The multiethnic police patrols realize their scheduled activities in all villages according to the Plan on police redeployment in crisis regions, Media Activity Center within the governmental Coordinate Crisis Management Body announced.

 

The Center previously announced that permanent violations of the public peace and order were registered overnight in Tetovo crisis region, while the police checkpoint Zicara in Tetovo area was attacked Tuesday morning from the near by houses owned by ethnic Albanians. The shootings had no consequences on the Macedonian security forces.

 

Shootouts coming from several directions were heard overnight in Tetovo crisis region, reported MIA's correspondent.

 

According to the Interior Department, there were intense firings all night long, till the morning. Most of the shootings came from the area of the village of Odri, where the shootouts lasted for more than two hours with small breaks in-between. In one occasion, at about 8:00 p.m., more than 20 shots were registered.

 

Some sporadic and rifle shots were registered overnight also from the villages of Neraste, Dobroste, Semsevo, Prsovce, Mala Recica, Gajre, Gorno & Dolno Orasje and Trebos. There were also shots that came from some town districts.

 

The shots had no determined targets.

 

Early Tuesday morning, some shootings were noticed in eight occasions, coming from the direction of the Cetinska Street, the residential complex no.

 

82, the elementary school "Migjeni - Brotherhood", the Rasadiste county near the Tetovo - Popova Shapka road and from the direction of the SEE University.

 

According to the Interior Department in Tetovo, a flare missile was registered around midnight in the area of the village of Trebos.

 

It has been relatively calm in Kumanovo - Lipkovo region during Monday night, MIA's correspondent reports.

 

Three to four shootouts have been registered from the villages of Vistica, Cerkes and Matejce, which were not directed at direct targets.

 

Patrolling of the mixed police teams in the villages of Vaksince, Slupcane, Lojane and four smaller villages in Lipkovo region is carried out according to the General Plan for re-deployment of the security forces.

 

 

People tend to turn blind eye at whats happening in the heart of the Balkans.

 

Thousands of women are trapped, tortured and forced to have sex in Macedonia. MSNBC doesnt shut its eyes and gives detailed description of tragic destiny of several women who were forced into prostitution.

 

Natasha is 21 year old woman from Moldova who was desperate to leave dreadful poverty in her homeland, such as lack of running water, or no money to buy electricity. She believed to a story by a person called Ruslan who pretended to be her suitor. He took Natasha to meet some acquaintances and said they would take her to Italy. That was the last Natasha saw of him.

 

Ruslan sold me, and I didnt even know. I cried. I wanted to go home. But I couldnt do anything. It was too late, says Natasha.

 

MSNBC reports that on buses and cars and crossing borders on foot Natasha followed a path to sex slavery trodden by thousands of other hapless women, passing, under the watchful eyes of a gang of Balkans thugs, through Romania, Serbia and Kosovo before ending up in Macedonia. In Veleshta, a key transit town in the sex trade where women are beaten and raped into submission, Natasha was bought by Meti, an ethnic Albanian pimp wanted by the Macedonian police on smuggling and prostitution charges.

 

Natasha says that she was forced to sleep with more than thousand men during her nine months in Veleshta. Besides the Albanians and Macedonians, there were men from France, Germany and the United States, she said, referring to soldiers from the NATO peacekeeping mission in Macedonia and nearby Kosovo.

 

They were as bad as the rest, Natasha said. They did anything they wanted to us. And besides, if Meti heard me asking them for help, he would have killed me.

 

MSNBC says that Natasha was being rescued by a man called Safat with whom she had been forced to have sex. The man couldnt bear Natashas anguish over being tricked into prostitution, so he bought her from her pimp and sent her home to Moldova.

 

In Europe alone, officials estimate that more than 200,000 women and girls one-quarter of all women trafficked globally are smuggled out of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics each year, the bulk of whom end up working as enslaved prostitutes. Almost half are transported to Western Europe. Roughly a quarter end up in the United States. Human rights activists say the numbers do not tell the full story, because most women remain silent rather than turn to frequently corrupt authorities for help, reports MSNBC.

