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| 20 Feb 2012, Issue 3324 · USD: 1.48631 EUR: 1.95583 · Sofia: min -4°, max 5° Varna: min 1°, max 6° · |
| BUSINESS POLITICS WORLD SOCIETY SPORTS FORUM |
Bulgaria's Ex President Stages Epistolary Bid for Socialist Leadership
 Bulgaria's
former President Georgi Parvanov has made a new move interpreted as
part of his bid to regain the leadership of the Bulgarian Socialist
Party by sending a letter to its plenum.
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Bulgaria Insists Syria Free Mazen Darwish in Harsh Statement
 Bulgaria has insisted that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad free all political prisoners.
read |
Song Recorded in Bulgaria to Lead Sarkozy's Re-Election Bid
 An
election campaign song used in French President Nicolas Sarkozy's bid
to get re-elected has been recorded in Bulgaria, it has emerged.
read |
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BULGARIAN CONNECTION EMERGES IN US CAPITOL TERROR PROBE
The man, who was arrested near the US Capitol building in Washington DC Friday as part of an anti-terror investigation, had been married to a Bulgarian woman. The information was reported by a number of Bulgarian media such as Standard daily and Darik radio, citing Associated Press. According to the United States Capitol Police, the "arrest was the culmination of a lengthy and extensive operation during which the individual was closely and carefully monitored." The investigation had been conducted jointly with the FBI, and the public was never in any danger. Amine El Khalifi, 29, is said to be an illegal immigrant originally from Morocco, BBC further reports, noting that US officials say he was heading to carry out a suicide attack on the Washington DC building, home to the US Congress. US officials, however, have stressed that he was not believed to have any genuine connections to al-Qaeda. Meanwhile, as reported by Bulgarian media, the landlord of an apartment building in Arlington, Virginia, had warned police about Amine El Khalifi a year and a half ago. Landlord, Frank Dynda, describes him as obnoxious and belligerent and says it took a court order to evict him out of his building. He also says a Bulgarian woman, believed to be Khalifi's wife rented the place and he later moved in. "He was hostile and mentioned to me that he was not paying a dime of rent and there was nothing I could do about it. He also threatened to physically harm me. I also mentioned that I thought he was doing something suspicious in his apartment, like making bombs," Dynda is quoted saying. Khalifi made a brief court appearance and was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction against US property - a charge that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. A bail hearing is set for Wednesday. According to BBC, the suspect was said to have overstayed a visitor visa since 1999, and was under investigation for more than a year. He carried a vest he thought was packed with explosives, reports said, but had in fact been supplied and made harmless by undercover agents. He was also carrying a gun that did not work. Khalifi was arrested in a parking garage a few blocks from the Capitol as he made his way towards Capitol grounds. According to an FBI affidavit, Khalifi met other individuals at the Arlington apartment in January 2011, at which he agreed with a statement that the "war on terrorism" was a "war on Muslims" and said the group had to be ready for war. He considered other targets for an attack including an office building in Alexandria and a Washington restaurant, before switching his sights to the Capitol, the affidavit further reads. 
JUST 6 387 BULGARIANS WERE EX COMMUNIST SECURITY SPIES Bulgaria's so-called Files Commission has probed 120 000 individuals for being agents and collaborators of the former Communist State Security, DS. The data was reported Sunday for the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR, by the Commission's Chairman, Evtim Kostadinov. Recently, 64 000 people have been probed in connection with the local and presidential elections in October, 2011, and another 42 000 over the fact they hold public office. Kostadinov says that out of the 120 000, 6 387 had ties with DS, but 5 782 were exposed because under article 1 of the Act for Access and Publication of Documents and Reporting of Association of Bulgarian Citizens with DS and Intelligence Services of the Bulgarian Army, some names are not subject to publication. "The difference comes from the fact we obey the law strictly," Kostadinov stressed, adding that the Commission will give an official account of their 5-year-long activity at a conference Tuesday. "We will present summary of all data we have collected and will underline the obstacles the law created for us – the latter must be most open to the public. We will propose amendments; then it would be up to the legislature to decide," said he. The Files Commission is a panel in charge of investigating the Communist era secret files. The blacklist of former state security agents and collaborators already features, now-ex President and former Socialist leader, Georgi Parvanov, former constitutional judges, supreme magistrates, investigators, members of parliament, prominent and well-known former and current Bulgarian journalists, as well as ambassadors and diplomats abroad. Recent revelations that eleven out of a total of fifteen Bulgarian Metropolitan bishops were former DS agents stirred huge outrage in Bulgaria. BASIC BULGARIAN FOOD STAPLES REGISTER PRICE HIKE In the last week, prices of basic food stables in Bulgaria went up even further with their wholesale price index increasing from 1.45 points to 1.47. The data was released by the State Commission for Commodity Exchanges and Market Places. Prices were stable until the beginning of February when the index was 1.4 on average. Price of feta cheese is up 2%; of the traditional Bulgarian yellow cheese (kashkaval) – by 0.1%; eggs price and the price of ground meat are up as well. Flour, sugar, and cooking oil prices registered a slight decrease. Regarding prices of produce, those of greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers were up by 6% and 7% respectively, compared to the previous week, cabbage was up 14%. Prices of citrus fruit – oranges and lemons and of apples went down, but the price of tangerines is up. BULGARIA'S FISCAL RESERVE SHRINKS TO BGN 3.8 B Bulgaria's fiscal reserve has decreased to BGN 3.8 B, the chair of the country's Parliamentary budget committee Menda Stoyanova has revealed. The fiscal reserve has dropped by BGN 1.2 B since December, Stoyanova said. However, she clarified that the decrease has been due to advance payments for agriculture producers and for the external debt, explaining that the money will be compensated over the following months. Former Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski, who is now an MP with the left-wing oppositional Bulgarian Socialist Party, voiced his concerns regarding the decreasing state fiscal reserve. "Over the last two and a half years, the internal debt has increased by BGN 2 B, while the fiscal reserve has decreased by BGN 3 B to BGN 4 B," Oresharski stated, concluding that the centrist-right GERB government has spent between BGN 5 B and BGN 6 B