|
Books on Bulgaria
REPUBLICAN REFERENCE
Area(sq.k.m)
110,910
Population
7,517,973
Capital
Sofia
Currency
Lev
President
Georgi Purvanov
Private sector
% of GDP
40%
|
Update No: 104 - (01/01/06)
The predicates of the predicament of the Bulgars
The Bulgars are a curious lot. They have been ruled by many peoples, from the
south, the east and the north. Rome, Byzantium, Istanbul, Muscovy. They were not
very fond of any of them.
There is a further point of the compass that they would really like to be ruled
from - they predicate that salvation lies in the West. They are desperately keen
to join the European band-wagon (the EU), which they are due to do in 2007.
Out of corruption
One of the things that they could do very well without, for which they are
renowned, is corruption,
Bulgaria and Romania vowed to step up their fight against corruption after the
European Union warned that the former communist countries risked having their
entry delayed if fraud, bribery and organized crime were not brought under
control.
But Olli Rehn, EU expansion commissioner, stressed that promises were not enough
and said it was far from certain whether the two countries would join on time in
January 2007. He said that Bulgaria had not prosecuted a single high-level
political corruption case during the past year and that graft continued to
plague Romanian life.
The EU's aggressive stance against Bulgaria and Romania underscored concerns
about opening the EU's doors to lawlessness from countries with judiciaries that
have not completely reformed institutions left over from their communist pasts.
The next four countries in line to join - Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Turkey
- all have more entrenched corruption than the 10 newest members did before
joining in May, according to Transparency International, an anticorruption
watchdog whose reports the European Commission uses to assess corruption in
candidate countries.
In progress reports that will serve as guides when EU governments decide in
April whether to admit Romania and Bulgaria, the commission emphasized the
countries' slow pace of judicial reform, a worrying backlog of cases in their
court systems, and far-too-rampant organized crime and human trafficking.
Meanwhile, it asked them to speed up implementation of laws in areas ranging
from environmental projection to justice and home affairs.
Romania, which Transparency International has ranked as the most corrupt of the
countries invited to join the EU and the 25 already in the bloc, has been
stepping up its efforts to fight corruption. Within days of entering government
last year, the Romanian prime minister, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, a liberal
reformer and former businessman, pushed to make all forms of tax evasion a
crime. He also appointed a respected human rights activist as justice minister.
Still, EU officials say the country has failed to get its corruption problem
under control. Its Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office recently warned that the
Romanian secret service was still tapping journalists' phones 15 years after the
fall of communism. Meanwhile, the judiciary has been marred by cases of bribery,
partly because judges and government bureaucrats have among the lowest salaries
in Europe.
In Bulgaria, where salaries are comparable to those in Romania, the judicial
system is considered one of the least effective and most corrupt branches of
state administration. The position of prosecutor general remains unaccountable,
while many criminals still are not brought to justice. More than 60 organized
crime figures have been publicly assassinated in the last several years, without
any arrests.
****
The following, therefore, has to be said:-
A killing complicates Bulgaria's EU hopes
By Matthew Brunwasser in The International Herald Tribune
Emil Kyulev, one of the richest men in Bulgaria, was being driven to work in
Sofia in his BMW sports utility vehicle on Oct. 26 when, shortly after 9:00
a.m., according to the police, he was shot and killed by a man hiding in the
bushes.
A few kilometres away, at the moment Kyulev was slain, Bulgaria's justice and
interior ministers were meeting the press to play down a European Union report
expressing "serious concerns" about organized crime in the country.
The problem, the report noted, "so far has not been a priority on the
political agenda."
Interior Minister, Rumen Petkov, said the criticism, issued the previous day,
was "not a surprise." Then, as officials learned of the killing, the
press conference was abruptly cut short.
The Kyulev killing has heightened anxieties about Bulgaria's top political
priority: EU membership on Jan. 1, 2007. Under a treaty signed in April,
accession can be delayed by one year if Bulgaria is found "manifestly
unable to fulfil the requirements of membership."
The slaying has also focused international attention on one of the weakest
Bulgarian institutions: the judiciary.
Five weeks after Kyulev was killed, no one has been charged. There is no known
motive for the crime, although speculation has mounted over his business
relations with "dirty capital."
