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Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), 96-12-30
EMBASSY OF BULGARIA - WASHINGTON D.C.
BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY
30 December, 1996
CONTENTS
[01] SOCIALIST LEADER PURVANOV, OPPOSITION LEADER KOSTOV ON POLITICAL
DIALOGUE
[02] THREE PARLIAMENTARY DEPUTY CHAIRMEN ON ELECTIONS IN SERBIA
[03] CENTRAL BANK'S GOVERNING BOARD WON'T RESIGN
[04] OUTGOING CABINET TO GRANT GAS PIPELINE CONCESSIONS
[05] PRESIDENT ZHELEV TO HOLD CONSULTATIONS ON NEW CABINET
[06] BUSINESS NEWS BRIEFS
[01] SOCIALIST LEADER PURVANOV, OPPOSITION LEADER KOSTOV ON POLITICAL
DIALOGUE
Sofia, December 29 (BTA) - The 42nd congress of the ruling Socialists
responded to the desire of party organizations and society as a whole for a
radical change in the executive, Socialist leader Georgi Purvanov said in
the Panorama news and views programme on Saturday. Purvanov was elected
leader at the congress, which ended earlier this week, after Prime Minister
Zhan Videnov handed in the Cabinet's resignation and said he would not run
for top positions in the party. Purvanov said the congress had adopted a
strong programme for practical policies which, along with other recent
party documents, would pave the way for effective Socialist government in
the next two years of the Socialists' term. He expressed concern about
political stability in view of opposition demands for early elections.
The Socialist leader is in favour of dialogue with the opposition. He said
the BSP wanted broad-based consultations with other forces inside and
outside Parliament. Summing up political developments in 1996, he
emphasized that the Socialist government had taken steps to service the
external debt, settle the internal debt, fight crime and so on.
Speaking in the same TV programme, Ivan Kostov, leader of the opposition
Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), said the real political alternative was
spelled out in a declaration "For Bulgaria's Salvation" submitted to
Parliament on December 19 by the United Democratic Forces, an opposition
coalition of the UDF, the Popular Union and the Movement for Rights and
Freedoms. The declaration calls for Parliament's immediate dissolution and
early elections; consensus among the parliamentary forces on the IMF
proposal for a currency board in Bulgaria and on restructuring as a whole.
Ivan Kostov also said the BSP had failed completely in government and
politics, adding that national concord would be possible to achieve on the
basis of the opposition declaration if the BSP showed "great political
courage" and took radical measures to "go its part of the way".
The UDF is ready to take responsibility and suggest a political technology
which would not cause destabilization as the BSP fears, said Kostov. The
UDF would suggest that strict financial discipline, as good as a currency
board, be established from the start of 1997. The UDF, Kostov said,
suggests that power be handed over to a caretaker government in the first,
most difficult months of a likely currency board.
[02] THREE PARLIAMENTARY DEPUTY CHAIRMEN ON ELECTIONS IN SERBIA
Sofia, December 29 (BTA) - In a declaration to the Serb Parliament Ivan
Kourtev of the Union of Democratic Forces, Atanas Zhelezchev of the Popular
Union and Yunal Lyutfi of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms expressed
serious concern about the two- month dispute over annulled opposition
victories in municipal voting in over 20 cities, including Belgrade.
The declaration said that as parliamentary deputy chairmen of a Council of
Europe member country, they are strongly in favour of a fast, peaceful and
just solution of the current crisis in Serbia. "We support the official
OSCE position on the municipal elections in Serbia, voiced by Felipe
Gonzalez," said Kourtev, Zhelezchev and Lyutfi.
[03] CENTRAL BANK'S GOVERNING BOARD WON'T RESIGN
Sofia, December 29 (BTA) - The Governing Board of the National Bank of
Bulgaria (BNB) rejected attacks on its policy in the past few months and
said it would not resign. Speaking at a news conference on Sunday, BNB
Governor Lyubomir Filipov said with guarded optimism that Bulgaria can pay
up to 170 million dollars in external debt service due in January. Nikolina
Micheva said the State Fund for Reconstruction and Development has 230
million dollars which can be used to this end. Micheva, Andrei Nikolov and
Zdravko Balyozov, appointed on what is known as the President's quota, said
if they resigned, it would be for personal reasons and not under political
pressure. The central bank may be used as a bargaining chip in some
backstage political games in early January, according to the central
bankers. Asked to comment an opposition declaration calling for the
resignation of the whole Governing Board, Lyubomir Filipov said the
decision rested with the politicians. "We are resolved to act according to
the provisions of the law, " he said. If a single member of the Governing
Board resigns now, the institution will be blocked because under the latest
amendments to the BNB Act, a resignation takes effect on submission, said
Balyozov. The central bankers believe that the country will not be left
without a working central bank through an oversight. The BNB officials
would not commit themselves to cite a likely dollar-lev exchange rate at
the possible introduction of a currency board. The dollar-lev exchange rate
should be set as late as possible, said Filipov. He said there are many
arguments for a devaluation of the lev at the introduction of a currency
board to make it easier to support the national currency at its new
exchange value.
