INFLATION - MAY.
BTA
May Inflation at Minus 2.1%
Sofia, June 11 (BTA) - May 2002 inflation stood at minus 2.1%, and January-May inflation was plus 2.9%, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said Tuesday.
In May, food prices went down 4.6% from April, nonfood prices 0.3%, and public catering charges 0.5%. Fees for services grew 0.4%.
Within the category of foods, the most substantial decrease, 22.9% in average, is reported for vegetable prices. Cabbage prices dropped 47.8%, tomatoes 38.6%, and cucumbers 36.4%.
Bread in May was 1.7% cheaper than in April, pork 3.4%, milk 1.2%, eggs 5.5%, and sunflower oil 2.4%.
Rice went up 0.4%, fruit 16.4%, and potatoes 12%.
Liquid fuels for household use dropped 3.1%, petrol 2.8%, propane gas for car engines 2.4%, diesel fuel 1.9%, and gas for household use 1.5%.
Installation and subscription fees for telephone lines went up 12.8%. However, telephone service charges increased only 1.5% in average, due to a decline in long-distance call charges.
The prices of the 100 staple goods and services of the "small consumer basket" in May went down 2.4% from April. Compared to the beginning of the year, they were 0.8% higher in May.
May is typically a month with very low or negative inflation, said NSI's Radka Tsonkova. The rate was minus 1.7% in May 1998, minus 0.9% in May 1999, and plus 0.1% in May 2000 and 2001.
GENERAL STAFF-CHIEF-SUCCESSOR.
BTA
Outgoing Chief of General Staff Gen. Miho Mihov Hands Over to His Successor Gen. Nikola Kolev.
Sofia, June 11 (BTA) - Gen. Miho Mihov, outgoing Chief of Staff of the Bulgarian Army, on Tuesday handed over to his successor Gen. Nikola Kolev.
The official ceremony took place at the Defence Ministry and was attended by President Georgi Purvanov, who is Supreme Commander-in-chief of the Bulgarian Army, Defence Minister Nikolai Svinarov, and high-ranking army officers.
Earlier on Tuesday Purvanov decorated Gen. Mihov with the Balkan Range Order Class One with Swords in recognition of his active participation in the implementation of military reform, his long-year immaculate service in the army, and his withdrawal as Chief of General Staff due to the expiration of his term.
"The highest Bulgarian order is awarded to Gen. Mihov as a high and deserved recognition of his long-year immaculate service and the brilliant way in which he has coped with the tasks he had to fulfil as Chief of General Staff," Purvanov said in his speech.
"We will remember the time during which Gen. Miho Mihov occupied this position for the acceleration of the military reform, creating the conditions and prerequisites for a new military construction, building a more combat-ready Bulgarian army, raising the international prestige of our armed forces," the head of state said.
"It is a pleasure to give Gen. Kolev his new epaulettes not only because he is part of the team that shouldered the burden of the military reform, but because Gen. Kolev has all necessary qualities, professional experience and authority to continue what has been done by his predecessor," Purvanov said.
"The generals and admirals who have been promoted to a higher rank take over the military leadership of the Bulgarian army during a particularly important period - a period when Bulgaria is on the final track, a little before [the] Prague [summit of NATO] from which we expect a positive decision concerning our country's membership of NATO, but also a period after Prague that involves an even more serious burden and responsibilities," Purvanov said.
In his speech Purvanov expressed his satisfaction with the promotion of National Bodyguard Service (NBS) chief Lieut. Gen. Dimiter Vladimirov to a higher rank. "In the past years and over the last few weeks the NBS has been very precise and responsible about its work by which it deserved not only national but also international recognition despite the difficult circumstances under which it operates," Purvanov said.
"I am satisfied that the ritual of transferring the command of the Bulgarian army is democratic and civilized as never before, which is a very clear sign that in the Bulgarian army there are stable processes under way that are build our armed forces and turning them into a reliable guarantor of our national security," Purvanov said in conclusion.
"It would be an exaggeration to declare that I share this order with the whole Bulgarian army the command of which I have had over the last five years, but I would like to say it because it will also be true," Gen. Miho Mihov said in his speech after he was presented the Balkan Range Order. "These worthy officers of Bulgaria worked selflessly, but I had the honour to become their embodiment due to the reform, staunchly following the political course of Atlantic and European integration, and preserving the combat fitness and fighting ability of our army," Gen. Mihov said.
Gen. Mihov has been appointed military security advisor to the Supreme Commander-in-chief of the Bulgarian Army by a presidential decree.
The new Chief of General Staff, Lieut. Gen. Nikolai Kolev, has been promoted to the rank of general.
The following officers have been promoted to the rank of lieutenant general: NBS Chief Major Gen. Dimiter Vladimirov; Major Gen. Dimiter Zehtinov, Deputy Chief of General Staff for Operations; Major Gen. Zlatan Stoikov, Deputy Chief of General Staff for Resources; and Major General Dimiter Georgiev, Chief of Staff of the Air Force.