 

 

Right next to the monument plate, which includes the text: "For internal memory of the defenders who died defending the fatherland, freedom and justice", the Prime Minister, together with Minister of Interior Ljube Boskovski and Head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church His Holiness Stefan and members of the families of the killed defenders lit the internal flame in their honor and laid flowers.

 

Paying his respect to the killed police officers, Prime Minister Georgievski said:

"Unfortunately, today we do not seek the enemy where he is, but we seek him amongst ourselves, within some political parties and institutions that constantly weaken the defense," he stressed, adding that there are many groups that constantly try to hunt down the units of the Ministry of Interior.

 

"We must clearly let the media know that all police units, the "Scorpions", the "Lions" and "The Tigers" are one," he stressed.

 

At today's ceremony, Minister Boskovski awarded and promoted in higher ranks several police officers.

 

A representative of the families of the killed defenders also delivered a speech at the ceremony, appealing the government to take care of the parents, wives and children of the killed defenders.

 

"Each year on this day the achievements of one of the more significant sectors of the Macedonian state are celebrated, but the celebrations are especially important this year. Macedonian police was defending the statehood on this particular day last year, and was a reflection of the courage and decisiveness for defending the values of Macedonia," reads the note.

 

"Therefore I am honored as I can celebrate the holiday along with you in a substantially different atmosphere - in a peaceful environment, in which the state territory is controlled and there is readiness for uncompromising tackling of the possible future challenges.

 

We should not forget the police officers that were killed while defending their own state and in this year's celebrations let us celebrate their courage and determination to remain devoted to their duty," reads the note of congratulations.

 

Ivan Ivanov

The former Soviet president's egg crashed the Metropolitan's egg.

 

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev was granted the emblematic key of the town of Veliko Tarnovo by Mayor Roumen Rashev yesterday. The guest visited the nearby townlet of Lukovit and hundreds of people welcomed him in the square. "Do not turn your backs on the achievements of the past," Gorbachev advised them. He accepted gratefully an icon of St. George the Victor and a landscape of Lukovit from Mayor Petar Ninchev who won the mayoral elections as a nominee of the Euroleft party. The icon was consecrated by Metropolitan Gregory of Tarnovo. In the "Nativity" Cathedral the former Soviet leader's egg crashed the Easter egg of the Metropolitan.

 

 

I don't know Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in person, Mihail Gorbachev said on his arrival in Sofia on Sunday. The two of them had dinner in the 'Vrana' residence last night. After the dinner in the company of the heads of the leading Bulgarian media late on Sunday he met granddaughter of Todor Zhivkov - Evgenia Zhivkova. He assured her that he respects Todor Zhivkov as a politician, no matter that there were some contradictions between them.

 

(PY)

 

 

 

Mikhail Gorbachev after Meeting Georgi Purvanov: Bulgaria and Russia Had Better Go Together to United Europe, Different Pace Is Understandable.

 

Sofia, May 7 (BTA) - It will be better if Bulgaria and Russia go along the way to united Europe together, but it would be understandable if their pace is different, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev said after meeting with President Georgi Purvanov on Tuesday.

 

Gorbachev has been in Bulgaria since Sunday at the invitation of Euro-Left leader Alexander Tomov.

 

Gorbachev's meetings with Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha on Monday and with Purvanov on Tuesday showed that the sides concur in the view that Bulgaria and Russia should participate in building a united Europe.

 

Gorbachev personally believes that Russia should seek to become an EU associate member. He said that Russia-EU relations left much to be desired and that he was in favour of a joint European economic and energy area. He recalled that seven years back, he said he was in favour of a common European security architecture.

 

New qualities of Russia-NATO cooperation are being sought now, including a possibility for Russian participation in discussions, Gorbachev said. In his view, the aspirations of some countries to join NATO and Russia-NATO relations are unidirectional.

 

Gorbachev hailed the upcoming visits to Russia by the prime minister and the president of Bulgaria, as well as President Vladimir Putin's visit to Sofia later on. "I get the impression that both Russia and Bulgaria realize that their relations should be brought to a new level: there are real historical conditions and great prospects in this respect," Gorbachev said.

