Mitigation of the economic effects of the Yugoconflict and the UN sanctions against former Yugoslavia, regional stability and cooperation, and Bulgaria's integration into the European structures are the top priorities in Bulgaria's foreign policy this year. Speaking at a regular briefing today, nearly three months after the cabinet stepped in office, Prime Minister Zhan Videnov recalled that the declaration of intent of the Socialist government had set as a major task European integration. Summing up what has been achieved and outlining what has yet to be done in the sphere of foreign policy, Videnov said, "we prioritize the implementation of this country's rights and obligations under the European Union association agreement." He said special efforts are devoted to facilitating the access to EU markets for Bulgarian-made goods and the negotiations on Bulgaria's accession to the World Trade Organization. The Prime Minister further announced the cabinet's plans to start negotiations on Bulgaria's admission to the EU immediately after the EU intergovernmental conference in 1996 on the basis of a motivated application. At the same time the cabinet is working to boost the cooperation with other associated members and multilateral structures in which they participate, Zhan Videnov said adding that Bulgaria "insists on eliminating the inequality in treating the associated members, observable in certain specific cases." In regional security, the cabinet works in two directions: seeking solution to the Yugoconflict and step-by-step lifting of the UN Security Council sanctions, and adopting a strategy for the post-conflict period, said Zhan Videnov. He believes the economic stabilization of the region once the war in over will be a major precondition for its non- recurrence. The cabinet will therefore try to impress this on the major European countries, the Great Powers and the other Balkan countries. The cabinet puts in practice the third major priority, regional cooperation and development, on the basis of its understanding that the conflict in former Yugoslavia and the effects of the UN sanctions on third countries is an all- European and even global problem, and not just Bulgarian or Balkan. Zhan Videnov believes that "there is a tangible need for an adequate international mechanism to help third countries affected by the sanctions introduced in a bid to overcome the crisis, [a need] for an alternative transport and communications infrastructure to be immediately linked with that of Western and Central Europe." Mr. Videnov also told journalists that yesterday's first sitting of the cabinet Committee on European Integration he chairs, has formulated eight priorities for its work: political dialogue with the EU, unification of Bulgaria's law with that of the EU, trade policy and economic integration, the activity under operation PHARE, free movement of people, infrastructure projects, investments and the Council on Association with EU.
The cabinet changed the structure of the Bank Consolidation Company (BCC), set up in 1991 to carry out the reform in banking, and got a 52% majority holding. The responsibility for the condition and performance of state-run banks remains with the cabinet and the National Bank of Bulgaria (BNB) which keeps its 46.1% interest in the BCC, journalists learned this evening from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Roumen Gechev. Today's sitting of the cabinet focused on the management of the state interest in banking and measures for the financial stabilization of two troubled state-run banks, the Economic Bank and Mineralbank. The two hold the bulk of non- performing debts of enterprises to the banking system. The cabinet today decided to recommend that all ministries, committees and companies with majority state holding transfer their interest in the BCC to the cabinet, reducing their capital accordingly. The general assembly of the Bulgarian Foreign Trade Bank (Bulbank) will also be asked to transfer its 6.9% stake in the BCC to the cabinet. With this the cabinet acquires a majority in the BCC Board of Directors and assumes the actual responsibility for the management of the state interest in the banking system, said Deputy Prime Minister Gechev. From now on, the BCC will be managed by a Board of Directors including the minister of economic development, his deputy in charge of the banking system, the minister of finance and two central bank officials. The cabinet has to date been represented at the Board by six ministers who did not form a majority. Following discussions on the stabilization of Economic Bank and Mineralbank, the cabinet today decided that the state buy the banks' bad debt bonds and replace them with a new issue of long-term government bonds. The banks will use the proceeds from the new bond issue to settle their liabilities to the BNB and the State Savings Bank, the biggest state-run financial institution. BNB Governor Todor Vulchev explained the operation "will write some 40,000 million leva off the banks' balance sheets" and make them more stable. The new bonds will also serve as an instrument for settlement in privatization to be used with a 40% premium. With its decision on the Economic Bank and Mineralbank, the cabinet okayed the privatization in banking, said Roumen Gechev. Newly-appointed Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dimiter Dimitrov was introduced before journalists today. Dimitrov has to date been executive director of the United Bulgarian Bank, Bulgaria's first consolidated bank formed after merger of 22 state-owned banks on September 30, 1992. One of his major tasks will be the development of a government strategy on privatization in banking. The department he heads will work on problems pertaining to the state interest in banks, monitor the condition and mechanisms of the banking system and advise the managing body of the BCC.