completely aimlessly. At the end of August 2011 the fiscal reserve stood at BGN 4.9 B, meaning it there is shortage of funds in the 2012 budget, the cabinet could use about BGN 2 B. BULGARIA TO RENEW ELECTRICITY EXPORTS TUESDAY Bulgaria is set to renew on Tuesday its electricity exports that it stopped due to the severe winter conditions in the country. On Friday, Bulgaria's Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Traicho Traikov ordered the exports to be renewed, Mihail Andonov, head of the country's National Electricity Company, announced on Sunday. On February 10, Bulgaria's government discontinued all electricity exports in order to make up for the increased domestic electricity consumption caused by the freezing temperatures over the past couple of weeks. Bulgaria traditionally exports electricity to Greece and Macedonia; in 2011, electricity exports to Turkey were resumed after an 8-year pause. Meanwhile, Bulgaria's sole Nuclear Power Plant, Kozloduy, has officially dismissed the claim that its Unit 5 has been experiencing technical difficulties. Such statement had been made by "Podkrepa" (Support) trade union leader Konstantin Trenchev. BULGARIA INSPECTS 500 DAMS, DISCOVERS 14 DANGEROUS A total of 500 dams have been inspected by Bulgarian authorities over the past days, with 14 of them deemed potentially dangerous, according to Mihail Andonov, head of the country's national power grid operator (NEK). Dam inspections have been fully completed in 18 out of the total of 28 Bulgarian regions, Andonov told the Bulgarian National Television on Sunday. The "Gostilitsa" dam near the Northwestern town of Montana and the "Rosina" dam near the Northeastern Targovishte are considered the most problematic, Andonov stated. Last week NEK's Dams and Cascades company assumed responsibility for monitoring the technical condition of all of the nearly 3000 dams and micro-dams located all over Bulgaria. The widespread dam inspections were triggered by a dam wall failure last week, which caused massive flooding in southern Bulgarian villages and took 10 victims. On Wednesday, Bulgaria's Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Traicho Traikov revealed that the inspection had identified serious problems at 11 facilities of a total of 140 checked. BULGARIA'S TOURISM INDUSTRY LOOKS FORWARD TO SUCCESSFUL SUMMER The Association of Bulgarian Tour Operators and Travel Agents has forecast a successful summer season for the country's tourism industry. Based on booking requests for the 2012 summer, the Bulgarian tour operators made it clear they have high hopes for the summer tourist season, speaking at a public discussion as part of the 29th Vacation and Spa Expo, Bulgaria's oldest international tourism forum, in Sofia. Representatives of the tour operators' association further noted that the 2011-2012 tourism season for Bulgaria's winter resorts is hard but is still expected to reach last years levels of profit. The last winter season brought Bulgarian winter resorts revenues totaling EUR 204 M, while the Bulgarian summer tourism industry usually makes 10 times as much. "The new Tourism Act does not encompass electronic trade when the tourist products are purchased online," Bayko Baykov, chair of the board of the Association, said when it came to discussing the problems for Bulgaria's tourism industry. The tour operators and travel agents have also complained of the government's failure to eliminate the gray economy in the tourism sector. 
BULGARIA INSISTS SYRIA FREE MAZEN DARWISH IN HARSH STATEMENT Bulgaria has insisted that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad free all political prisoners. In a special statement of Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vesela Cherneva, the Bulgarian government specially insisted Thursday that Syria let go Syrian human rights activist Mazer Darwish. Darwish, Director of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, was arrested by the regime on Thursday. "We express our concern for the life and safety of Mr. Darwish, his wife, and the other detainees," the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said. "This act (Darwish's arrest – editor's note) is one more attempt of the Syrian regime to restrict the freedom of speech, and to use repressions in order to crack down on its political opponents," spokesperson Cherneva declared Saturday. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry further pointed out that the Syrian authorities are continuing their military actions "against their own people." "We condemn strongly the bombardments against the cities of Homs, Zabadai, Hama, and Deraa. The regime in Damascus must cease immediately the murders of innocent citizens, including many children," Cherneva stated regarding the situation in Syria where mass protests and unrest against the Assad regime started about a year ago. BULGARIAN PIRATE NABBED NEAR GRANDE COMORE - REPORT A total of ten pirates, nine Kenyans and one Bulgarian, have been reportedly busted by Comorian authorities near Grande Comore, the largest island in the Comoros archipelago. The apprehended alleged pirates claimed they were Kenyan police officers that had to escort a ship on its way to South Africa. However, the suspects were not dressed in the Kenyan police's official uniforms and had no documents proving their identity, according to Comoros Chief Prosecutor, Youssouf Ali Djae, who has been cited by the Bulgarian National Radio. 50 RUSSIANS IN BULGARIA CAST VOTES IN RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS A total of 50 citizens of the Russian Federation have become the first Russian in Bulgaria to cast votes in Russia's presidential elections. The vote was organized in Bulgaria's northeastern city of Shumen ahead of schedule, the Bulgarian National Radio reported, citing the local Russian community. The ballot box was sent to the Russian Consulate in Bulgaria's Varna, where it will be opened after the end of the Russian election day, March 4, 2012. Some 80 000 Russian citizens living in 58 countries around the world will have the chance to vote ahead of the Russian elections, and Bulgaria's Shumen is one of the first cities globally to do so. Bulgaria's official census figures put the number of Russian residing in Bulgaria at about 10 000 but their actual number is official to be much higher. BULGARIA'S EX PRESIDENT STAGES EPISTOLARY BID FOR SOCIALIST LEADERSHIP Bulgaria's former President Georgi Parvanov has made a new move interpreted as part of his bid to regain the leadership of the Bulgarian Socialist Party by sending a letter to its plenum. Parvanov, who was the chair of the Bulgarian Socialist Party before getting elected to the Bulgarian Presidency in 2001, was the one to point to his successor Sergey Stanishev (Prime Minister in 2005-2009), who is still the Socialist leader and is currently interim President of the Party of European Socialists. As he completed his two terms as President of Bulgaria in January 2012, Parvanov has given indications that his political future will focus on heading the Socialist Party once again; he has already restored his party membership. As the Socialists held a plenum of their National Council on Saturday, the big question mark was whether the ex President will show up. Parvanov chose not to attend the event but sent