News from Bulgaria / Dec 20, 95

From: bulgaria@access1.digex.net (Embassy of Bulgaria)

Bulgarian Telegraph Agency Directory

EMBASSY OF BULGARIA - WASHINGTON D.C.

BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY

BULLETIN OF NEWS FROM BULGARIA

CONTENTS

[01] PRESIDENT ZHELEV CONTINUES VISIT IN PORTUGAL

Lisbon, December 19 (BTA spec. cor. Gratsiela Ingelska) - Bulgaria can rely on Portugal's support in the process of its integration with the European Union, as well as with regards to getting equal treatment with the other states, which have officially filed their application for EU membership, said Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Guteris during his today's talks with Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev and the accompanying MPs.

The second day of Bulgarian President's official visit to Portugal today was devoted to contacts with representatives of the executive power and of the Portuguese business circles. On the agenda of the talks between the Bulgarian President and Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Guteris were also the future security system in Europe in the context of Portugal's forthcoming chairmanship of an international summit of OSCE members, presidential advisor Kamen Velichkov said after the meeting.

Dr Zhelev and Mr Guteris also considered the bilateral relations. The Portuguese Prime Minister committed himself to cooperate for speedy enforcement of the signed agreements for encouragement of investments and avoidance of double taxation.

Cultural exchange between Bulgaria and Portugal was also discussed during some talks today. Prime Minister Guteris believes that these should be developed more intensively, and identified as a step to this end the resuming of the course of lectures in Bulgarian language at the University in Lisbon.

"Real Physical Space" was the topic of the lecture, read tonight by President Zhelyu Zhelev in the Lisbon Universidade Moderna. During his official visit to Portugal Dr Zhelev was conferred the title of honorary professor and honorary Chairman of the University's Board of Trustees.

[02] GOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION ON UN SANCTIONS HOLDS MEETING

Sofia, December 19 (BTA) - By January 20 the ministries and committees should come up with a list of units and activities for the reconstruction works in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which Bulgaria is in position to participate, the Government's UN Sanctions Commission decided today at its meeting, the Government's Press Office told BTA.

It was also decided that by January 15 a working team of representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs, transport, the interior and of the General Customs Administration works up a draft standpoint of Bulgaria in connection with the upcoming reconsideration of the statute of WEU and OSCE missions.

The Commission suggests that the exports to Yugoslavia of goods with possible dual use be permitted on condition that they will be used for civilian applications.

The meeting also decided that the General Customs Administration extends the period in which the detained goods for Iraq may stay as long as the sanctions regime against this country is applied.

[03] US AMBASSADOR MONTGOMERY DISCONTINUES MISSION TO BULGARIA

Sofia, December 19 (BTA) - US Ambassador to Bulgaria William Montgomery accepted the post of a deputy co-ordinator for the implementation of the peace agreement on Bosnia with the US Department of State. In connection with the urgent nature and the importance of the successful implementation of the agreement Mr Montgomery was asked to cancel his mission to Bulgaria and go back to Washington D.C. as soon as possible to take the new post, reads a press release of the US Embassy in Sofia.

Mr Montgomery's final departure is scheduled for early January and his family will follow him a few weeks later. Ms Rose Likins will be appointed Charge d'Affaires by the arrival of the new ambassador.

Mr and Ms Montgomery express their gratitude for the friendship and hospitability shown by the Bulgarian people during their stay here and wish them marry Christmas, the press release says.

[04] BULGARIA AND ROMANIA SIGN MILITARY COOPERATION AGREEMENT

Veliko Turnovo, December 19 (BTA corr.) - Colonel General Tsvetan Totomirov, Chief of the General Staff of the Bulgarian Army, and Romanian Lieutenant General Dumitriu Cioflina, State Secretary and Chief of the General Staff of the Romanian Army signed an agreement on mutually complementing measures for building confidence, strengthening security and military contacts between Bulgaria and Romania in Veliko Turnovo (Central Bulgaria) today.

The document is in conformity with the 1994 Vienna agreements on confidence building and security measures in Europe, Totomirov said. The two sides agreed to continue cooperation along the Bulgarian-Romanian border, increase the exchange of information in the military sphere and promote military contacts.

"Bulgaria is the first country with which Romania signs a military cooperation agreement. We project to sign similar agreements with Ukraine and Hungary," Lieutenant General Cioflina said. He expressed his satisfaction with the talks, held in full candour of opinion, and the achieved agreements between the two countries' delegations. According to him, Bulgaria and Romania will organize a number of activities already in 1996 and this will strengthen cooperation in the fields of military training and military medicine. Within the frameworks of its official visit, tomorrow, the Romanian delegation will visit the Pleven Museum of Bulgarian-Russian and Romanian Military Glory and will pay tribute to the Ossuary of the heroes who perished near the village of Grivitsa in the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War.

