News from Bulgaria / Jan. 3, 1996

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

Bulgarian Telegraph Agency Directory

CONTENTS

EMBASSY OF BULGARIA

WASHINGTON D.C.

BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY

BULLETIN OF NEWS FROM BULGARIA

[01] PRIVATIZATION IN 1995

Sofia, January 2 (Tanya Tsekova of BTA) - Proceeds from privatization in 1995 amounted to 12,136 million leva, the Executive Director of the Privatization Agency (PA) Vesselin Blagoev told a press conference on the last working day of the year. Of these, 2,956 million leva were paid in cash, 2,679 million leva in ZUNK (bad debt) bonds, and 11,733 million in foreign debt bonds. Buyers owe banks another 7,767 million leva.

Blagoev commended the work of the PA last year. An overall 1,504 deals were closed in the state-run and municipal sector in 1995. They were almost three times more than in 1994 (555) and 15 times more in 1993, the PA reports.

With these results achieved, claims that cash privatization is stalling constitute an attempt at manipulation of public opinion, Prime Minister Roumen Gechev who supervises privatization, says. According to him, the lack of experience and organizational problems prevented even better results.

In 1995, the PA closed 69 privatization deals, the PA Executive Director said. The Trade Ministry made 54 deals, the Ministry of Agriculture 40 and the Committee on Tourism 37.

Early 1996 will see several major deals, Blagoev predicts. The privatization of Interpred, Interkvarts, Aroma and several other major companies has reached its final stage.

According to the programme for privatization in 1996, 467 units be sold off, with proceeds projected at 21 million leva. At one of its last meetings in 1995, the Government adopted a list of around 70 companies to be privatized on a priority basis in 1996.

The big hotels and resorts, however, have remained in the hands of the government, critics of privatization recall. Only restaurants, cafes and independent parts of facilities have been sold off. Later on the Government opted for piece by piece privatization of big resorts, to encourage competition among hotel keepers. It is not very clear how this would be accomplished, e.g. who will manage infrastructure in resorts.

Mass privatization starting in January will somewhat delay cash privatization, according to experts. The reason is a complicated mixture of mass and cash privatization techniques at some companies, with the ratio between the two to be determined in the process of privatization. It will probably be necessary to analyse the results of the first wave of mass privatization, to clarify the details of combining the two kinds of techniques and avert possible clashes of interest. "I do not intend to pull the flower to make it grow faster," Privatization Agency Director Vesselin Blagoev said. According to him, the privatization of large companies will follow market indicators.

[02] PRESS REVIEW PRESIDENT ZHELEV'S NEW YEAR MESSAGE

The national dailies today comment on President Zhelyu Zhelev's New Year address to the nation. "Zhelev Scolds Nation on New Year's Eve" runs a front-page headline in "Douma", the daily of the ruling Socialist Party. "President Zhelev could not find a kind word for the Bulgarians and wish them health, joy and happiness before giving the responsible institutions and the ruling party a talking-to," the daily says.

"The President Chides the Cabinet for Failing to Deliver" runs a front- page headline in "Demokratsiya", the daily of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces. "Pari", the financial daily, says: "The President Spells Out Tasks for the Institutions". "Novinar" frontpages a story headlined "Zhelev: Let's Press the Institutions for Reforms". In his address Zhelev reiterated some criticisms of the power structures which he made in a statement on private Darik radio on Saturday, the dailies say.

Knowledgeable sources say the President's attack is a signal for an all- out campaign against the ruling party which will culminate in the autumn, "24 Chassa" says. "The President's message... degenerated into a diatribe against the rival institutions," says a signed comment in the daily. Socialist leaders declined to comment on the President's attacks on them during the festive season, says an editorial comment in "24 Chassa".

"Zhelev Ignored the Bulgarian News Agency with New Year Address" runs a headline in "Troud", the daily close to the influential Confederation of Independent Trade Unions. The message was not sent to BTA as is the usual practice, the daily says. "Troud", "Standart News" and "Continent" carry the full text of the address.

"Dr Zhelev behaved not like a president but like an opposition politician railing at the ruling party," says a comment in "Continent". "...Bulgarians saw again what it means to be ruled by agitators and pitied themselves," "Standart News" writes, commenting on the message.

The Head of State should be reminded that he, too, errs and must repent and criticize himself, says "Douma" Editor Stefan Prodev. "Otherwise he will not be lucky this year when presidential election will be held," says Prodev.