The new Chief of Naval Staff, Brig. Admiral Neiko Atanassov, has been promoted to the rank of rear admiral, and Brig. Gen. Kolyo Buchvarov, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces for Resources, to the rank of major general.
The following officers have been promoted to the rank of brigadier general: Col. Orlin Ivanov, Director of Security, Military Police and Military Counterintelligence Service; Col. Roumen Tsokov, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force for Operations; Col. Dincho Karamounchev, Air Defence Corps Commander; Col. Pavlomir Kunchev, Chief of Human Resources Department with the General Staff of the Bulgarian Army; Col. Valeri Lazarov, Chief of Intelligence Department with the General Staff; Col. Georgi Georgiev, Chief of the Hristo Botev Central Training Centre for Junior Officers and Conscripts; Col. Galimir Pehlivanov, Commander of the 61st Mechanized Brigade; and Col. Atanas Samandov, Commander of the Special Operation Forces.
Metal-Workers Blocked Road to Varna.
Standartnews
Biliana Vesselinova
860 workers from 'Alkomet', Shoumen declared civil disobedience yesterday. They gridlocked the main passage to Varna highway for an hour and a half. 'We want the plant to resume work, we want our salaries paid.' "Alkomet' stopped on May 17 because of arrears due to Bulgargas and NEC (National Electric Company). The firm's debts for electricity amount to 570,000 levs, while to Bulgargas it owes some 138,000 levs. The workers haven't received wages for January and April, on Friday each of them received only 100 levs. The protesters let pass the long queues of automobiles only after the arrival of Fikret Indje - president of one of the company-owners. 'We are ready to buy back the share of our partners and do our best to make the venture start working again,' Indje said. He reminded that the other owner - Industrial Holding Bulgaria - sold out its shares under the counter to an offshore company 'Oracle Management'. Currently, the Turkish owners seek contacts with their new partners to deblock the accounts of the venture. Bulgaria Holding lodged a claim to demand insolvency of the aluminum smelter.
BULGARIA-ALBANIA-FIGHTING CRIME.
BTA
Bulgaria, Albania Agree on Closer Cooperation in Fighting Organised Crime.
Sofia, June 11 (BTA) - Bulgarian Interior Minister Georgi Petkanov and Albanian Public Order Minister Stefan Cipa signed Tuesday an Agreement on Readmission between the Governments of Bulgaria and Albania. The Albanian Minister of Public Order is on a two-day official visit here at the invitation of his Bulgarian counterpart.
The two ministers agreed on updating the agreement on police cooperation between the two countries of 1994.
"We discussed the need to broaden and perfect the legislative basis in fighting crime, paying special attention to trafficking in people and drugs," Petkanov said, emerging from the meeting. He added that both sides noted the need of new agreements in protecting classified information, of improving cooperation between the police academies and of exchanging experience in border policing.
Petkanov and Cipa also discussed activation of trilateral cooperation against crime between Bulgaria, Albania and Macedonia.
The Albanian Minister of Public Order assured his Bulgarian counterpart that his ministry will be Bulgaria's reliable partner in fighting crime in the two countries and in the region.
Premier Covers up Trickery with EU Funds.
Standartnews
Pavlina Zhivkova
Finance Minister wants to use EU funds to patch up fiscal holes, maintains MRF.
Yesterday, leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) asked for an urgent meeting with Premier Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to discuss how the funds provided by EU are dispensed. He explained that during the discussions with the government a month ago the decision was taken to entrust the Minister of Finance with management of the structural funds only. However, the cabinet decided to give him the right over management of all funds provided by the EU. MRF will start negotiations with its coalition partners to persuade them that the government's decision runs counter to the European principles of management, said deputy chairwoman of MRF, Emel Etem. Yesterday Premier Saxe-Coburg summoned the three vice-premiers, ministers of agriculture and finance for a extraordinary briefing to discuss the scandal with EU funds.
PM Summoned Ministers in Line with Bulgartabac.
Standartnews
Pavlina Zhivkova
The Premier summoned urgently the three vice-premiers, finance and agriculture ministers in line with the privatization of Bulgartabac. 'Tomorrow (today - ed. n.) the Privatization Agency (PA) will specify some final details and will send the information to the potential buyers of Bulgartabac Holding,' Economy Minister Nikolay Vassilev said after the two-hour sitting. 'In all probability, additional criteria will be established,' he said further. Yesterday, the PA changed once again the bidding conditions for the second round of the tender for Bulgartabac.
Bulgartabac - Play at Hide-and-Seek.