[05] GRAIN RESERVES AND BREAD PRICE DISCUSSED

Sofia, December 19 (BTA) - The parliamentary group of the Democratic Left invited today for a meeting intended to discuss the situation of the grain reserves Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Foreign Economic Ciooperation Kiril Tsochev, Minister of Agriculture and Food Processing Vassil Chichibaba, Interior Minister Lyubomir Nachev and the Chairman of the Pricing Committee Dimiter Grivekov. The meeting continued late into the night.

In mid-October the press started raising alarms over the state of the grain reserves. The papers claimed that given a restriction of 540,000 t, 164 companies have exported 685,000 t of wheat mainly to Turkey, the Middle East and Africa. Some reports quoted figures of the State Shipping Inspectorate according to which between July and October 950,000 t of grain have been exported by sea alone. The General Customs Directorate denied these allegations.

Grain prices started going up, flour disappeared from shops only to reappear later at much higher prices. The opposition Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and Popular Union blamed the Socialist Government for the grain crisis, which, according to some opposition papers was caused by companies, speculating on the grain market.

Ten days ago Prime Minister Videnov told the National Assembly that the country's bread balance is not disturbed and the necessary amounts of bread wheat are available. According to official and verified figures of the Customs, more than 100 companies have exported 554,000 t of wheat and 52,000 t of flour of the new crops by October 15. The figures were confirmed by the Transport Ministry, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Cooperation, Mr Videnov said.

According to the Bulgarian Prime Minister, the real problem is not the availability of grain, which is in adequate quantities, but the fact that is sale on the home market is impeded. He accused the media of "juggling with figures, speculative hysteria, outright lies, mixing figures from different years and flagrant manipulation with the data." Mr Videnov said that this campaign has made the people put in stock more than they needed, forced the sellers to suspend selling grain and pushed prices up. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Foreign Economic Cooperation Kiril Tsochev said over the National Radio that 200,000 t of grain are being kept in storerooms. In his view noone has the right to raise the price of bread.

A month ago the press started making predictions about imports of grain at higher prices. "It is not necessary to import grain," Prime Minister Videnov said 10 days ago in the Parliament. "No grain import will be necessary if we find out that the available quantities are sufficient," Agriculture Minister Vasssil Chichiaba said in answer to an MP's question.

Upon his return from Yugoslavia last week Deputy Prime Minister and Trade Minister Tsochev said he had agreed grain imports from Yugoslavia at profitable prices. Late on Sunday evening Minister Chichibaba told Radio Free Europe that the import of grain from Yugoslavia is only normal.

On December 6 the Prosecutor General's Office launched investigation into the grain shortage to establish any violations in the export and storage of grain and flour. The dailies recalled that an investigation for similar reasons, which found no violations, was carried also in 1990 under the cabinet of Filip Dimitrov, the then leader of the UDF.

On Friday the opposition UDF, the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and the Popular Union (Bulgarian Agrarian National Union and the Democratic Party) agreed to file this week a vote of no confidence in Zhan Videnov's cabinet over its failed grain policy. The next day UDF's National Coordinating Council decided to move the vote at the beginning of next year.

The vote of no confidence will not necessarily seek to overturn the Cabinet, but the Cabinet needs reshuffling, UDF Deputy Chairman Aleksander Bozhkov specified over the national television on Sunday. He added that it is not the entire economic policy of the cabinet which is being questioned, because such a vote may not be moved before another 6 months have elapsed.

The vote of no confidence may fail, but the UDF must use its rights and move it, because the Government has shown that it is incapable to rule, the floor leader of the coalition Yordan Sokolov said over the national radio on Sunday. The vote is a response to the political situation in the country as a result of the crisis, UDF leader Ivan Kostov said over the national television a day earlier.

[06] MASS PRIVATIZATION

Sofia, December 19 (BTA) - The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB, one of this country's most influential amalgamations) will set up a Labour and Property Association to exercise civil and trade union control over the process of mass privatization, CITUB leader Prof. Krustyo Petkov said. The Association will attract as its members non-governmental institutions, media, advertising agencies and experts. The Association's sponsors include the U.S. Agency for Economic Development and the Friedrich Ebert foundation.

The chief aim of the Labour and Property Association will be to protect citizens against pyramid financial schemes and state bureaucracy. The Association will provide CITUB members with full information about the enterprises put up for privatization free of charge. The rest can use its services after paying small fees. According to Petkov, CITUB will use its reputation to attract investments in the privatized enterprises.

