News from Bulgaria / 96-06-06

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From: Embassy of Bulgaria <bulgaria@access1.digex.net>

EMBASSY OF BULGARIA - WASHINGTON D.C.

BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY

6 June, 1996

CONTENTS

[01] MINISTER PIRINSKI MEETS NATO SECRETARY GENERAL

[02] FOREIGN MINISTER PIRINSKI BACK FROM BERLIN

[03] PROMINENT EXPERT WANTS "FIRM HAND" IN ECONOMY

[04] SINGLE BALKAN GAS-TRANSMISSION SYSTEM POSSIBLE

[05] LABOUR ACTIVISTS MEET RULING COALITION, OPPOSITION M.P.S

[06] RIGOROUS CONTROL ALONG BULGARIAN SEA BORDER

[07] BULGARIA-US: THRACIAN TREASURIES TO BE DISPLAYED IN U.S.

[08] RADIO BULGARIA TURNS 60

[09] CABINET RESHUFFLE

[01] MINISTER PIRINSKI MEETS NATO SECRETARY GENERAL

[02] FOREIGN MINISTER PIRINSKI BACK FROM BERLIN

Following his talks with his counterparts of the Central and East European countries, Pirinski said the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Balkan countries could take place in late June or early July. His counterparts Emre Gonensay of Turkey, Alfred Serreqi of Albania and Theodoros Pangalos of Greece approved this timing.

One of the aims of the upcoming ministerial meeting in Sofia will be to create a more favourable atmosphere for the peace process in Bosnia- Herzegovina. This subject was discussed at a short meeting between Pirinski and NATO Secretary General Javier Solana. Speaking to the press, the latter described the Sofia forum as a useful initiative.

Pirinski said upon his return from Berlin that he harmonized with counterparts the formula for a meeting of the foreign ministers of Southeastern European countries, to discuss stability, security and cooperation in the Balkans. Pirinski specified that countries chairing regional forums will also be invited- Italy (president of the European Union), Austria (which chairs the Central European Initiative), Russia (which chairs the Black Sea Economic Cooperation) and Switzerland (which presides over the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe).

After the Berlin meeting, one cannot speak of new developments in Bulgaria's dialogue with NATO, Pirinski said. According to him, "the discussion on national security which is absent" is on the agenda in Bulgaria. The issue of membership in NATO is obviously an element of this discussion, the Foreign Minister said.

Participants in the Berlin meeting expressed the view there is a need for a new system of European security which would take into account the interests of all European countries, including Russia, the Foreign Minister said.

[03] PROMINENT EXPERT WANTS "FIRM HAND" IN ECONOMY

"The Cabinet has not at all started structural adjustment in earnest and only simulates reform through administer-and-command methods," Dr Georgiev says. A month ago the liquidation of 64 loss-making state- owned enterprises, the rehabilitation of another 70 and forthcoming bank failures were slated as the start of structural reform. "The entire economy is, however, bankrupt," the expert says. The Bulgarian economy is non- competitive in the international market environment; the cheap labour makes Bulgarian production an unfair competitor on the market, he argues. Bulgaria has not yet found where it naturally belongs in the international division of labour and the markets," the economist observes. This country has few natural resources, not any unique assets, and must stake on its intermediary role thanks to its location on an international crossroads," Mr Georgiev believes. Bulgaria is lacking a strategy for its participation in the world economy," the experts also tell their interviewer. That is why there is a risk of breakthroughs in national security, he fears. "For, once we cannot control the situation, it is natural that somebody else will control it," Mr Georgiev explains.

"What is needed is a national policy of job creation and lasting solution to the employment problem," the expert insists. The economy is rehabilitated naturally in a competitive environment, both internationally and between local companies, most of which should be private, he emphasizes. Therefore, privatization has to be speeded up, the treatment of foreign investment radically improved, and a number of other changes introduced in the various economic factors, Mr Georgiev notes.

[04] SINGLE BALKAN GAS-TRANSMISSION SYSTEM POSSIBLE

The start of extraction from the newly discovered gas deposit in the Bulgarian Black Sea shelf off Cape Galata will take some 50 million US dollars, the experts have worked out. The deposit could yield at least 2,000 million cu m of gas. Fifty per cent of the deposit belongs to the US company Texaco. The other half was held by the Committee which assigned it to Prime Investment Trust, "Bulgarska Armiya" recalls.

The Bulgarian network is part of the European gas transmission system connected with the networks of Russia and the other CIS countries. It is developed on the basis of intergovernmental agreements between Bulgaria and the ex-USSR on transshipment of Russian natural gas to Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and former Yugoslavia, the feature says.

The transit gas line to Turkey is ready and in operation. Four gas mains and compressor stations for transmission of gas to Greece and Macedonia are ready now. Others are designed and being extended, and Bulgaria is in a position to handle the transportation of natural gas to the Balkan countries as agreed, the experts believe. In their view, Bulgaria's geographical location is exceedingly favourable for building a single system of Balkan gas lines, writes "Bulgarska Armiya."

[05] LABOUR ACTIVISTS MEET RULING COALITION, OPPOSITION M.P.S

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) and the parliamentary group of the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has met for the first time in the last year-and-a-half, said CITUB leader Krustyu Petkov. The sides reportedly agreed to start work on bills regulating social aspects of the structural adjustment of economy. Petkov said the BSP-led Democratic Left coalition is ready for a dialogue on the social side of the structural reform. In spite of today's talks, the nation-wide token strike the CITUB has scheduled for June 7 will be held. This labour organization confirmed its decision to pursue its goals through strikes and protests.