a letter to the Socialist leadership, making clear his intention to get involved in the party's activities. Some of the BSP National Council members have interpreted Parvanov's letter as evidence that he will challenge Stanishev for the party chair seat on the 48th Congress of the Socialists, which has just been scheduled to take place on May 19-20, 2012. In his epistolary message to the Socialists, Parvanov indicates five major problems that the party needs to resolve, in his view. A key problem is said to be how BSP can defeat Bulgaria's center-right rulers from PM Borisov's GERB party in a way that will allow the Socialists to form a "stable and convincing" government. Parvanov deems another problem to be the need to find a way to cope with the "legacy" of the "weak and harmful" government of the GERB party. The need to overcome the economic crisis is also mentioned as a major issue. "Are we capable of outlining a clearer strategic horizon for the nation (not only until 2020 but also beyond that," Parvanov asks in his letter. In conclusion, the ex President makes clear his resolve to defend his own legacy and the decisions that he made during his two five-year terms as head of state "against the continuing aggressive attacks." BULGARIA'S AUDIT OFFICE TO LAUNCH MASSIVE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PROBES National Audit Office Chair Valeri Dimitrov has vowed inspections at the National Health Insurance Fund, the National Security Service, the National Intelligence Service and the Finance Ministry. In a Saturday interview for Darik radio, Dimitrov explained that the majority of the checks at the state institutions would be conducted in relation to public procurement procedures. He went on to explain that the National Audit Office examined the incomes of around 50 000 Bulgarians on an annual basis. Dimirov specified, however, that the auditing mechanism applied could not uncover violations of the kind that lead to the resignation of German President Christian Wulff. "We do not have investigational functions of the sort the police have. In cases like Wulff's case, the major contributor is investigative journalism," he added, commenting on the decision of the German head of state to leave office amid a corruption scandal. "Public administration is overstaffed and badly paid, but bonus payments are not the solution to the problem," Dimitrov argued. He claimed that there was no problem in making directors' salaries public and that it was a matter of introducing the necessary legal provisions. "We are introducing a result-oriented pay system at the National Audit Office and the average salary is about BGN 1000, which is quite low for the work that gets done," Dimitrov noted. He further explained that political parties were free to donate their state subsidy. "They have such a practice and we believe it is fully legitimate. Parties are not a part of the state and they are free to do whatever they want with the state subsidy funds, as long as it agrees with the law," the National Audit Office Chair stated, commenting on the plans of center-right ruling party GERB to donate BGN 1 M from its State subsidy to the residents of the flooded southeastern village of Biser. BULGARIA'S INTERIOR SECRETARY: POLICE ARE NO BALLERINAS Asked to comment on the growing public discontent over cases of police brutality in Bulgaria, Kalin Georgiev, Chief Secretary of the Interior Minister has claimed that police officers are executing their duties in accordance with the law. "The employees of the Interior Ministry are no ballerinas. When they are provoked by arrogance, words or actions, the action has its consequences. The police response, however, needs to be measured and proportionate," Georgiev said in an interview for private TV channel bTV on Saturday. He emphasized that no case of police officers using excessive force had been hushed up and vowed that his subordinates would become more polite and better qualified. Georgiev explained that if the lack of intelligence had been compensated by muscle power in the past, this was no longer allowed to happen. "This is the case now because the Interior is a function of society and we are a representative sample of this society," he argued. Regarding the latest case of alleged police brutality against Ilia Iliev, a musician at a famous show band, the Chief Secretary of the Interior was adamant that the troops of the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GDBOP) had acted proportionately and amid an "urgent necessity". Georgiev also reminded his audience that Bulgarian citizens were obliged to assist the police, which was also indicated at the back of the identification cards of the police officers. He went on to say that vehicular manslaughter ought to be considered a grave crime entailing a serious penalty, rather than suspended sentence or probation. Georgiev specified that the legal provisions concerning vehicular manslaughter would be discussed at a round table in Parliament on Monday. Asked to say how often he had been on the brink of filing his resignation, he said that, "unfortunately", he had no pockets on the suit he was wearing to demonstrate. "My salary goes directly towards power bills and rent. Apart from that, I go to hospital at least once a year," Georgiev stated, responding to a question about what would happen if he lost his job. He rejected allegations that he had held talks about his appointment at the State Agency for National Security (DANS). "If such rumors are going around, they are the fruit of the imagination of a number of people," Georgiev insisted. BULGARIANS BOW TO NATIONAL HERO VASIL LEVSKI Thousands of ordinary people and Bulgaria's most high-ranking state officials will commemorate Sunday the 139th anniversary of the death of national hero, freedom fighter Vasil Levski. Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, as well as a number of other cabinet members and Members of the Parliament will take part in the memorial service at the St. Sofia church and will lay wreaths at the Levski Monument in downtown Sofia, erected at the place Levski was hanged in 1873. Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, is hosting the event. Levski was sentenced to death by an Ottoman court and executed in Sofia on February 18 (February 6 old style), 1873. Memorial services for Levski are held across the country – in Levski's native town of Karlovo, the town of Kazanlak, the cities of Blagoevgrad, Yambol, Lovech, and Burgas among many others, as people pay tribute to the hero at his numerous monuments, including the Levski Memorial in downtown Sofia. On Saturday, a memorial plaque dedicated to Vasil Levski was placed and officially inaugurated near the St. Petka of the Saddlers Church in downtown Sofia. The Sofia City Hall announces a number of traffic and parking restrictions in the area of the Vasil Levski Monument, the Alexander Nevsky cathedral, and the St. Sofia church. Boulevard Vasil Levski, on which the monument is located, will be closed for traffic from 3 pm to 10 pm; parking on the northern side of the Alexander Nevsky square is banned from 8 am to 7 pm., and from 3 pm to 7 pm on the Vasil Levski and Dondukov boulevards, and adjacent streets. There are also changes in the routes of trolleys numbers 1, 2 and 4, which, between 3 pm