The international financial institutions would like to see greater stability in Bulgaria and can offer advice in this area, said World Bank Vice President Wilfried Thalwitz, who was received today by National Assembly Chairman Blagovest Sendov. According to Thalwitz, Bulgarian Parliament can successfully inform the more advanced European countries of Bulgaria's problems, which would expedite their resolution. A World Bank mission started its working visit here yesterday, when it was received by President Zhelyu Zhelev. Today it met with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Foreign Economic Cooperation Kiril Tsochev. He stated categorically that electricity prices cannot be increased now as required by the World Bank. Speaking to journalists later on Tsochev said Bulgaria cannot be compared with other countries because specific factors are at play in this country. He mentioned the structure of the power industry and the considerable share of the Kozlodoui nuclear power plant. Bulgaria's refusal to mark up electricity does not mean that it will not receive the World Bank's Financial Sector and Enterprises Structural Adjustment Loan (FESAL), Tsochev said. He recalled that this is one of the World Bank's conditions for the loan. Wilfried Thalwitz, Director for Europe and Central Asia Rachel Lomax and Resident Representative John Wilton were received by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Roumen Gechev. The sides discussed privatization, financial discipline and upgrading the banking sector in this country. The World Bank mission also met Prime Minister Zhan Videnov. The talks focused on FESAL- related practical steps, as the sides unanimously agreed on the need for such measures. The Prime Minister told the guests that the cabinet has developed a voucher privatization scheme to be launched this summer. Electricity prices in Bulgaria were also on the agenda. Zhan Videnov reportedly stressed the cabinet's efforts to provide compensations to low-income families. He also said prices in Bulgaria will go up gradually to prevent the growth of inflationary pressure.
The amendments to the Land Act passed by the Socialist majority are a cynical continuation of the repressive policy of the communist party in the past, said Anastasia Moser, leader of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (BANU, in the Popular Union coalition) at a news conference today. The Popular Union is convinced that President Zhelyu Zhelev will veto the act and that the Constitutional Court will cancel some of its clauses. MPs of the coalition met President Zhelev today to set forth their stand on the amendments to the Land Act passed last Friday. Though the amendments have not been signed by the President and have therefore not yet entered into force, some are already trying to implement them, a member of the Popular Union leadership said. An illegal redistribution of land is underway, according to the Agrarian leader. Yesterday President Zhelyu Zhelev met MPs of the UDF who came to express their protest over the act, received with full understanding by the President, according to the UDF MPs. The parliamentary group of the Socialist Party will also ask for a meeting with the President, BSP floor leader Krassimir Premyanov said at a briefing today. He expressed the hope that the President would not veto the act. "Without the major amendments to the Land Act passed by Parliament on the motion of the Democratic Left (the faction of the BSP and coalition), it would be impossible to return 50% of the agricultural land in this country," said Prime Minister Zhan Videnov, who also attended the briefing. Premyanov said that the amendments to the act clear the way to a consistent implementation of the reform in agriculture. This evening the press office of the BSP and its parliamentary group came out with a special statement saying that not a single clause of the Land Act passed on April 14 contradicts the Constitution. The MPs of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF, of the Bulgarian ethnic Turks) will join the protests of the opposition to the amendments to the Land Act.
Ivan Kostov, leader of the biggest opposition force in Bulgaria, the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), today said it would table in Parliament a draft resolution binding the cabinet to take the necessary steps to guarantee Bulgaria's membership in NATO. President Zhelev spoke in favor of Bulgaria's membership in NATO in his annual foreign policy lecture yesterday. Zhelev said the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) was the only parliamentary force with an unclear and ambiguous stand on NATO. Prime Minister and Socialist leader Zhan Videnov, who attended the BSP's regular news conference today, said "the President analyzed a position with which he is obviously not quite familiar". Videnov pointed out that the Socialist Party is one of the few political forces that have published their views on national security and recalled that the Socialists backed Parliament's declaration of December 1993, expressing Bulgaria's aspiration to membership in NATO. Videnov said his views on relations between Bulgaria and NATO would be published in the press later this week. Speaking about Zhelev's lecture, the prime minister said concepts were badly mixed and confused in it. NATO defines itself as a system of collective defense, and not of collective security. In his lecture yesterday President Zhelev said that Bulgaria's full membership in NATO could lead to a triangle Ankara-Sofia-Athens, adding that the triangle is one the most stable figures in geometry. Asked to comment on this statement, Videnov said jokingly he was growing to dislike geometry. "I can think of another triangle, Athens-Ankara-Cyprus, which is far from being a triangle of stability, contrary to what geometry claims," Videnov said. He sees no evidence that a possible NATO triangle in the Balkans would enhance regional security. "The long-standing bitter controversy between two NATO member states, one of which is a member of the European Union as well - Greece and Turkey - goes to show that as a system of collective defense NATO and more specifically its southern flank solve problems successfully. As a system of collective security, including regional, continental or global security, it has a long way to go. A security system should develop through integration with the involvement of all interested parties, Bulgaria included, and not in the form of unilateral enlargement westwards and unilateral democratization eastwards," Videnov said. Asked to predict the consequences for Bulgaria of a possible deployment of foreign troops or nuclear weapons on its territory in the event that it becomes a NATO member, Videnov said he doubted that Bulgarian society would reach a consensus on the deployment of nuclear weapons. "Arguments against it definitely prevail with myself and the Socialist Party," Videnov said. "The deployment in Bulgaria of foreign troops, including such under international command and this has never happened even at the time of bloc confrontation - will also meet strong opposition," Videnov said, adding that "there is another extremely alarming issue: the involvement of Bulgarian troops in peacekeeping operations by a military-political bloc on the territories of other countries". "We are ready for a most serious debate about national security, Bulgaria's integration into the European and Euro-Atlantic structures, including security structures, above all the structures of the future and not only and no so much those of the past or present," Videnov said. This was his comment on Zhelev's statement yesterday that he would raise the issue of the drawing up of a national strategy for Bulgaria's membership in NATO at the first meeting of the Consultative Council on National Security.