[04] OUTGOING CABINET TO GRANT GAS PIPELINE CONCESSIONS
Sofia, December 29 (BTA) - The Cabinet decided on Sunday to launch a
procedure to grant a concession for the existing gas pipelines and a
separate one for the construction and use of new transit gas pipelines,
said Nikola Baltov, Head of the Concessions Office. The existing gas
pipelines link Bulgaria with Greece and Turkey and there are projects for a
new gas transmission network linking this country with Serbia and
Macedonia. On Saturday Parliament accepted the Cabinet's resignation.
Concessions will be granted by tenders under conditions announced within a
month of the publication of the government decision. Baltov said the draft
agreements give greater rights to the conceder than to the concessionaire.
Concessions will be granted for 35 years, the maximum term provided for by
the Concessions Act. Tenderers are required to deposit 5 million dollars in
a specified Bulgarian bank and prove their potential for gas transmission
through Bulgarian territory under direct contracts with Gazprom
subsidiaries, said Baltov. Topenergy, the Bulgarian-Russian gas joint
venture, is certain to submit a tender, said Energy Minister Roumen
Ovcharov. "Topenergy is a serious tenderer and Bulgaria would benefit if it
is granted a concession because Bulgargas [a state-owned gas importer and
trader] holds a 25 per cent stake in it and another 24.9 per cent are owned
by Bulgarian private companies," Ovcharov said.
Russian gas supply to Bulgaria in 1997 will be negotiated in Moscow on
January 13-14, said Bulgargas Executive Director Peter Subev. Later in
January Gazprom boss Rem Vyakhirev is expected in Bulgaria.
In January the Concessions Office will consider proposals by the
Construction Ministry to grant concessions for six limestone deposits
exploited by three state-owned cement plants, as well as a proposal by the
Committee of Posts and Telecommunications to review the licence of the
first GSM operator, MobilTEL, and hold a tender for a second GSM operator,
Baltov said. Priority will be given to telecoms concessions.
[05] PRESIDENT ZHELEV TO HOLD CONSULTATIONS ON NEW CABINET
Sofia, December 29 (BTA) - President Zhelyu Zhelev will start on Monday
consultations with the parliamentary groups on forming a new cabinet
following Saturday's vote for the Socialist cabinet's resignation. In an
address to the nation on Sunday evening, Zhelev said whatever government is
formed, it cannot solve the country's problems; what is needed according to
Zhelev is far-reaching constitutional reform. Zhelev's term expires in
January when Peter Stoyanov, elected on the ticket of the opposition United
Democratic Forces, takes office. On Sunday Zhelev took the opportunity to
reiterate the need for a shift from parliamentary government to
presidential government. Zhelev said the parliamentary (as opposed to
presidential) form of government kept the Videnov cabinet in office for
solong, although a year ago the President had said that "the government had
failed and should step down immediately". This form of government gives the
Socialist Party a chance to stay in office for two more years until the end
of its term, though it was not just Videnov's cabinet that failed, but
Socialist government as a whole, President Zhelev said. If Bulgaria were a
presidential republic with the President having the constitutional power to
dissolve Parliament or appoint the Prime Minister, the current severe
crisis would be avoided, said Zhelev.
[06] BUSINESS NEWS BRIEFS
Vinex Preslav exported 3.5 million bottles of white wine to Britain, the
US, Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands in 1996, the company's managing
director said. The winemaker of northeastern Bulgaria exported 700,000
litres of white wine to Japan, as well as 200,000 bottles of wine to the
Scandinavian countries. The first shipment of 12,000 bottles of what the
director called the best wine brandy has been sent to the Benelux
countries. In 1996 the company exported over 10 million bottles of wine and
7 million bottles of brandy to the former Soviet Union, said the
director. Export/Import Regulations Amended
Sofia, December 29 (BTA) - The outgoing cabinet headed by Zhan Videnov
amended Decree No.266 Establishing Regulations for Export and Import on
Sunday. The registration requirement for sugar beet exports and ice-cream
imports was lifted. A ban on pasta exports until the new crop was lifted
and they are now subject to registration as a way of preventing a sharp
rise in exports. Imported tobacco products, formerly subject to a licensing
requirement, were made subject to registration in line with World Trade
Organization standards. Bulgaria became a WTO member on December 1. Exports
of unrefined copper and copper anodes for electrolytic refining were made
subject to a registration requirement. An earlier licensing requirement was
lifted. A ban on premium wheat and barley seeds exports was replaced by a
licensing requirement. The ceiling on scrap metal exports was doubled to
150,000 tonnes in line with Bulgaria's commitments to the EU. An export tax
on firewood was lifted. Import duties on cereals, tractors and plant
protection chemicals which are in short supply in Bulgaria were decreased.
Environmental and medical equipment, heat-flow gauges and substances needed
in the pharmaceutical industry will be exempted from import duty from
January 1.
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