and 10 pm, will not go near the monument and will be detoured through downtown Sofia. SONG RECORDED IN BULGARIA TO LEAD SARKOZY'S RE-ELECTION BID An election campaign song used in French President Nicolas Sarkozy's bid to get re-elected has been recorded in Bulgaria, it has emerged. The song will be heard before all of Sarkozy's election rallies, the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency has informed. The piece is composed by Laurent Ferlet and has been recorded by an orchestra of 50 performers in Sofia before being mixed in France. According to Le Figaro, a discussion has been going on in Twitter on whether the 3-minute-long song reminds of Batman and Spiderman soundtracks. BULGARIAN EU FUNDS MINISTER 'PLEASED' WITH TRAFFIC FINE Bulgaria's Minister for the European Funds Management and former Mayor of the city of Gabrovo, Tomislav Donchev, had been fined BGN 20 by traffic police for driving without turning his automobile's lights on. The Minister admits that this is a very rare experience since traffic police usually "forgive" him and promises to compliment the police officers before Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov. The news was reported by Donchev, himself, on his Facebook page, where he writes that he had made a mistake as a driver and is pleased with the immediate reaction of the police patrol. "I was fined today... I often drive alone. It has happened before to be stopped by traffic police, but they usually let me go, and even salute me. I find it too much, but not unusual. Today they were able to pleasantly surprise me. They fined me. I did not commit a serious violation – I am not used to the buttons of my government car, and did not realize that I had not turned the lights on. A little after the junction for the city of Lovech I was stopped by two young and very polite policemen. They explained the violation, checked my papers and wrote a citation for BGN 20. I am not sure if they recognized me, if yes – accolades for being uncompromising; if not – I am happy they looked great in their clean uniforms, and were polite and courteous. I think I will send a letter to their boss Tsvetanov to share my personal impression," Donchev, who, according to Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov is one of the top performing cabinet members, has written on Facebook. SOFIA TO GET RID OF COLLAPSED CENTRAL RAILROAD STATION TENT The Mayor of Bulgaria's capital Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, is insisting on the removal of the tent in front of the Central Railroad Station. The news was reported Sunday by the private channel bTV. Part of the facility has collapsed under the weight of the heavy snow that gripped the country recently. A passerby had been slightly harmed, but there are no serious injuries. The sheet in the northern part of the tent tore under the snow. Although the facility was cleaned during the week, part of it succumbed, explained the municipality. The area around the tent at the Central Railroad Station is secured. "I commissioned an urgent inspection of the entire structure, which experts say is good. An overall reconstruction of the Central Railroad Station is forthcoming. I will insist for it to include this area because my personal opinion is that this facility is not suitable for such public space," commented Fandakova. The tent in front of the Central Railroad Station in Sofia appeared towards the end of 2003 when the area around it was repaired. At the opening of the tent, it was reported that the structure is similar to the Olympic stadium in Munich, and a first such facility on the Balkans. Its building, including a fabric-membrane structure with an area of 5000 square meters, hung on pylons with steel cables, cost BGN 1.6 M. The contractor gave a guarantee of 20 years. 1000 TAKE PART IN BULGARIA'S CONTROVERSIAL FAR-RIGHT MARCH Some 1000 participants joined the so-called Lukov March, a procession deemed to be neo-Nazi, whose organizers defend it as patriotic. The 2012 "Lukov March" procession, which has been held for the last couple of years by Bulgarian far-right formations to honor the memory of Gen. Hristo Lukov, a hero from Bulgaria's national unification wars turned an anti-Semite and a pro-Nazi activist, was also said to honor the memory of Vasil Levski, Bulgaria's undisputed national hero from the anti-Ottoman liberation struggle. The so called Lukov March has been initiated by the Bulgarian National Union, a far-right organization, but appears to have attracted some members of the general audience as well.  As
if to make it even more controversial, the participants in the Lukov
March held banners of both the questionable Gen. Hristo Lukov (right)
and the Bulgarian national hero Vasil Levski (left). Photo by BGNESAfter standing out during the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, General Hristo Lukov (1888-1943) was the commanding General of the 13th Division of the Bulgaria's Army during World War I, and later a Minister of War. In the late 1930s and during the Second World War he was a great supporter of the Axis powers, particularly Nazi Germany; he is known to have voiced demands that Bulgaria's legislation be made more antisemitic and closer to that of Hitler's Nazi Germany. Lukov was the the leader of the right extremist Union of Bulgarian National Legions, which many Bulgarian historians deem the only real fascist organization in Bulgaria during World War II. Lukov was murdered by communist insurgents in 1943. Lukov March was met with protests and criticism by a number of organizations – ranging from the European Network against Racism (ENAR), to the Bulgarian NGO HoRa ("People against Racism), to the youth organization of the Bulgarian Socialist Party. HoRa have accused the participants in the Lukov March of staging beatings of Roma, LGBQT people, foreigners, and leftist activists, and have described the march as shameful for Sofia, a European capita. BULGARIA OPENS MEMORIAL PLAQUE TO HONOR NATIONAL HERO LEVSKI A memorial plaque dedicated to Bulgaria's national hero Vasil Levski has been opened near the St. Petka of the Saddlers Church in downtown Sofia. The plaque was officially inaugurated Saturday, February 18, 2012, marking the 139th year since Vasil Levski's hanging by the Ottoman Turkish Empire in Sofia. Bulgaria's national hero and revolutionary Vasil Levski (1837-1873) was the most important Bulgarian freedom-fighter against the Ottoman Turkish Empire; on top of his great organizational skills and courage, he is also known for his strong democratic views and calls for setting up a "pure and holy republic." Between 1869 and 1873 he managed to create an extensive network of secret national revolution committees all across the Bulgarian lands. Levski was hanged in Sofia by the Ottoman authorities in 1873, five years before Bulgaria's national liberation. The new memorial plaque was initiated by the Nikolay Haytov Foundation, named after renowned Bulgarian writer and researcher Nikolay Haytov. Vasil Levski's grave remains unknown and the issue about its location remains a crucial one in Bulgarian history. Author Nikolay Haytov himself provided indirect evidence to support the allegation that Levski was buried in the altar of the St. Petka church the night of February 18-19, 1873, after his hanging.