 

"There has not been Soviet intervention in any country, and we have been criticized for this," Gorbachev said, answering the question if he had been involved in the ouster of communist leader Todor Zhivkov. "I told both the prime minister and the president that after we held free elections in Russia in 1989, your country had to do the same, but we did not intervene. On the contrary, when Nicolae Ceausescu was in Moscow pleading for the rescue of socialism in Poland, I told him that when people sit at the round table, they are seeking unification."

 

Talking about Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Gorbachev called him a modern man who has a good grasp of the values of freedom and democracy and is dedicated to Bulgaria. "As to his performance, you are the ones to judge it," Gorbachev said.

 

Gorbachev's conversation with Purvanov centred on the world, Europe, Bulgarian-Russian relations and prospects for cooperation and Social Democracy. Their views were fully identical, according to Gorbachev.

 

Later on Tuesday Gorbachev met with National Assembly Chairman Ognyan Gerdjikov and thanked him for his understanding of Russia's need to participate in the EU and to cooperate with NATO. This cooperation should take on a new quality, he said.

 

"I am glad that I met such an interesting politician," Gorbachev said, referring to Gerdjikov.

 

In his capacity as leader of the United Social Democratic Party, Gorbachev said Russia would have a strong Social Democratic party, but it would take time.

 

Gorbachev said he was favourably impressed by Bulgarian politicians, whom he described as "interesting".

 

 

 

Petr Pithart: Bulgaria Should Be Invited to NATO Because Nationalism Is Alien to It, Has Stable Undisputed Borders and Treats Ethnic Minorities Well.

 

Sofia, May 7 (BTA) - Bulgaria should be invited to NATO because nationalism is alien to it, the country has stable and undisputed borders with its neighbours and treats ethnic minorities well, Czech Senate Chairman Petr Pithart said on Tuesday after meeting with National Assembly Chairman Ognyan Gerdjikov, Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and President Georgi Purvanov. The Czech delegation arrived on a visit here on May 6.

 

Pithart said these are the main arguments for NATO membership.

 

Bulgaria will cope with the reform of its armed forces as well, said Pithart.

 

Although an election campaign is underway in the Czech Republic, the Czech parliamentarians are visiting Bulgaria to familiarize themselves with the situation before the Prague Summit.

 

The Czech Republic wants to demonstrate support for Bulgaria's bid; it should become a full NATO member along with the other applicant countries, Pithart said after meeting with Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Being the host of NATO's Summit, the Czech Republic wants, above all, to influence the decision-making process, Pithart said. "Our visit is an integral part of this effort," he said. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha impressed him strongly as a modest, wise man with a wide life experience.

 

NATO enlargement has become a political rather than a military problem recently. This fact allows Bulgaria and Romania to catch up with the other candidate countries, as well as with the member states, Pithart said after meeting with President Georgi Purvanov. The latter expressed hope that he would be able to meet with Czech President Vaclav Havel during the East European summit, to be held in Slovenia in late May.

 

In his talks on Tuesday Pithart stressed that Bulgaria is a centre of balance in the region thanks to its good relations with its neighbours and its ethnic tolerance.

 

Gerdjikov and Pithart exchanged views on Bulgaria's candidacy for NATO membership and reviewed bilateral relations.

 

It was established that the Czech Republic was among the leading investors in Bulgaria now, mainly in the energy sector, tourism, the light and food industries. The two countries have a political and economic potential for cooperation in all areas, Gerdjikov said.

 

The chairman of the Czech Senate voiced his country's interest to participate in the construction of the Belene nuclear power plant. Pithart said the Czech Republic had experience both in the construction of nuclear power plants and in resolving problems related to them with neighbouring countries.

 

Clear economic rules already exist in Bulgaria, according to Pithart. He said the Czech Republic won a bid for the privatization of the Sandanska Bistritsa power station amid stiff competition.

 

 

 

Bulgarian Governmental Delegation Headed by PM Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Pay Working Visit to Greece in May 9 to 12.

 

Sofia, May 7 (BTA) - A Bulgarian government delegation led by Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha will pay a working visit to Greece in May 9 to 12, the Governments Information and Public Relations Directorate said.

 

The officials are scheduled to meet with Greek Minister of Macedonia and Thrace Yeoryios Paskhalidis, Mt Athos Governor Stavros Psycharis and senior church officials.

