "I say: Goodbye until we meet again soon," the exiled Bulgarian king Simeon II of Saxe-Coburg Gotha said at the end of his three-week visit to Bulgaria. "I made the most difficult step, the one that needed 50 years to be taken," he said.Simeon II and his wife Margarita arrived in Bulgaria on May 25 on what is his first visit since the royal family fled the country 50 years ago following a referendum in which Bulgaria was declared a republic. Simeon II came here at the invitation of 101 Bulgarian intellectuals, which they sent him in November 1995. Simeon II is not the first member of the royal family to visit Bulgaria. In 1991 his sister Marie- Louise was here and in 1993 Queen Mother Ioanna of Savoy also paid a visit to Bulgaria. "The love and the spontaneous welcome were the only things I did not foresee," Simeon II told a news conference at the end of his visit today. During his visit he had meetings with politicians, intellectuals, businessmen, diplomats, students and ordinary people. He met with Sofia Mayor Stefan Sofiyanski and had a private lunch with President Zhelyu Zhelev. He also met with the leaders of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) but no meetings with the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party were reported. Most of their time here Simeon II and his wife spent travelling round the country. "I came with the intention to meet politicians from as wider range of the political spectrum as possible and to hear as many people as possible," Simeon II said last night in an interview for the weekly political show Panorama of the National Television. In his view, he had to some extent managed to "make up the picture". In another interview for the private Darik radio, Simeon II denied press reports that the Government deprived him of the opportunity to visit the former king's palaces in Evksinograd and in Borovets. He said that he was only prevented by the lack of time. Today, on the day when he marks his 59th birthday, Simeon II attended a mass officiated at the St Alexander Nevski cathedral. "This was the best gift I received during the three weeks I stayed in my homeland," Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotha told a news conference today. "I went 50 years back in time. I prayed that this wonderful and blessed nation sees better days," he said. From the threshold of the king's throne in the cathedral Simeon II read "The Symbol of Christian Faith". He was ushered into the altar of the church where he was given blessing by the Bulgarian Patriarch Maksim and the visiting here Serb Patriarch Pavle. In one of the breaks of the mass the church choir sang the "God, Save the King" hymn. According to Simeon II, the fact that his visit in Bulgaria was made possible is indicative that "Bulgaria already shows symptoms that it is becoming a more democratic state." "My dream is to live in the country where I was born," Simeon Saxe- Coburg Gotha told the Panorama show. The fact that he has been issued a new Bulgarian passport in his view was a settlement of one additional administrative impediment. Simeon II would not commit himself to concrete dates about his future visits, but confirmed that the visit that ended today will not be the last one. This afternoon Simeon II and his wife left for Madrid on a Balkan airlines flight via Zurich. 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