"It is very important that Bulgaria declare clearly and categorically its urgent request for NATO membership. What we need today is a comprehensive national program for integration with the Alliance, because the fact is that Bulgaria is lagging farther and farther behind the Visegrad Four in the integration process," Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev said in a lecture which he delivered at the Atlantic Club tonight as the closing event in an "Atlantic Consensus Week" organized by the Club. A fortnight ago, the Atlantic Club heard a lecture on the same subject by Prime Minister Zhan Videnov. Dr. Zhelev urged the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) to take a clear stand on NATO. The Bulgarian head of state said that the policy of reassuring Russia should not be pursued to the detriment of democracy and security of other nations. Dr. Zhelev recalled that a National Assembly declaration voted at the end of 1993 stated Bulgaria's categorical aspiration to NATO membership. "Over the last two years, we kept sending ambiguous signals about our attitude towards NATO," the President said today. "If we want to keep our chances of joining the Alliance, we should give up the policy of ambiguity and adopt a policy of clarification. Bulgarias NATO membership should not be a divisive issue for society," Dr. Zhelev said. In his view, the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), the Popular Union and the Movement of Rights and Freedoms (all opposition political forces), as well as "all democratic and extra-parliamentary forces" are pro-NATO. "The only unclear and ambiguous stand is the one taken by the BSP," Dr. Zhelev said. In his view, the Socialists' stand has been formulated by some of their representatives in a variety of forms like "no one has invited Bulgaria to NATO," "our priority is on the European Union," "Bulgaria sets great store by its relations with WEU," avoiding to mention NATO by name. In his statement to the Atlantic Club, Prime Minister Videnov said that to his Government the attitude to NATO and WEU, to the Organization for Security and Cooperation and Europe and the North Atlantic Cooperation Council is "topical today" and that "there is no alternative to increasing closeness with the Euroatlantic security structures." Dr. Zhelev described these observations as "something new and worth welcoming." "At the same time, I am convinced that reservations of the type that 'closeness with NATO and WEU should be pursued without giving anybody a sense of isolation and deficiency of security' do not help clarify the Bulgarian policy on NATO membership," Dr. Zhelev noted. "Security through integration" is in the President's view at the core of the Bulgarian concept of national security. According to the Bulgarian head of state, the success of Bulgaria's foreign policy is directly related to the establishment of a new security architecture. He believes that the latter depends on two factors: the eastward enlargement of NATO and the success of democratic changes in Russia. "The collapse of all previous attempts to build security in Europe is related to the impossibility to integrate Russia into the axiological system of the democratic world," Dr. Zhelev said. He believes that "economic support from the West, as well as respect for the national interests of this great country will contribute to the irreversibility of democratic changes. However, the West's reckoning with Russia has a natural limit, and it is in the fact that the policy of reassuring Russia cannot be pursued at the expense of democracy and the security of other countries." Discussing the arguments for Bulgaria's membership in NATO, Dr. Zhelev said that he is firmly convinced that Bulgaria's admission would expand the zone of security without jeopardizing the security of the member states. In conclusion Dr. Zhelev expressed the hope that after he had signed for Bulgaria the disbandment of the Warsaw Pact and the Partnership for Peace Framework Document, he would also have the chance of signing Bulgaria's admission to NATO.
President Zhelyu Zhelev will exercise all his constitutional powers to prevent the entry into force of the Land Acts amendments and will return the amendment act to Parliament for a second debate. This became clear after today's meeting of the leadership of the parliamentary group of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) with the President. On April 14, 1995 Parliament adopted the Act Amending the Agricultural Land Tenure Act. The amendments were moved for and passed by the MPs of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and its coalition partners which command a majority in Parliament. The opposition forces in the National Assembly - the UDF and the Popular Union (set up by the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union and the Democratic Party) declared themselves against the amendments at the very beginning of the debates. On April 14 they walked out of Parliament in protest before the voting procedure. The opposition MPs believe that the parliamentary majority adopted the Amendment Act to hamper the restitution of land ownership. After the meeting the floor leader of the UDF parliamentary group, Yordan Sokolov, said that the President had shown full understanding for the MPs' discontent about the Land Act amendments. "President Zhelev may petition the Constitutional Court about the unconstitutionality of some of the amendment texts and he may address the nation to explain his position on the Land Act," Sokolov added. In his opinion, some clauses of the Act violate some basic civil rights because they bar the establishment of a free land market and abridge people's rights of inheritance. The amendments concern over 70 percent of Bulgarians, the UDF parliamentary leader said. The Agricultural Land Tenure Act was adopted at the beginning of 1991 by the Grand National Assembly. It has been amended several times since then, and each ruling political force moved texts accommodating the interests of its electorate.