 

On May 11 Saxe-Coburg-Gotha will attend the morning service in the Zographu Church and a procession headed by the miraculous icon of St George. The Prime Minister will give the church an icon of St George.

 

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha will be accompanied by Radi Nedyalkov, the Prime Ministers Chef de Cabinet, and Ivan Zhelev, head of the Religious Faiths Directorate with the cabinet.

 

 

 

Bulgarian Delegation Headed by Foreign Minister Passy to Visit Rome for Sts Cyril and Methodius Day Celebrations.

 

Sofia, May 7 (BTA) - An eight-member Bulgarian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Solomon Passy will be in Rome on May 11 for the celebrations of the Day of Sts Cyril and Methodius.

 

The delegation includes representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs, education and culture and of the National Committee for Inviting and Welcoming Pope John Paul II to Bulgaria. The Cabinet approved the composition of the delegation at its session on Thursday, the Government Information Directorate told BTA.

 

Usually a Bulgarian delegation goes to Rome to pay tribute at the tomb of St Cyril on May 24, celebrated as the Day of Sts Cyril and Methodius in Bulgaria. This year, however, the visit will be on May 11, the day on which the Church pays tribute to the saintly brothers because of Pope John Paul II's forthcoming visit to Bulgaria on May 23 through 26, the press release says.

 

The Bulgarian delegation will be given the traditional audience by the Pope on May 11. Pope John Paul II pronounced Sts Cyril and Methodius divine patrons of Europe in 1980.

 

The Bulgarian delegation will attend the liturgy at the tomb of St Cyril in the San Clemente basilica and will lay flowers at the tomb and other historical sites.

 

 

 

Bulgarian Deputy PM Nikolai Vassilev Confers with President of AES, Power Major of US.

 

Washington, May 7 (BTA) - Bulgarian Deputy Prime MInister Nikolai Vassilev, who is also Economy Minister, met with Dennis Bakke, a resident of AES, the power major of US, and discussed with him the prospects for expediting the modernization of Maritsa East 1 thermoelectric power complex.

 

Vassilev arrived in Washington on May 5 at the head of a government delegation.

 

Vassilev and Bakke shared the opinion that the modernization project for Maritsa East 1 is equally important for Bulgaria and the US company, the BBC said in its Bulgarian language morning programme on Tuesday. They both emphasized that every possible step should be taken to accelerate preparatory works and settle the problem of financing the project by the beginning of next year at the latest.

 

According to the initial plans, the construction of the new Maritsa East 1 thermoelectric power station will take about three years. It is expected to start producing electricity in 2006.

 

The Bulgarian government delegation, which includes Energy and Energy resources Minister Milko Kovachev, and the AES executive officers considered the most pressing problems related to the signature of the accompanying documents, such as the contract for delivery of coal from the Maritsa East mines and the licences for construction and exploitation of the new power station, the BBC said.

 

According to Svetoslav Gachev, Vice President of Delphos International, Washington, the future power station will be built on the site of the present Maritsa East 1 which will be decommissioned. The capacity of the new facility will be 600 MW.

 

Construction works will be assigned to Paris-based Olston company.

 

Gachev, whose company is the financial consultant of AES, expressed hope that the project, which costs 900 million US dollars, will help create a lot of new jobs in the construction and exploitation of the power station. It is expected that a large part of the construction works on Maritsa East 1will be assigned to Bulgarian subcontractors.

 

The Bulgarian delegation and the President of the International Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), Peter Watson, talked about the possibilities of OPIC expanding its activities in Bulgaria and discussed the corporation's future projects, Deutsche Welle said.

 

Meeting with Thelma Askey, Director of the US Agency for Trade and Development, the Bulgarian officials discussed the liberalization of trade between Bulgaria and the United Stated and the technical assistance the agency provides for the ongoing structural reforms in Bulgaria. Last year the Agency for Trade and Development (ATD) invested 2.5 million US dollars in feasibility studies under private and public sector projects. A study for building a communication network at the Council of Ministers and an info-technical study for the Bulgarian tax authority were approved last week, Net Cabot, ATD Director for Europe, said.