[03] CRIME

The dailies report than an explosive device went off on New Year's Eve at a Sofia restaurant owned by Turkish Kurds. "Attacks on Kurds in Bulgaria smack of politics," says an editorial comment in "24 Chassa". The authorities should prevent Bulgaria from turning into an arena of foreign political conflicts, according to the daily. Other papers link the bombing to drug trading carried on at the restaurant without naming their sources.

Criminals will find Bulgaria an increasingly tight and forbidding place, Colonel Ivan Boyadjiev, Interior Ministry Secretary, says in an interview in "Douma". Germany and France have been extremely helpful to Bulgaria in the combating of the wave of bombings, Col. Boyadjiev says.

Teams of the Justice Ministry are drafting a national anti-crime programme which will be ready by the end of January, Minister Mladen Chervenyakov told "Bulgarska Armia", the Defence Ministry's daily.

"Continent" quotes a commentary of the BBC predicting that President Zhelyu Zhelev will be succeeded by the Socialists' presidential nominee.

Minister of the Interior Lyubomir Nachev, of Agriculture and Food Processing Industry Vassil Chichibaba, and of Industry Kliment Vouchev are likely to be replaced by February, "Novinar" says quoting unnamed sources of the Socialist headquarters. The daily says the cabinet reshuffle might also affect Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Foreign Economic Cooperation Kiril Tsochev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Roumen Gechev and Justice Minister Mladen Chervenyakov. In a story on this matter "Demokratsiya" writes that Prime Minister Zhan Videnov is expected to move for the replacement of the Agriculture Minister at a plenum of the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

On Friday the leaders of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) will introduce at Parliament a motion for a second vote of no-confidence in the cabinet, "Continent" writes quoting unnamed UDF sources. The no- confidence vote is prompted by the grain crisis in Bulgaria, the bread shortage, the hiking bread prices and vanishing of flour from the free market, the story says.

Bulgaria should sign the 23 cooperation agreements with Macedonia, that have already been drafted, on the basis of the "Bulgarian and Macedonian language" formula proposed by the Macedonian side, says a signed article in "24 Chassa". Macedonian language is a synonym for Bulgarian language and this country takes no dividends from the linguistic problem it creates by refusing the recognize the existence of a Macedonian language, according to this author.

The management of the Bulgarian National TV put off the air the Kanaleto comic show, dailies say. The Kanaleto people complained before "Standart News" that this was done for political reasons: the show poked fun at state institutions and politicians. Noone of the National TV management was available for comment last night. A report on this matter is published in "Novinar" under the headline "Political Censorship Puts Kanaleto Off Air On New Year's Eve".

Bulgarian immigrant lobbyists at the newly-elected Turkish Parliament will bring to the fore problems with child trafficking via the Bulgarian- Turkish border, "Standart News" was told by the Society of Bulgarian Immigrants in Turkey. Bulgaria and Turkey have not yet signed an accord on reunion of families living on both sides of the border. The report quotes the MRF as saying Bulgaria will back the initiative of the Turkish MPs.

The hiking prices of heating, electricity, telephone services, petrol and water in 1996 will bring some 70% of Bulgarians to a state of penury, reads a story in "Novinar". The higher prices are heavily relied on to fill the public purse because of the external debt payments due in 1996, this daily writes quoting unnamed experts.

Four million leva will be distributed among poor people in 200 municipalities across the country, "Troud" says in a front-page story. Just before New Year's Eve, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs sent the money to the towns which failed to pay the various welfare benefits and maintenance costs for old people's homes and mental hospitals. The additional finance was provided by the state fund for energy defence.

Three Christian democratic parties in the UDF, the Christian Agrarian Party, the Christian Democratic Union and the United Christian Democratic Centre, will establish a federation which will defend the parties' political interests stemming from their common ideas, "Standart News" quotes Christian Agrarian Party leader Ivan Gloushkov as saying.

The 'grain affair', related to the grain shortage in this country, the debts run by the state-owned Balkan air-carrier, the deals of the Multigroup economic group are listed as the 1995 'mega-scandals' in Bulgaria in an article in "Standart News". 1996 will bring the outcome to all three of the scandals, the article says. 1995 proved a sequence of failures of the Bulgarian diplomacy, Filip Dimitrov, former prime minister and former UDF leader, says in an interview in "Demokratsiya". Dimitrov is a member of the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee.

"UDF Unmasked as Political Hermaphrodite" caps an article in "Troud" on the development of the opposition coalition in 1995 written by the Deputy Chairman of the BSP's Committee for Ideological Development Valentin Vatsev. "In 1995 BSP Acted Like a Bull in a China Shop" caps another article in the same daily written by UDF Deputy Chairman Alexander Bozhkov. The transition failed because the political forces which took on the responsibility to implement it proved historically untenable and turned into historical Lilliputians, eminent historian Professor Nikolai Genchev says, interviewed by "Troud".