“According to national memory and scientific data,
patriotic Bulgarians buried the Apostle of Freedom Vasil Levski in the
altar of this church in 1873,” reads the inscription on the memorial
plaque opened Saturday.
BULGARIAN TOP COP DEMANDS TOUGHER SANCTIONS FOR ROAD KILLERS Bulgaria needs legislative amendments to ensure harsher sanctions for those who have killed people in traffic accidents, the country's Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov has declared. According to Tsvetanov, changes should be made regarding the opportunity for road killers to reach agreements which prosecutors. "The agreement should be abolished or applied only in case the victim's family agrees to it," he said. A mechanism should be created to clarify that those who drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs should be judged according to the Bulgarian Penal Code, Tsvetanov also stated. In an interview for Nova TV, he noted that tougher sanctions should be imposed on unlicensed drivers. The Interior Minister cited statistical data, according to which approximately 1000 Bulgarians perish each year as a result of traffic accidents. BULGARIA UNDER FLOOD ALERT OVER SNOWMELT There is a real and huge threat of wide-spread floods in Bulgaria over the expected snowmelt, experts alarm. During the week, the mercury in southern Bulgaria will hit the 8-10 degrees C mark, according to the national forecast, and this can lead to the mass overflowing of dams and rivers. The government is launching constant monitoring of dams across the country and the controlled draining and letting out of waters of potentially unsafe dams, both big and small, is ongoing. The military college in the central city of Veliko Tarnovo is preparing the launch of a program to train mayors in the region and from the country in prevention and actions in cases of disasters. Meanwhile, the damage from the flood in the southern village of Biser on February 6 is estimated at over BGN 3 M – 55 houses have been destroyed in Biser and the nearby village of Leshnikovo after the cracked wall of the Ivanovo dam broke and submerged adjacent areas. The amount, however, does not include the damage to the infrastructure, such as the railroad, the roads and the bridges. The floods in southeastern Bulgaria took ten victims. The cabinet declared February 8 a national day of mourning for the victims. SOFIA NEVSKY CATHEDRAL MARKS 130 YEARS OF 1ST STONE LAYING Sunday, February 19, marks the 130th anniversary since the laying of the foundation stone of the world-famous St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in downtown Sofia. Alexander Nevsky is one of the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedrals in the world and the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedral on the Balkan Peninsula. It is located in the very heart of Bulgaria's capital. It holds, according to estimates, anywhere between 5 000 and 10 000 people and was built on the idea of Petko Karavelov. The construction of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral started in February 1882, when the foundation stone was laid, but most of it was built between 1904 and 1912. Saint Alexander Nevsky was a Russian prince – knyaz, a national hero and Saint. The cathedral was created in honor to the Russian soldiers who died during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, as a result of which Bulgaria was liberated from Ottoman rule. In July 1240, the Knyaz, heading a small group of soldiers, defeated on the banks of Neva River the Swedish army advancing towards Moscow. The legend says that after the epic battle he was given the name Nevsky. Built in Neo-Byzantine style, since 1951 the cathedral serves as the cathedral church of the Patriarch of Bulgaria. It is also one of the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedrals in the world, as well as one of Bulgaria's and Sofia's symbols and primary tourist attractions. The mural, the mosaics, and the icons are the work of some of the most famous Bulgarian and Russian artists at the time. The cathedral has 12 bells, including the tallest bell on the Balkans – 53 meters. Inside the cathedral, to the left of the altar, is a case displaying relics of Alexander Nevsky, given by the Russian Orthodox Church in March 2010. In November 2011, the Bulgarian National TV, BNT, reported that the temple has no owner to take care of it. The top Bulgarian landmark is without a title deed, and at the same time is in a desperate need of repairs, the BNT investigation has indicated. According to the report, the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is not owned by the Bulgarian state, nor is it owned by the Sofia Municipality, or the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. PROMINENT BULGARIAN ACTOR CHERKELOV PASSES AWAY Prominent Bulgarian actor Georgi Cherkelov has passed away, his family has told the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency. Cherkelov was born on June 25 in the Southern Bulgarian town of Haskovo. He graduated from the Theater and Film Academy in Sofia and his acting career started in 1956 in the theater of Vratsa. Cherkelov's movie debut came in 1961. One of his most famous roles is that of Bogdan Velinski in the famous Bulgarian TV series "Na vseki kilometer." Georgi Cherkelov had over 100 theater roles and played in nearly 70 movies. MARCEL HIRSCHER WINS MEN'S GIANT SLALOM IN BULGARIA'S BANSKO Austrian Marcel Hirscher has scored a victory in the men's giant slalom race of the Alpine Skiing World Cup in the top Bulgarian winter resort of Bansko. On Saturday, Hirscher triumphed on the Banderishka Polyana piste with a total time of 2:25:35 (two minutes 25 seconds). Italian Massimilliano Blardone came in second, and Austrian Marcel Mathis got the third place on the podium in Bansko. US skier Ted Ligety, who was the leader after the first run of the men's giant slalom at the Alpine Skiing Cup in Bansko, failed to complete the race. After his win in Bansko, Hirscher now has 925 points for the World Cup, and is 118 behind the leader Ivica Kostelic; Swiss Beat Feuz, who, like Kostelic, skipped the Bansko race, is 48 points behind the leader. Hirscher is already in the leader for the giant slalom cup with 465 points. The two Bulgarian skiers Nikola Chongarov and Georgi Georgiev failed to make it to second run in Bansko on Saturday. US legend Bode Miller completed the race but a loss of balance before the finish line sent him 16 seconds behind the leader, thus giving him the second