Standartnews
The noisy campaign launched by the government about the sell-out of Bulgartabac, is already looking like a play at hide-and-seek. A day after the start of the second round of the bid, the criterion of assessing the biders is not clear at all: should it be the amounts of the bought-out tobacco, or the price of the deal, or preserving the jobs in the tobacco holding. As long as this chaos reigns, the bidders are not aware if they should seek for additional financing or set up new consortiums. The strategy of the denationalization of Bulgartabac was adopted several months ago and the national priorities were outlined explicitly: buy-out of up to 70,000 tons of tobacco in the next 5 years, further development of the tobacco production and restructuring of the Bulgartabac Holding. This strategy, however, fell into oblivion and new conditions were set in the last moment. Why? Perhaps an opportunity is given to a particular bidder, depriving the rest four ones of the time necessary to meet the new conditions? If this be true, then there is a serious gap between the pledges for transparency and prompt privatization and the actual proceedings of the cabinet.
Municipalities Want Electricity and Water for Free.
Standartnews
Stefan Kioutchukov
Local mayors need 260 million levs to patch up budgets.
We insist that payments of electricity, heating, water and telephone bills should be frozen, said chairman of the Management Board of the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria (NAMB), Venelin Uzunov. Yesterday, the managing body of NAMB met with Finance Minister Milen Veltchev. Mayors asked for 260 million levs from the state budget to cover the arrears of their municipalities. The Ministry of Finance cannot commit itself with declaring a moratorium on debts to National Electric Company, Water & Sewerage Agency and BG Telecom Company, commented Minister Veltchev. The general meeting of the Association to be convened for taking a decision on collective actions is scheduled for June 28. Apart from it the mayors required an appointment with Premier Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
Mercy for Huts.
Standartnews
Evgeni Petrov
BTU takes urgent measures, funds to restore the documentation are being searched for.
Eleven of the huts on the Mount Vitosha are owned by the Bulgarian Tourist's Union (BTU). Most of them were built in the 40s and the 50s of the 20 c. But no contracts are available, or those available are out-of-date. A month ago the Direction for National Construction Control certified that the 'Aleko' hut was illicit. For nearly 7 decades already 'Aleko' is a symbol of the organized tourism in Bulgaria and has turned into a frequented place for both Sofia residents and guests to the capital city. The problem is that for years the huts' archives have been seen as something formal, so some of them were even lost. Thus, the documents of all the 11 huts of the BTU on Vitosha have been lost. There are more than 400 huts facing the same problem in this country. The huts and their owners can't afford all the expenditures for the restoration of their documentation, because due to the low prices they have negligible turnovers.
The Fair of Arts Started
Standartnews
yesterday in the Fair town in Plovdiv. The forum 'Impression '2002' gathered painters from China, Macedonia, Turkey, Japan and Holland. Young talents from 8 Bulgarian Art Schools display their expositions. 28 organizations from Europe, Asia and South America take part in the competition for posters dedicated to the Fair.
Musicians Display Paintings
Standartnews
in the 'Thea' gallery. Gabriela Zhekova and Michail Shishkov have graduated from the Conservatoire. To them, there's no difference between music and painting. The authors work at the Bulgarian National TV (BNT). Along with their creative tasks they were inspired to transfer melodies into lines and colours.
(PY)
U.S. gives dlrs 20 million to American-style university in Bulgaria.
AP
SOFIA, Bulgaria - The U.S. government on Tuesday announced a dlrs 20 million grant to an American-style university it helped found after the fall of communism in this Balkan country.
U.S. Ambassador James Pardew said the money is aimed at promoting the work the American University in Bulgaria does in educating the future leaders of a region still struggling to overcome the legacy of communism.
Pardew called the university "a shining example of policy in the Balkans during the past decade."
"It is an example of the kind of success countries can achieve when they focus on the future and peace, not on conflict from the past," he said at the grant-signing ceremony in Sofia.
The private university, based in Blagoevgrad, 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Sofia, was founded in 1991 with the support of the U.S. government. It is the only American-style, liberal arts college in the Balkans and already has about 1,000 alumni from more than 20 countries.
The university's president, Julia Watkins, said the grant "demonstrates confidence in our mission ... to educate future leaders for the region in an academically rigorous, multiethnic and multicultural environment."
The money was provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which provides Bulgaria with approximately dlrs 35 million a year to promote the country's transition to democracy and a free market economy.
The grant to the university will be paid out over the next five years, with dlrs 5 million being made available immediately.
(vz/vg)
FOREIGN TOURISTS-INCREASE.
BTA
Number of Foreign Tourists Marks 60% Growth in May.
Sofia, June 11 (BTA) - Bulgaria was visited by 245,000 foreign tourists in May which is a 60 per cent increase on the same month of 2001 and a 25-year record, the Information and Public Relations Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday.
The growth in the number of tourists has been brought about by the stable economic and foreign political situation, the professional efforts of the representatives of the tourist business and the Government's anti-corruption policy of the past year, the press release says.
Bulgaria's progress in its preparations for NATO membership and its negotiations with the EU have also contributed to making this country an attractive tourist destination, the press release comments. The boom in the number of tourists reflects this country's growing international prestige and is also a result of the pacification of the region to which Bulgarian diplomacy has also contributed, the press release says.
Bulgaria's new visa policy also favours an increase in the number of tourists, the press release concludes.