 

On Monday Vassilev and the delegation accompanying him met with Kent Hill, Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and Nicholas Studzinski, Officer in Charge of European Countries/Southern Tier Division.

 

The strategy which the USAID will pursue until 2007 prioritizes the support that will be provided for Bulgarian projects, it emerged at the meeting Nikolai Vassilev had with Kent Hill, according to the press office of the Bulgarian Economy Ministry. Hill praised the political will and the economic progress Bulgaria has made over the last few years and approved the priorities set by the Government.

 

The US side declared its readiness to provide expert and technical aid to encourage exports, strengthen public administration and the capital markets, improve all licensing regulations and introduce high technologies. Hill accepted Vassil;ev's invitation to visit Bulgaria in late July or early August this year.

 

The press release of the Economy Ministry also said that the sides are prepared to cooperate in the sphere of education and to start the so-called MBA programme in January 2003. Programmes for the training of young specialists will be designed and an adequate system for crediting students will be developed. The US side has provided 36 million dollars to finance various projects implemented in 2002.

 

"The main purpose of the visit is a political one and the Bulgarian bid for NATO membership was discussed at many of the meetings we had here," Vassilev told Deutsche Welle. He emphasized that Bulgaria is a natural and very good ally of the US and NATO in the Balkans. Another purpose of the visit is attracting more US investments and strengthening the economic ties between the two countries.

 

On Monday Vassilev and Kovachev conferred with Vann van Diepen, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Nonproliferation Controls, focusing on the NATO membership policy of the Bulgarian Government and the particular steps taken to improve control on the trade in arms and dual-use products.

 

Vassilev said that the US Department of State highly appreciates the Bulgarian Government's actions in this area.

 

On Tuesday the Bulgarian delegation will have talks at the US Chamber of Commerce, at the Department of State and with a number of private companies.

 

 

Standartnews
Stephan Kioutchukov

VAT-accounts mandatory from August 1 on.

 

Persons and firms who evade paying taxes on incomes and properties will be fined from 500 to 5000 levs, read the amendments to the Tax Procedure Act, promulgated in the State Gazette last week. Producers of liquor and cigarets are able to export their goods without any excise labels. From April 1 on, the export was possible only with labels "For Export", but the MPs suspended this requirement. To the amendments, duty free shops - closed down for more than a month - are allowed to sell the available cigarets and liquor. Film exporting firms will be able to get back their VAT payments, the amendments read. Till August 1 all the firms registered under the VAT Act, will have to open special VAt-accounts.

 

 

Ysterday the US dollar fell down to 2.13 levs. For 4 days already these are the lowest rates in the recent 6 months. Dealers said that no major changes in the rates were expected today.

 

 

The armed man who rushed into the Marmara hotel in Istanbul on Saturday and took 6 Bulgarians hostages, was not of Chechen extraction and had mental disorders, Istanbul's Vali Erol Cakir said yesterday. The detained terrorist delivered pro-Islamic speeches while interrogated.

 

 

At the Prague summit in November the NATO will have both to change and expand. Bulgaria and Romania are willing to join the Alliance and their strategic location is advantageous. However, the military reform in these countries still has a long way to go. Romania seems to be more unstable than it used to be during the first wave of enlargement in 1997. As for Bulgaria, according to one of the NATO representatives, it is at the bottom of the candidate members list.

 

 

Standartnews
Pavlina Zhivkova

200 out of 800 participants came to Sofia, to organize a party with whiskey for free.

 