place. HIRSCHER SAYS HE CAN WIN WORLD SKI CUP AFTER BANSKO GOLD Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher believes he has a chance of winning the World Ski Cup after grabbing the gold medal at Saturday's giant slalom in Bulgaria's Bansko. "I have reasons to believe I can win the big World Cup," Hirscher declared after his win in the top Bulgarian winter resort. Hirscher, who is now 118 points behind the leader Ivica Kostelic, did race, however, in the absence of Kostelic. Swiss Beat Feuz, who is 48 points behind Kostelic, also skipped the Bansko giant slalom. Italian Massimilliano Blardone came in second in Bansko on Saturday, and Austrian Marcel Mathis got the third place on the podium in Bansko. "I think that this was one of my best giant slalom runs. I have reasons to believe I can win the big World Cup but right now I am thinking of each start by itself," said Hirscher, as cited by BGNES. BULGARIA'S CSKA TO BRING BACK INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL TO LIBYA Bulgarian team CSKA Sofia will face Libyan clubs Al Nasr Benghazi and Al Ahli Tripoli in matches set to mark the first anniversary of the revolution in the North African country. Thus, CSKA is to become the first foreign team to play in Libya since the uprising against dictator Muammar Gaddafi erupted on February 17 last year. The games are to take place on Monday and Wednesday at the "The Heroes of February 17th" stadium in Benghazi that used to be named after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez before the revolution. Libya's football league has been suspended since last February and the Libyan clubs that participate in continental competitions stopped playing at home in knockout ties, which were reduced to a single match at their opponent's ground. The country's national team qualified to this year's African Cup of Nations using Mali and Egypt as home grounds. BULGARIAN MAN WITH CRIMINAL RECORD SHOT DEAD IN SOFIA A 30-year-old man with a criminal record for drug trafficking and issuing a death threat was shot dead on Friday night, the Interior Ministry's press office reported on Saturday. Asen Lazarov was found dead at 10.45 p.m. on Friday at the entrance of a block of flats on the Tsar Boris III Boulevard in Sofia. The man was shot by three bullets, one of which hit him in the neck, and two in the chest. Lazarov's dead body was found by two girls who had kept him company prior to the accident. They told the police that somebody had called Lazarov and he had gone outside. As the man was absent for quite some time, the girls decided to go and came across his dead body at the block's entrance, the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA) reported. A group of police officers and a coroner were immediately dispatched to the location. Police officers inspected the crime scene and collected evidence. Pre-trial proceedings are underway on the case. BULGARIAN BORDER POLICE ARREST 13 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS Bulgarian border police have detained 13 illegal immigrants, the majority of them without identification documents. The people said they were Georgian,Pakistani and Iraqi nationals, the press office if the Interior Ministry reported on Saturday. At 6.55 a.m. on Saturday, border patrol agents detained two men near the road to the Malko Tarnovo border crossing point. The men claimed to be Georgian citizens but failed to present any ID documents. The two have been detained for 24 hours at a temporary detention site and the prosecuting authority has been notified. At 9.30 p.m. on Friday, border police at the Svilengrad border crossing point detained nine people without identification papers near the village of Kapitan Andreevo. The people said they were Pakistani nationals. The detained are two men and two women aged 28 to 32 and five children aged 2 to 8. The male adults have been placed at a temporary detention facility, while the women and children have been taken to a site designated for women with infants. At 23.00 p.m. on Friday, border police at the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing point stopped for inspection a TIR truck with a Turkish registration plate driven by a 47-year-old Turkish national. Two men aged 21, both of them Iraqi nationals, were found hidden in the TIR truck. The men have been detained for 24 hours and have been placed at a temporary detention site at the Svilengrad border crossing point. The TIR truck is staying at the border crossing point. FIXED-ROUTE TAXI KILLS STUDENT IN SOFIA, ACCIDENT UNREPORTED A traffic accident in which a 22-year-old student got ran over and killed by a fixed-route taxi in Sofia's Studentski grad (Student city) remained unreported by the Interior Ministry. According to a reportage aired by private TV station bTV late on Friday, the accident happened on February 14. Mariana Kabuleva, 22, and a group of friends had headed for a bar to celebrate St. Valentine's Day, bTV announced. The students had had to walk on the road because the sidewalk had not been cleared of snow, the reporter stated, adding that they had observed road safety rules and had walked against the traffic. A bus and a fixed-route taxi #18 had been travelling in the opposite lane, when the taxi decided to pull ahead of the bus. The stretch of the road was poor-lit and as the taxi was trying to go past the bus, it hit the girl in the back and she died on the spot. The fixed-route taxi had been travelling from the village of Katina to the Druzhba-1 residential district in Sofia, but there were no passengers on board at the time of the crash. The driver, Dimitar Dimitrov, 62, told the police he had failed to see the group of students. "When he saw the pedestrians, it was already too late, as the section of the road was ill-lit. He said that he had been driving at a low speed. He had not been drinking; he was tested for alcohol on the spot. A check showed that he had not committed a violation of the Road Traffic Act since 2005," said Yoana Trendafilova, investigating police officer at the Sofia District Police Directorate. Overtaking is banned on the road section where the traffic accident occurred. An expert analysis is yet to determine if Dimitrov had exceeded the speed limit. The driver of the fixed-route taxi had been arrested. Mariana was buried on Friday in the northern city of Pleven. Asked to comment on the matter, Neli Ivanova, spokesperson of the Sofia District Police Directorate, denied that the case had been hushed up, adding that the pre-trial proceedings were underway and that a local newspaper had published an article on the accident in its Thursday issue. SINS "Sweety, before we get married, I would like to confess to you all of my sins." "But you did confess them last week!" "Yes, dear, but I got some newer information..." IRAN HALTS CRUDE OIL EXPORTS TO FRENCH, BRITISH COMPANIES Iran has stopped exporting crude oil to French and British companies, the country's oil ministry revealed in a statement on Sunday. The move comes as a retaliatory measure against EU sanctions imposed last month that sought to target Iran's critical oil sector in attempts to rein in Tehran's nuclear program. "Exporting crude to British and French companies has been stopped," spokesman Alireza Nikzad has announced in statement quoted by the ministry of petroleum website. Nikzad has explained that Iran will sell its oil to new customers. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency are due to visit Iran Monday. LATVIA SAYS 'NO' ON RUSSIAN AS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE The majority of citizens in Latvia have voted against declaring Russian as the second official language in the country, dealing a heavy blow to its supporters. According to flash results of the Central Electoral Commission from about two thirds of the voting polls, nearly 80% have voted against respective amendments in the Constitution. Only 21.5% have voted "for" in the referendum, with a very high poll activity on Saturday – 60.2%. The vote has also brought up the issue of whether Russian could become an official language of the EU. Under Latvian legislation, the initiative would have to be backed by 50% of the 1.5 million eligible voters to pass. WHITNEY HOUSTON'S EX ASKED TO LEAVE FUNERAL MASS Whitney Houston's former husband Bobby Brown has left her funeral Saturday, shortly before the start of the services. According to celebrity gossip site TMZ, citing their own sources at the ceremony, Brown had been asked to leave by security after he got into an argument with Houston's family over whether or not he could bring nine people into the church with him, because he had the right to bring just two guests. TMZ reports that Brown was spotted going into the church today in Newark, NJ, but was seen leaving shortly thereafter because he became upset when he found out they would not seat his whole party. TMZ sources also say Bobby wanted to sit with his daughter, Bobbi Kristina, but Whitney's family did not allow it. The site further quotes Reverend Al Sharpton saying upon leaving the the New Hope Baptist Church: "He showed nothing but love and respect for Whitney. I wish people would leave Bobby alone." Brown has issued a statement later on, stating, "My children and I were invited to the funeral of my ex-wife Whitney Houston. We were seated by security and then subsequently asked to move on three separate occasions. I fail to understand why security treated my family this way and continue to ask us and no one else to move. Security then prevented me from attempting to see my daughter Bobbi-Kristina. In light of the events, I gave a kiss to the casket of my ex-wife and departed as I refused to create a scene." Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown were married for 15 years before they divorced in 2007. The casket of Whitney Houston is heavily guarded until the burial Sunday morning, with 10 security guards tasked with keeping watch on it. The pop icon will be buried in her father's tomb in Westfield, near her hometown of Newark, where the ceremony was held Saturday. THE BULGARIAN SOLUTION OF THE GREEK CRISIS: WHY BULGARIA MUST AID GREECE! The so called Greek crisis has been shaking Europe for the past two years. What started as a problem with Greece's sovereign debt complicated by some data cooking in Athens, has spilled over far beyond, into a full-fledged European debt crisis questioning the building paradigms of contemporary Europe, and even the existence of the European Union and of its offspring, the euro zone. As it turned out, hundreds of billions of euro worth of bailout aid and scores of half-hearted measures adopted by the Merkozy-dominated EU summits have failed to cope with the crisis in both Europe, and Greece, whose political and oligarchy elite seems bankrupt not only when it comes to state finances but also with respect to moral solutions. Meanwhile, the Greek nation is logically growing more and more indignant because of the intervention of the lending Troika (EU - ECB - IMF) in Greece's domestic affairs; the country has been plagued with strikes on a daily basis, and the forecasts for the competitiveness of the Greek economy are hardly encouraging. Against this backdrop of a total crisis in Bulgaria's southern neighbor, in the past months, years actually, the Bulgarian government has adopted an approach that deserves to remain in political economy textbooks under the title, "The Mistaken Geoeconomics of Bulgarian Finance Minsiter Simeon Djankov." Its gist boils down to marching around various European media, preferably German newspapers (Bulgarian media don't even count, they are used in bulk), and explaining that the Greeks are terribly in debt, that Bulgaria is doing much better, that Bulgaria will surpass Greece's living standard about 2020, that in six months Greece will quit the euro zone, that this won't be an issue for Bulgaria and for Europe, that the Greeks must figure their way out on themselves, that there is an "exodus" of Greek firms moving to Bulgaria because of the instability in Greece and the stability in Bulgaria... And these are only some of the highly perplexing let's-join-those-kicking-the-Greeks-while-they-are-down messages coming from Bulgaria's highest state level! Such shocking nonsense has been coming for months not only from Bulgaria's Finance Minister and Deputy PM Simeon Djankov, but also from Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. Borisov, however, cannot be expected to be knowledgeable about geoeconomics and geopolitics, unlike the highly praised and renowned (no sarcasm here) former World Bank economist Djankov. Yet, both appear to be terribly deficient in terms of stately and diplomatic sense about how one should behave with their neighbors in international politics. That is, NOT because Bulgarians need to be nice per se but because their nation's interests necessitate a totally different approach! Many in Bulgaria would immediately object that the Greek politicians are actually treating Bulgaria even worse by seeking to intimidate the