Some 1,200 enterprises with total capital of about 200,000 million leva will be put up for voucher privatization. The mass privatization is the only way through which the cabinet can carry out the long-awaited restructuring of the Bulgarian economy.

The start of the mass privatization was announced by Prime Minister Zhan Videnov in Parliament late last week. Videnov set the date of the promulgation of the amendments to the Privatization Act in the Official Gazette for the start of mass privatization. Since Parliament has already approved the list of enterprises to be put up for voucher privatization, there are no other obstacles to delay its start. It is envisaged that a mass privatization awareness campaign be launched in the days before New Year's Eve. Registration of vouchers, however, will not start until the end of the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

[07] BULGARIA RECEIVES ENVIRONMENTAL ASSISTANCE

Sofia, December 19 (BTA) - The Bulgarian nationwide programme for phased reduction of the use of ozone-depleting substances will receive grant aid of 10.5 million US dollars under a protocol signed between Bulgaria's Environment Ministry, the Global Environment Fund (GEF) and the mission of the World Bank here.

Bulgaria is the first Eastern European country which drafted a national programme for stage-by-stage reduction of the application of ozone-depleting substances. The funds from GEF will finance 16 investment projects of Bulgarian enterprises, intended to cut 83 per cent the usage of these substances. The Environment Ministry adopted a programme for evaluating the effect exercised by 253 enterprises on the soil, the water and the air. The programme concerns all branches and the major environment polluters. The inspection will be performed for a period of six months after which the Environment Ministry will decide under what conditions the enterprises will be allowed to continue operation.

[08] PARLIAMENT STARTS DEBATES ON 1996 BUDGET BILL

Sofia, December 19 (BTA) - The opposition Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) will not vote the 1996 budget because it is antisocial, anti-market and even dangerous for Bulgaria, Mouravei Radev MP of the UDF said at today's first reading debates of the 1996 National Budget Bill. According to Radev, the bill's sole merit is that it was submitted on time. He said that the projected 3% GDP growth is unrealistic because a part of this growth comes from illegally extended uncollectable credits by the banks which is a form of indirect subsidies. It is inadmissible to start the 1996 budget debates before Parliament has passed the updating of this year's budget requested by the Government, Radev said.

The projected inflation rate of 20% is also unrealistic against the background of an unstable market and balance of payments and in the absence of structural adjustment and investment, according to Radev. A large part of the tax revenues are not provided for by the existing legislation, Radev said. According to him 15-20% of the projected revenues are based on nonexistent legislation. This means that the National Assembly will have to pass these acts as they have been moved by the cabinet, i.e. to legitimize the actions of the Government, Radev believes.

This is the most antisocial budget of the past few years, Radev said. It provides for zero growth of the average working wage in 1996 which in December 1995 was only 80% of the poverty line. The average pension in Bulgaria is only 65% of the subsistence minimum, Radev said. The budget bill comes to show that the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has no intentions of keeping its campaign promises, Radev said by way of conclusion.

The representative of the second opposition coalition in Parliament - the Popular Union of Democrats and Agrarians, Ventsislav Dimitrov, protested against the insufficient time the parliamentary committees were given for discussing the budget. According to him, the committees had not discussed the budgets of the municipalities. Dimitrov described the speed with which the committees had to approve the budget as a blow on parliamentary democracy and as a step back to the old times when during the communist rule the budget was passed in two days' time.

Dimitrov criticized the revenues side of the budget and above all the fact that it is based on acts which have not been passed by Parliament yet. According to him, to adopt the budget in its present form would be tantamount to relieve the executive of the responsibility of its utilization.

[09] PARLIAMENT PASSES MASS PRIVATIZATION PROGRAMME

Sofia, December 19 (BTA) - Parliament today passed the final texts of the Privatization Funds Bill and the Government Programme for Privatization through Investment Vouchers with the accompanying list of enterprises to be put up for mass privatization. Thus Parliament completed the legal basis for mass privatization in Bulgaria.

Some 150 enterprises were struck off the Government's initial list of 1,200 enterprises, two new enterprises were added and the share of capital subject to mass privatization in several other enterprises was reduced. Parliament voted down a proposal to exclude all tourist complexes from the list and proposals to strike off some enterprises of the food processing industry.

The programme includes mainly large and medium-size state-owned enterprises. Its purpose is to effect a turning point in privatization and to boost the development of the private and cooperative sector, the Government says in its motives to the Programme. That is why privatization through investment bonds is a priority in the Cabinet's tenure programme. The list of enterprises to be put up for mass privatization includes state- owned enterprises of all economic branches: industry, power engineering, construction, transport, etc. It gives priority to enterprises building the image of Bulgaria's economy, leading enterprises and structure determining enterprises, tourist facilities, etc. In order to meet public expectations, the Programme includes a number of enterprises in agriculture and the food processing industry.