The participants in the third edition of the Bulgarian Easter, which took place on May 4, presented Vice PM Nikolay Vassilev with a water-meter with an arrow pointing at two zeros. The Finance Minister received a plate with an "A" inscribed on it. This is the foreign press' assessment of the work of the two ministers, a 32-year-old Professor in Finance Stanislav Gyoshev-Stenli said. The most boring forum, said the participants in the third edition of the 'Bulgarian Easter'. To them, the reason is that for the first time the participants in the 'Bulgarian Easter' are represented in power, too. 'We are quite disappointed in them', young people said. From 800 registered participants only 200 arrived in Sofia. The rest of them joined the forum through the 'Internet'. In one of the most interesting panels about the economic growth Vice-PM Nikolay Vassilev analyzed the 101 recommendations to the government made by the participants in the second edition of the 'Bulgarian Easter'. 'About 30 percent of them are fulfilled. As for another 22 percent, nobody knows whether or not they will be fulfilled and when the solution is to come, Nikolay Vassilev said before his friends. He praised himself for the success of Finance Minister Milen Velchev, too. To him, the recommendations of the participants in the second edition of the Bulgarian Easter on foreign control over the Bulgarian customs and uprooting corruption were already realized through sealing the contract with the British consultants from 'Crown Agents'. Nikolay Vassilev promised the participants to finalize the 3 big privatization deals and said that BTK, BT and the DZI will be denationalized soon. About 50 of the participants in the Bulgarian Easter marked the end of the forum by a party in the 'Cacao' discotheque. All had a glass of cheap whiskey served to them for free. Not many of them stayed until 3 a.m.

 

(PY)

 

 

 

Government Contemplates Lower Taxes in Next Three Years.

 

Sofia, May 7 (BTA) - Lowering taxes and social insurance as much as it still allows for a low budget deficit, encouraging investment by reducing the profit tax, streamlining the tax system and its administration, introducing equality among taxpayers and expanding the tax base into the shadow economy. This is the core of the tax changes that make up the three-year tax strategy of the Government made public Tuesday by Finance Minister Milen Velchev and his deputy Gati Al-Jeburi.

 

The government will try to transfer the tax burden from indirect to direct taxes and improve controls over the payment of indirect taxes so as to eliminate the possibility for abusing the tax credit system or for selling goods without paying excise duty.

 

According to the Deputy Finance Minister, all investors - foreign, local, small and big alike - should be treated on an equal footing and preferences should be available for those investing in areas with high unemployment rates.

 

The corporate tax that companies now pay both to the central and to the local budgets will be made only one and payable to the national purse. Also, it will be gradually reduced from the effective 23.5% to 20% in 2004 and 15% in 2005. In areas where extra incentives are needed for boosting investment, the 15% rate will be made effective as soon as the criteria are prepared.

 

The rate of depreciation of hardware and software will be changed from the effective 20% to 50%, of machines and equipment from 20% to 30% and of vehicles from 5% to 10%.

 

Also, expenses for repairs will be fully recognized as expense for the purpose of accounting.

 

In the insurance business, the tax for insurance premiums will be reduced from the present 7% to 5% or 4% in 2004. The 2% tax for life insurance premiums remains unchanged.

 

A special scheme will be worked out for investment companies, where only the dividend will be charged but not the capital gains and the income from the dividend.

 

The lowest rate of the income tax for individuals will be reduced further from the effective 18% to 15% in 2003, 12% in 2004 and 10% in 2005. The rates for those in the two middle income ranges will be reduced from 24% to 22% and from 28% to 26%.

 

As for the small businesses paying only a licence charge, the charge will be reduced to a par with the income tax rates in a bid to boost this sector of the economy.

 

The average monthly wage in the private sector in the country is 237 leva, said Al-Jeburi. It is 383 leva in the public sector and, surprisingly, it is hard to recruit people in the public sector, he said. "There is a phenomenon with a direct effect on the national economy. If the average private-sector wage is brought up at least to the level of the average wage in the public sector, the revenue into the national budget will be 468 million leva more from income tax and 780 million leva more from social insurance contributions."

 

To change that, a campaign will be launched towards registration of the contracts of employment so as to have more transparency about the wage and insurance levels and better protection of employees.

 

Clear criteria will be introduced for charging VAT for goods and services that are sold below their prime cost. There is a problem now where products and services go cheaper than the cost of production and pay a market-value VAT.

 

The Government will prepare a system for separating the local budgets from the central budget to allow people to decide locally on their living standards in proportion with the local resources, and make local mayors assume the responsibility they should have, Al-Jeburi explained. The responsibility of the Exchequer will be to provide a minimum level of financial resources to municipalities that are short of income.

 

Another thing that will change is the taxation of new vehicles for individual (not commercial) use: only a road tax will be payable for them rather a road tax plus a property tax. The system of taxation for cargo vehicles (over 12 t) will gradually switch to the EU rules of charging the owners based on the vehicle's weight, number of axles and manner of suspension.