Meeting today for the first time, the Council of Ministers' Committee on European Integration, chaired by Prime Minister Zhan Videnov, outlined the priorities of Bulgaria's integration with Europe and made a program for the alignment of its legislation with the community law. According to Krassimir Kostov, Deputy Head of the European Integration Department with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the priorities include expansion of Bulgaria's political dialogue with the European Union, coordination of its trade policy, acceleration of its economic integration with the EU countries, issues related to PHARE, the freedom of movement, infrastructural projects, the investment needed for the implementation of specific projects. The Committee considered a program for Bulgaria's cooperation with the European structures which covers the period until the end of May. It was announced that Hans van den Broek, EC commissioner for foreign policy, would visit Bulgaria on May 4-5, 1995; Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski would take part in the constituent meeting of the Association Council in Brussels together with the foreign ministers of the other six EU-associated countries. The Council of Ministers' Committee on European Integration consists of the three deputy prime ministers, the foreign minister and the ministers of finance, of justice, of industry, of agriculture and the food processing industry. In no more than ten days' time the Committee will hold an extraordinary meeting.
An Israeli parliamentary delegation arrived in Sofia early this morning for a six-day official visit at the invitation of the Bulgarian National Assembly. The delegation is headed by Emanuel Zissman, Chairman of the Israel-Bulgaria Friendship Group in the Israeli Knesset. The Israeli parliamentarians believe that their visit will contribute to a strengthening of fine contacts between the two peoples. Mr. Zismann noted that some 120,000 Bulgarian Jews currently live in Israel. The MPs discussed the role of Bulgarian Jews in Israel for encouragement of bilateral relations in all fields. The sides share a desire to pursue economic, tourist and cultural contacts. The Israeli parliamentarians believe that with the reforms under way in Bulgaria, Israel should also adopt a different attitude to Bulgaria. The delegation was received by National Assembly Chairman Blagovest Sendov. The Israeli parliamentary officials will be received by President Zhelyu Zhelev. They will hold talks with Bulgarian Foreign Ministry officials and representatives of the Agency for Expatriate Bulgarians. The Israeli delegation will also meet representatives of the Shalom Organization of Jews in Bulgaria.
The World Bank mission, whose working visit to Bulgaria began today, expressed concern about state of the banking system and doubts about the intention to complete the land reform. Meeting with President Zhelyu Zhelev today, World Bank Vice President Wilfried Thalwitz and Mrs. Rachel Lomako, Director for Europe and Central Asia, said that before deciding to extend the finance and economy structural adjustment loan of 150 million dollars, the international lending institution would expect the Bulgarian Government to take steps for the rehabilitation of the banking system. "Obviously, things will not go on as smoothly as they did until now," Boyan Slavenkov, economic advisor to the President, said after the meeting. According to him, the talks had definitely a political nuance. The guests wanted to know if President Zhelev supports the reform and cooperation with the World Bank. The Bank protects private entrepreneurship and stands for market-based economy and those who go against that will not work with the World Bank, the guests said. The World Bank officials were interested in the possibility of forming a real land market in Bulgaria. This has to do with the extension of a 50 million dollars loan for agriculture, they explained. According to President's advisor Kiril Velev, the World Bank will continue to provide support for the sectors reformed towards a market economy and it will strictly enforce the conditions for granting funds. Tomorrow Mr. Thalwitz will hold consultations at the Ministry of Finance, the Council of Ministers and the National Bank of Bulgaria.
Bulgaria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed profound regret over the desecration of the Soviet military cemetery in Rousse on the night to April 15, 1995, the Ministry's press center said. "This act of vandalism is not indicative of public sentiments in this country. The competent authorities are already working to detect the perpetrators and to bring them to justice. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hopes that the outrageous incident will not affect the state and prospects of Bulgarian-Russian relations," the press release reads. The vandals scrawled swastikas in the Soviet military cemetery in Rousse (on the Danube), the largest one in Bulgaria. Rumor has it that this is the work of extreme left forces, the local BTA correspondent reports. The leadership of the BSP branch in Rousse earlier today expressed regret to the Russian Consulate in the city over such an act of disrespect for the war dead.