The enterprises are divided into three groups, depending on the share of capital subject to voucher divestiture. Only up to 25% of the shares of enterprises of priority importance for the national economy, over which the state wishes to retain control, will be put up for mass privatization. Most of the enterprises on the list will be privatized up to 60-75% through investment vouchers. The remaining shares will be used for meeting restitution claims or for cash privatization. Small and medium size enterprises will sell 80-90% of their shares.

The Government reserved itself the right to change the percentage of shares to be traded for investment vouchers. This, however, may take place only in exceptional cases abrupt deterioration of financial results or justified restitution claims.

The Programme is expected to remove major obstacles on the road to privatization in Bulgaria: lack of effective demand and the alienation of the people from this process. The Government hopes that mass privatization will also boost the establishment of a modern capital market in this country. According to the Government, the Programme guarantees equality of all citizens in the process of privatization. All will receive privatization bonds for 25,000 leva which all will be able to trade for shares of a real market value, the Government says in its motives. The Programme is to assist the implementation of the Government's investment policy. It is intended to give a chance to a wide circle of people to join economic activity in this country.

[10] PM VIDENOV MEETS MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS INSTITUTE RECTOR

Sofia, December 19 (BTA) - Prime Minister Zhan Videnov today met with the Rector of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Anatoli Torkunov, who is visiting here. The visit is at the invitation of the Bulgarian Association of MGIMO Graduates. The Bulgarian Prime Minister is also a MGIMO graduate.

After the meeting Torkunov told journalists that the meeting discussed how diplomats were trained today. Videnov showed interests in changes in the training process. According to Torkunov, there were many changes because the training of international relations students depended to a great extent on the international situation. The international situation changes the mechanisms and methods of diplomacy and improves diplomatic services, Anatoli Torkunov said.

The meeting also discussed cooperation in training diplomats. The guest informed the Bulgarian Prime Minister of his talks here with representatives of Sofia University and of the University of National and World Economy. "I am convinced that this visit will give an impetus to renewing and expanding contacts," MGIMO Rector Tirkunov told the press.

[11] RESPONSE TO REMOVAL OF SEVEN NATIONAL RADIO JOURNALISTS

Sofia, December 19 (BTA) - The dismissal of seven popular journalists of the National Radio drew response from politicians, reporters and trade unions. Today the opposition declared the dismissal a political act against the freedom of speech and demanded the resignation of the National Radio Director Vyacheslav Tounev. In its main news cast the National Television gave leading prominence to the responses supporting the discharged journalists.

At an improvised news conference today on the second day of his official visit to Portugal, President Zhelev declared himself in support of the fired reporters. Dr Zhelev said that everybody should respond to cases of infringement of the freedom of speech, journalists included, irrespective of their political affiliations.

The seven dismissed are among the 50 journalists, who in late November signed a protest declaration against the political pressure and censorship in the National Radio. Their removal is interpreted as a retribution to the protestors. The seven journalists were discharged yesterday under an article of the Labour Code which empowers the employer to terminate employment contracts unilaterally "in the interest of the job", say reports in today's press. The fired journalists are the deputy editor-in-chiefs of the "Horizont" programme Chavdar Stefanov and Assen Mateev, commentators Yassen Boyadjiev and Galina Spassova and editors Statoul Karabashev, Liliana Popova and Aleksander Velev.

In a joint declaration, read today at the National Assembly, the opposition Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and the Bulgarian Business Bloc (BBB) voiced their "protest and indignation" at the dismissal of the seven journalists. According to the opposition, the act was against journalists who "ventured protest against the unscrupulous censorship and the brutal ways in the national media." Today the opposition demanded the resignation of Vyacheslav Tounev and said it considers the reporters' dismissal a political act against freedom of speech.

"Personnel, structural and program issues are within the competence of the national media director generals," Klara Marinova, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Radio, Television and BTA and Spokesperson for the Bulgarian Socialist Party told journalists. She said she hopes that the Radio's management has well considered its actions in advance.

This evening 39 journalists from different media issued a declaration protesting against the discharge of their colleagues and said they will call a protest rally in front of the National Radio on December 20.

The Union of Bulgarian Journalists (UBJ) said it also supports the fired journalists and invited Vyacheslav Tounev at a meeting with the Union's leadership. UBJ categorically objected to the way the 7 reporters have been discharged.

The leaderships of the two largest trade union amalgamations, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) and the Podkrepa Labour Confederation, also voiced their protest against the dismissals. "CITUB Headquarters will do its best to support the discharged journalists, CITUB President Krustyu Petkov said. "Freedom of speech will not be stopped by political control, censorship and personnel repressions," he stated.