 

The future changes to the law on excise duty will be aimed at introducing the EU standards. However, Al-Jeburi said, the Finance Ministry will try to delay as much as it can the hike to the highest levels that the EU requires from Bulgaria.

 

The road and environmental tax for unleaded fuel and gas oil will be dropped.

 

They will be transformed into excise duty in keeping with the practice in most European countries.

 

The excise duty for fuels, which in the Deputy Finance Minister's words is considerably lower than in the EU countries and other transitional economies, will be increased by 50 leva/t in 2004 and by as much in 2005. Preferences will be available for industrial uses of certain fuels and gas oil will be marked to prevent abuses of the differentiated tax rates.

 

The excise duty for wine will be dropped altogether in 2003. The rate for liquors, which is now 0.035 leva per volume of alcohol will be increased to 0.05 leva.

 

Legislation for the use of excise warehouses will be ready in 2003. Excise warehousing will allow businesses to pay the due excise duty over a certain period of time before the goods are sold, rather than block large amounts of money right after the manufacture or importation of the goods.

 

The excise duty for cigarettes will be increased in 2004.

 

Kostadin Arshinkov

 

Thousands of people from all over the country gathered around the Bachkovo Monastery yesterday early in the morning. Many people spent the night in the meadows around the monastery because they wanted to take part in the traditional ceremony - bringing the miracle-making icon of Virgin Mary out of the monastery. According to the belief, it heals all kinds of pains, even sterility. French and Russian journalists were interested in the copy of the icon, which is to be presented the Pope John-Paul II. Traditionally the miraculous icon of Virgin Mary is carried out of the monastery once a year. This is done always on the second day of Easter.

 

 

 

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Finance and customs officials from the Balkan countries are expected to gather in Kosovo, a Yugoslav province, later this week for a United Nations-hosted meeting on ways to combat cigarette smuggling, U.N. officials said here Monday.

 

The meeting is scheduled for Friday in Pristina, the provincialcapital of Kosovo, to discuss how to crack down on the illegal cigarette trade, which has contributed to a significant loss in revenue for several governments in the Balkan region and a consequent drop in funds available for public services, the officials said.

 

"Cigarette smugglers are stealing from the people of Kosovo, and we are talking big bucks here," the head of the U.N. Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Michael Steiner, said Monday, adding that the meeting is part of UNMIK's priority to combat organized crime and corruption and to create conditions foreconomic growth.

 

"It is a problem which can only be dealt comprehensively, at the regional level," he said, as finance ministers and customs directors from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia are expected to discuss practicaland coordinated steps to end the region-wide practice of avoiding taxation on the transport and sale of cigarettes.

 

Of the 8.8 million U.S. dollars collected each year in excise taxes in Kosovo, at least 16.8 million dollars comes from levies on cigarettes. Customs officials in the province estimate that 67.2 million dollars is eluding customs control every year, an improvement over the past, when as much as 25.2 million dollars may have escaped collection during 1999-2000.

 

 

 

Pec, 7 May: At midnight [2200 gmt], a group of Albanians stoned a vehicle with nuns and monks from Pec Patriarchate and Decani Monastery [belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Church], the Raska-Prizren Eparchy said.

 

The attack took place when they were entering Kosovo-Metohija from the direction of Rozaje and while the monks and nuns were waiting for the Italian contingent of Kfor [NATO-led peace keeping force in Kosovo] to escort them to the monastery.

 

"The Pec Patriarchate nuns and monks from the Decani Monastery were returning from religious celebration in Djurdjevi Stupovi near Novi Pazar," the Raska-Prizren Eparchy statement said.

 

 

 

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, May 7 (AFP) - In a bid to ease ethnic tensions and reintegrate Kosovo's minorities, UN authorities announced Tuesday that they were to phase out minority enclaves in the province.

 

"We wish to see returns take place in all parts in Kosovo and to be a part of a process which allows them to reintegrate into society," Andrew Whitley, UN official in charge of returns told journalists in the provincial capital Pristina.

 

Dozens of ethnic Serbs have been killed and tens of thousands have fled the province since it came under UN administration in 1999.