Greeks with suggestions that they might descend to Bulgaria's living standards, or be reduced to "Bulgarian pensions." What is more, the Bulgarian society widely believes that the Greeks themselves despise Bulgarians (perhaps ever since the wars between the Byzantine Empire and the First Bulgarian Empire). This perception is widely built upon the humiliating treatment of many Bulgarian migrants working in Greece's agriculture. All of that may or may not be true but none of it means that the authorities in Sofia should have adopted their current destructive and "apple-polishing" approach aimed at showing the strict disciplinarian teacher (Frau Merkel, of course) that the classmate sitting next to us is being naughty while we are pointing fingers at them gloatingly. This kind of approach is not in Bulgaria's best interest in any way. In the best-case scenario it means colossal missed benefits, and in the worst-case scenario – outright economic and political losses. Why? Because Bulgaria would have benefitted a lot more from a rich Greece than from a Greece that is bankrupt and is being demonized on a daily basis. And because Bulgaria is in fact capable of helping its southern neighbor FOR FREE, while also deserving the gratitude of both Greeks and others across Europe. Before I explain how this can be done, I'd like to remind our readers from around the world about the Bulgarian-Greek situation before the 2008 crisis: massive Greek investments in Bulgaria (even though some of them were dubious and "unhealthy"), a large number of Greek tourists and business visitors, and, most importantly, huge and dynamically growing Bulgarian exports to Greece. There is no way that Bulgaria can benefit as much from a debt-ridden Greece simply because a couple of thousand firms filled some paperwork on this side of the border to save a bit of cash. Bulgaria can derive only marginal benefits from that, and the Cabinet in Sofia knows it too well but apparently keeps trumpeting the "arrival" of Greek firms to "delude the masses" in Bulgaria. The fact of the matter is that Bulgaria is CAPABLE of helping Greece FOR FREE while deriving tremendous economic, diplomatic, and image benefits, while also – for the very first time in centuries – contributing a constructive solution to the resolving of Europe's problems. The Bulgarian solution of the Greek crisis must come in two subsections: A) political, and B) infrastructural and economic. А) The Bulgarian government declare asap all-out political support for Greece's efforts to cope with the crisis as well as total political solidarity with the Greek people in these moments of hardship. From its highest state level Bulgaria needs to declare its trust and belief in the capacity of its neighbor's state and nation to cope with their ordeals. I've been following Bulgarian politics pretty closely but not once in the past two years, since the start of the Greek crisis, have I heard of any well-founded position of the Bulgarian government on this issue. Neither have I heard anybody from the government in Sofia utter any magic words such as "support" and "solidarity". The short-sightedness of Bulgarian PM Borisov and his deputy Djankov, as well as of ex Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov is plain shocking, while the situation is in fact extremely simple. What do you do when your neighbor's house is on fire? Do you rush to help put it out, or do you stand by smirking until your house catches on fire, too? Or until everybody stops walking down your street because the neighbor's burned-down house is an ugly picture? (By everybody I mean investors.) Political declarations can be either worthless, empty talk, or an invaluable, free diplomatic tool. When it comes to factors such as the stock markets or the feeling of wretchedness and crisis in Europe, which are influenced by perceptions, such a tool can be of great importance even when projected by a tiny Bulgaria. Not to mention the gratitude of the Greeks, which will grow proportionally to the sincerity of Bulgaria's political solidarity. And all talk about national interests aside, there is no reason Bulgaria's solidarity with Greece shouldn't be sincere. B) Bulgaria must initiate a package of regional economic cooperation measures to include both Bulgaria, and Greece, and as in some aspects - Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Cyprus. These measures are to be focused on creating joint infrastructure, common international transport corridors (functioning ones!) and logistics terminals, joint tourism and regional development projects, trade, agriculture, joint small and medium-sized enterprises, common business incubators, common hi-tech parks as well as educational and cultural exchange. This package won't cut the Greek government debt, obviously (that's up to some much more high-ranking factors), but it will have a very powerful and simple goal – fueling the real economy in Greece, Bulgaria, and the other participants – at least in some economic sectors and at least in some geographic regions, if not in all of them. These kinds of investments into the real economic and the people will not only bring about tangible economic development to entire regions in the Balkans but will also help immensely on the perception level – people in Greece, Bulgaria, officials in Brussels, Berlin, Paris, London, will see that we've gotten down to hard work over here, that we got goals and perspectives, and new horizons to be achieved together. Before anybody voices criticism that the poor shouldn't pay to save the rich(er), I'd like to point out that the funding for such a package will likely be raised pretty quickly not only through international loans and EU funding (already available) but also from various donors and investors from near and far, including international, state, and private actors. Even the economic giants from East Asia – China, Japan, and South Korea – might like to get involved. Wide international support can be ensured through the proper and honest ideological justification of this initiative for the creation of "New Balkans" and a "New Europe." Even if no funding is found – which is practically impossible because, fortunately, in today's civilized world there are plenty of factors who appreciate quality economic and stability building projects – Bulgaria would still benefit greatly from putting such a proposal on the |
The Bulgarian Solution of the Greek Crisis: Why Bulgaria Must Aid Greece!
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