Bulgaria may not receive the Ecu 210,000-worth of grant-in-aid for postal administration from the European Union, "Demokratsiya" says in a front-page story, criticizing the tender for the supply of telecommunications equipment held by the Committee of Posts and Telecommunications.

The press runs a number of analyses and reviews of the major events in this country and the world in 1995.

[04] BUSINESS PRESS

Sofia, January 2 (BTA) - Customs duties on Bulgarian imports of industrial products in the EU countries were lifted on January 1 in implementation of the Interim Agreement on Trade signed by Bulgaria and the EU, "Standart News" writes on its front page. The only exception are textile articles, the customs duties on which will be reduced as of January 1, 1997, this daily says.

Thus the Bulgaria-EU trade regulations have become identical to those between the EU and the states of the Visegrad group. Negotiations on decreasing customs duties on Bulgarian farm products exported to the EU are expected to be completed by March-April, "Standart News" adds.

In 1995 the private sector accounted for 34% of production and for 40% of production recovery, "Douma" writes. Industrial output marked a 3% increased towards the end of last year. This branch accounts for 90% of revenues from abroad. Planned investment into industry in 1996 exceeds last year's by 17%. 1996 will be the year of industrialists, Mr Krustyu Stanilov, President of the Union of Bulgarian Industry, says in an interview for "Douma".

The State Savings Bank extended 4,000 million leva to three private banks (USD 1 exchanged for 70.719 according to the central bank exchange rate), the "Pari" financial daily writes. Businessbank, First East International Bank and the Slavyani commercial bank received generous state refinancing against an unclear compensation, the article says. This act of the State Savings Bank puts a spike in the wheel of the restrictive policy of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB, the central bank) a central bank Vice-Governor told this daily on conditions of anonymity.

Attempts at covert privatization are a bomb which will explode in eight Bulgarian banks this year, "24 Chassa" cites investigator Angel Dimitrov as saying after the scandals that shook several Bulgarian banks over the past three or four years.

Fines for using substandard meat in the food processing industry are symbolical - up to 4,000 leva, Dr Yordan Kostadinov, Director General of the National Veterinary Medicine Service, says in an interview for "24 Chassa". Nevertheless the state veterinary and sanitary authorities, which have 1,191 stations across the country, are constantly monitoring all products of animal origin, Dr Kostadinov said.

Today several dailies publish the final list of enterprises subject to mass privatization and the offices for registering voucher books.

The lev was relatively stable [in 1995] but its depreciation may gather momentum, "Continent" warns in a subheading. The policy of the BNB over the past year which was praised both by the Government and the international financial institutions, was not supported by the participants in the forex market, according to the author of the article.

[05] TUESDAY NEWS BRIEFS

Sofia, January 2 (BTA) - The visit by a delegation of the US House of Representatives to Bulgaria, scheduled for January 9-11, is postponed until January 15-17. This was discussed at today's meeting of Blagovest Sendov, Chairman of the Bulgarian National Assembly, and Mrs Rose Likins, US Deputy Ambassador in Sofia. Delivering the congressmen's request, Mrs Likins said the reason for the postponement was the forthcoming important debate on the US federal budget. The sides considered the similar problems the parliaments of the two countries have got to cope with - the 1996 budget debates with the presidentiatl campaigns already launched. BTA was informed about the meeting by the press centre of the National Assembly.

We propose that the political forces do not nominate presidential candidates but rally behind the figure of His Majesty Simeon II, Hristo Kourtev, National Secretary of the Kingdom of Bulgaria Federation, told a news conference today. According to him, the presidential elections in Bulgaria are pointless. Only King Simeon II can unite the nation because he is the only personality beyond reproach, the monarchists believe. A national sign-in campaign has been launched for the reinstatement of Simeon II who lives in exile in Madrid. Over 100,000 people have already signed in for Simeon II's return, Federation activists said.

A coordinator was appointed in connection with His Majesty's visit in 1996; he is one of the intellectuals who invited him to Bulgaria late last year, Simeon II's press service said.

The output of the Kozlodoui Nuclear Power Plant's Unit Three has been reduced and now it uses 55 percent of its capacity. This was done because on January 10 it will be stopped and remain out of operation for three months in accordance with the project for reconstruction and modernization approved by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Five of the N-plant's reactors will operate in the meantime, producing 80 million kWh a day during the winter months.