 

The exodus followed revenge attacks by Kosovo's ethnic Albanians seeking to level the score for years of political repression under the regime of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.

 

Thousands of other non-Albanian minorities targeted for their alleged collaboration with Serbian troops during the 1998-99 war in Kosovo also fled.

 

Those remaining in the province, including some 80,000 ethnic Serbs, live in enclaves heavily guarded by NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers.

 

"The policy of enclaves was neccessary at that time (1999) in order to prevent further bloodshed and to be able to stabilize the situation," Whitley said.

 

"We believe that now the time has come to dismantle the enclaves and encourage reintegration."

 

However, very few of Kosovo's minorities have returned to Kosovo, despite efforts by the UN authorities to provide security for them.

 

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, around 2,600 people -- mostly from the Roma and Ashkali communities as well as Serbs -- have returned over the past two years.

 

"We expect that this year alone we will have over 3,000 people returning," Werner Blatter, UNHCR's regional officer said at the press conference.

 

"This is an ongoing process. We don't have an arrival day, but we know many people have decided to return."

 

With the level of inter-ethnic violence decreasing in Kosovo, the UN authorities here see this as an opportunity to start a program of minority returns.

 

"The security conditions are not ideal but are much better and therefore it is possible for people to have the confidence to return and that no harm will come to them," Whitley said.

 

The process, according to the UN, is to be gradual and will not involve large numbers of people returning simultaneously.

 

"None of us in the international community are in favour of Stalinist style large scale movements of people from one area to another. That's not the name of the game here," Whitley said.

 

"Our job is to improve the conditions for their return here and to make sure that when they do so, they see a future for themselves, not just to be able to come back and not have a future for themselves."

 

Kosovo's UN administrator, Michael Steiner, set the return of Serbs and other minorities as one of the top priorities for his mission in the troubled Yugoslav province.

 

At Tuesday's briefing, he appealed for financial support for the returns program.

 

"When the returns start, on the basis of our integrated approach, we need to be sure that there will be money to follow the returnees... only in this way can we achieve sustainable returns," Steiner said.

 

 

By JUDY DEMPSEY

 

Al-Qaeda is still operating in Bosnia even though Nato has disrupted much of its communications, arrested several of its members and carried out deportations.

 

Lord Robertson, Nato's secretary-general, said there was "no assumption" that al-Qaeda had "gone away. We are still on alert. We know there are people out there, planning, and plotting", he said in an interview at his headquarters in Brussels.

 

Nato has been more than cautious in releasing details of raids on alleged al-Qaeda networks in Sarajevo or other cities in the federation, let alone spelling out the extent to which al-Qaeda still poses a threat.

 

Last week, however, Major Scott Lundy, a spokesman for Sfor, the Nato-led international military force in Bosnia, said US Federal Bureau of Investigation agents had raided a Bosnian-linked charity in Chicago and arrested Enaam Arnout, its executive director.

 

"There is a lot of ongoing work in Bosnia and elsewhere," said Lord Robertson. "The detection is still going on. People are being apprehended.

 

Some of the cells have been broken up in Bosnia. We continue to track them, find them, arrest them and deal with them."

 

The latest raid followed months of investigating Mr Arnout's links to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda's network in Bosnia.

 

In Sarajevo, Sfor and the Bosnian police said they had found weapons, military manuals and state security documents in the offices of Bosanska Idealna Futura (BIF).

 

BIF had taken over the local operations of the Benevolence International Foundation, whose executive director was Syrian-born Mr Arnout. "Without going into detail, police found evidence of direct communications between Mr Arnout and Osama bin Laden," said Mr Lundy.

 

Many Islamic networks and organisations blossomed during the Bosnia war, some of them backed by Saudi Arabia.

 

Its members were mainly recruited from the several thousand mujahideen fighters who joined the Bosnian army to fight against Serb and Croat armies during the early 1990s.

 

But one condition of the 1996 Dayton agreement, which ended the wars in Bosnia, was that the mujahideen quit the army and leave Bosnia altogether.

 

Some stayed and settled down but the exact number remains vague.

 

Others found work in Saudi-backed charities, which Sfor and the Bosnian police raided earlier this year. www.ft.com/terror