Expanding bilateral cooperation between Bulgaria and Greece will be the focus of a number of visits of Bulgarian officials to Greece, of Prime Minister Zhan Videnov inclusive, expected to take place by late June. "Cooperation between the two countries should continue to expand at all levels within the framework of European integration," Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski told an interviewer of the Athens News Agency. The Greek side reportedly shares Minister Pirinski's view. "Greece is a full member of the European Union and should help Bulgaria fully accede to the Union," Minister Pirinski said. Pirinski also said during Prime Minister Videnov's visit to Greece the sides are expected to sign an agreement on border cooperation, to discuss transport infrastructure projects and possibilities for closer cooperation in power engineering.
* * * An Israeli parliamentary delegation that arrived yesterday on a week-long visit here, met today Ginyo Ganev, Chairman of the Agency for Expatriate Bulgarians. "The meeting discussed opportunities for boosting the political, economic, and cultural relations between the two countries," Ganev told journalists. He reportedly asked the Israeli parliamentary officials to send him Israeli acts protecting Jews returning to their motherland to be used as a basis for drafting bills on protection of expatriate Bulgarians, Ganev said. Emanuel Zissman, a Plovdiv-born Bulgarian Jew and head of the delegation, promised full assistance on the part of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament.
* * * A protocol on economic cooperation was signed after the 17th sitting of the joint Bulgarian-Greek intergovernmental commission in Athens today, reads an official Greek release quoted by Agence France Presse. The document envisages expansion of bilateral trade relations, construction of a pipeline to carry Russian oil to Alexandroupolis in Northern Greece via Bulgaria, and upgrading of the motor- and railway network linking the two countries. The document also provides for the further promotion of bilateral cooperation in banking, tourism, power production, social security and industry.
* * * German media magnate Count Yozef von Ferenzi arrived on an visit to Bulgaria. He is the major sponsor of a project for an European satellite channel into which this country will be plugged. The Alfa TV multilingual satellite channel will cover 25 countries and promote the idea for a united Europe, said Vesselina Kanaleva, Alfa TV Director General for Bulgaria. The channel is expected to start regular broadcasting in this country in early 1997.
Rose-oil production is still on the decline, "Standart News" writes. The rose plantations being destroyed by frost, Bulgaria cannot fulfill its contracts and is losing its strategic positions on foreign markets to Turkey. Half of the oil- bearing rose plantations were destroyed and new ones have not been planted for three or four years now. The reason is the low purchase prices of roses. Bulgaria's rose oil sells mainly in the United States. Very small amounts are exported to Europe and Asia.
* * * McDonalds will invest between three to five million US dollars in Bulgaria in 1995, "Troud" writes, referring to a statement by McDonalds Director for Bulgaria, Tim Taylor. The company plans to open another three restaurants in Sofia in the coming months.
* * * Varco, the distributor of Mazda in Bulgaria, opened an auto show room of Dacia in Sofia, "Troud" writes. Dacia plans to set up a chain of car repair centers in Bulgaria that will provide services in compliance with the Western standards.
* * * Shares of the notorious Russian pyramid MMM will appear on the Bulgarian market in a few days, "Standart News" and "Capitalpress" write. MMM officials have asked the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance if the company's shares are considered securities by the Bulgarian law. The Ministry's experts do not believe that the MMM shares will be recognized as securities. "Capitalpress" says that the Bulgarian pyramid Lifechoice is expected to go bankrupt in several weeks. The tax authorities will proceed with the confiscation of all the revenue Lifechoice got from the sale of redeemable depository receipts, "Capitalpress" writes.
* * * Deputy Prime Minister Roumen Gechev will lead Bulgaria's delegation to the spring session of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, "Standart News" reports. Finance Minister Dimiter Kostov and the Governor of the National Bank of Bulgaria, Todor Vulchev, will be included in the delegation.
* * * Part of the 20 million dollars debt of Balkan Airlines to Bulgarian banks will probably be forgiven, "24 Chassa' writes.
In two weeks it will become clear whether Glavbolgarstroi will reconstruct the airport of Sofia, "Standard News" says. The company is prepared to start working without delay. According to "24 Chassa", British Airspace is ready to invest in the reconstruction of the airport.
* * * The winner of the tender for the construction of a tunnel under Shipka Mount (in the Balkan Range) is not known yet because of disputes about the geological study funding, "24 Chassa" writes referring to Transport Ministry sources. The tender commission had a closed meeting yesterday. It decided to talk again with the three candidates - the French Buig, the Bulgarian Tunnelinvest consortium and the Austrian Il-Bau. They insist that the study be financed by the state.