BSP floor leader Krassimir Premyanov said the discontent of the trade unions is most natural but they should take into consideration the realities in the country. The Democratic Left, he said, would seek national consensus on the economic problems but would not yield under pressure. The BSP coalition is due to have talks with entrepreneurs and financiers.

CITUB, together with the Podkrepa Labour Confederation and another two influential labour organizations, the National Trade Unions and the Association of Democratic Trade Unions, met MPs of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces, Popular Union (of Democrats and Agrarians) and the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms. The participants in the meeting issued a joint communique in which the trade unions declare themselves in support of the vote of no-confidence in the government moved at Parliament yesterday by the opposition. The parliamentary opposition and trade unions will hold a joint rally on the day the motion is put to the vote. The opposition, on its part, says it backs the civil protests of trade unions and pledges to act as their political guarantor. The ultimate goal of the protests is toppling the government described in the communique as "government of the national catastrophe".

On Monday CITUB decided to call a one-hour token strike on June 7 to protest the social policy of the government. On the next day Podkrepa announced it has scheduled protests for June 6, pressing for early general elections and change of the political system. The chief of the Podkrepa metallurgy branch declared it is launching nation-wide protests on June 6. Decisions for protests were also announced by the federation of medical trade unions, the students of the New Bulgarian University, the National Organization of Monarchist Students and the National Union of Private Taxi Drivers. The latter demand a statutory act regulating their business and want the scheme for fuel price formation to be announced publicly.

[06] RIGOROUS CONTROL ALONG BULGARIAN SEA BORDER

"A rigorous control is being exercised along the Bulgarian sea border by the coast guards and the navy. The fuel-related problems facing the Varna State Shipping Inspectorate will be handled in a couple of days." reads the press release.

[07] BULGARIA-US: THRACIAN TREASURIES TO BE DISPLAYED IN U.S.

This is the first exhibition of Thracian art to open in the US after a five-year break. Mrs Susan Peacock of the exhibitions department with the Trust said their aim was to acquaint the US public with the history and culture of Bulgaria. The organizers hope the event will boost tourism and attract American investors and businessmen to Bulgaria.

The collection to tour the US features 250 artefacts, mostly gold, of the pre-Roman era. They are part of the Panagyurishte and Rogozen treasures and finds from Letnitsa, Loukovit, Borovo and Kazanluk. Half of the exhibits are newly unearthed and will be shown abroad for the first time, said Prof. Ivan Marazov who is member of the Bulgarian team of organizers.

Parts of the collection belong to 10 Bulgarian museums that will receive 250,000 US dollars for borrowing the exhibits. The event is wholly financed by private US companies with the mediation of the Trust. The expenses on the exhibition are projected to fetch 1,200,000 US dollars of which 700,000 have already been made available, said Mrs Peacock. The exhibitions are part of the events within the Days of Bulgarian Culture in the US. The bill of this festival also includes concerts of Bulgarian folklore, jazz and classical music and exhibitions of modern fine art.

PRESS REVIEW Sofia, June 6 (BTA)

[08] RADIO BULGARIA TURNS 60

Radio Bulgaria currently broadcasts in 12 languages for a total of 52 hours daily. In reality, this is more than two times as much the most popular programme of the national radio, the Horizon Programme. "There is not a single second when Radio Bulgaria is not heard somewhere in the world," the people who work in the radio say.

The signal of Radio Bulgaria covers the whole world. The short and meduim-wave transmitters broadcast to the Balkans, Europe, North and South America, Australia, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East.

Each year, Radio Bulgaria receives about 40,000 letters from its listeners. People of various ages and walks of life: young people, intellectuals, business people, blue-collar workers write to it. The radio's audience includes many admirers of Bulgarian folklore.

In Albania, Radio Bulgaria is the second most listened to radio station after the national radio. Several years ago, an Albanian immigrant to Greece was able to get in touch with his family through Radio Bulgaria. An Argentine couple got married after they got to know each other through their common weakness: Radio Bulgaria. They named their child Sofia, the same as Bulgaria's capital.

According to a survey conducted by the BBC, Radio Bulgaria ranks tenth among the radio stations which broadcast to listeners abroad. The radio is in the top ten stations in the list of the Association of Amateur Radio Societies. A journal of the International Broadcasting Association calls Radio Bulgaria "The BBC on the Balkans".

[09] CABINET RESHUFFLE

"BSP Executive Bureau Resigns En Bloc on Saturday" reads a front-page headline in "Pari"; a subheading in the daily adds that new people will join the BSP leadership.

An editorial in "24 Chassa" daily says that the things that take place in the BSP are inevitable. The controversies in the Party have been suppressed for a long time in the name of the unity so that the BSP could take power in a time when it sees fit. When this happened, the tragedy began, the daily says. "24 Chassa" runs an article by political analyst Professor Dragomir Draganov in which he analyzes the performance of Videnov's Cabinet. Among other things, the Cabinet is accused of delaying the structural reform which had fatal consequences. "But how could the Cabinet launch the reform when the people likely to be hit by it would have been its people that had strong positions and lobbies in Parliament and the executive power," the article says.

"Demokratsiya", the daily of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces, says that BSP leader Videnov will not resign for the time being since, under the BSP Statutes, he can only be relieved of his post by a Congress.

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