Kyulev was the head of DZI Group, the biggest insurance and banking firm in the
country, with more than 12,000 employees and 500 million, or $585 million, in
assets. He was close to all the major political parties and served as an
economic adviser to President Georgi Purvanov.
His murder was particularly shocking because he did not fit the profile of the
smugglers, extortionists and drug dealers who have been slain in a boom of
organized crime-related deaths.
There have been 157 contract killings in public places in Bulgaria since 2000,
Petkov said. There have been no convictions.
Because Kyulev was so close to the political elite, Prime Minister Sergei
Stanishev called his shooting a "real threat" to Bulgaria and its aim
of joining the EU.
The EU enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn, has criticized Bulgaria more than
once for never having convicted a senior official for corruption, and has warned
the country over dragging its feet on judicial reform. In one notable instance,
a new Criminal Code, which was written in the spring, was enacted in October
only 20 minutes before Rehn visited the Parliament in Sofia.
"Significant efforts are needed to effectively combat organized crime and
corruption, especially at high level," Rehn told an EU-Bulgarian joint
parliamentary committee in Brussels on Monday.
In the aftermath of the Kyulev killing, the government here declared
extraordinary measures, flooding the streets with police officers and masked
special forces soldiers who stopped and searched luxury cars.
Officials repeated their calls for a new law to expand police powers. More than
800 people with criminal records were arrested.
Many Bulgarians are sceptical of such measures, saying they have been tried
before without success.
An Interior Ministry spokesman, Yavor Simov, said that changes needed to stem
organized crime have been put in place.
"In Bulgaria," he said, things "will continue this way until all
these groups are uncovered, broken and destroyed in every way allowed by the
full force of the law."
But even the full force of the law has been unable to break through a wall of
inertia among poorly paid functionaries - monthly wages in Bulgaria average
about $200 - who face public antagonism and often lack the motivation to tackle
endemic corruption.
The judicial system in particular is widely perceived as corrupt, inefficient
and bureaucratically isolated from the reality of everyday life.
To improve the function of the judiciary, the EU wrote in its report,
"major challenges remain." Yet reform of the judiciary is critical to
make progress on crime, experts say.
"The problem is the performance of the judicial system, not the scale of
organized crime," said Ognyan Minchev of the Institute for Regional and
International Studies, a research organization that is based in Sofia.
Misha Glenny, a former BBC correspondent in the Balkans who is writing a book on
transnational crime and globalisation, says the scale of organized crime is
often a matter of perception. He cites Italy as an example of a country with
organized crime and corruption that, because it is a relatively wealthy society,
can absorb it better than a poor society.
In Bulgaria, whatever the real scale, organized crime has taken on mythic
proportions in the national psyche. Murders happen on the streets of the capital
during the daytime. Gangsters have nicknames like The Beak, The Gorilla and The
Doctor. Some killings appear to have been modelled on Hollywood films.
One of the most audacious and bloody was the slaying of Milcho (Brother Mile)
Dimitrov last year, when five men carrying shotguns - the press reported that
they were dressed as masked policemen - invaded the courtyard of the Slavia
restaurant, a gangster hangout owned by Dimitrov, and killed him and five
bodyguards.
The killing of Dimitar (Little Mitko) Hristov at a café in Sofia also grabbed
national attention. Hristov and two accomplices were reportedly killed by gunmen
disguised as Orthodox priests or monks, complete with fake beards.
Whether this gangster tradition will affect the EU once Bulgaria becomes a
member is disputed by analysts.
"The EU is the most affluent market in human history," Glenny said.
He said that Balkan organized-crime groups were well equipped to supply the
bloc's 400 million consumers - "many of whom choose to spend their money
taking narcotics, sleeping with prostitutes and smoking untaxed
cigarettes."
After it became easier for Bulgarian citizens to enter the Schengen
passport-free travel zone in 2001, EU countries noted an upsurge of crime by
Bulgarians, who were able to travel freely for the first time.
A report issued last year by Europol, an EU police body, said that Bulgarian
organized crime groups had "established themselves particularly in
trafficking in women for sexual exploitation, various counterfeiting activities,
especially euro counterfeiting, and debit-card fraud."
Klaus Jansen, president of the Criminal Investigators Union in Germany, expects
the problem to get worse.
"If Bulgaria joins the EU without implementing a modern security
apparatus," Jansen said, "you will definitely see a huge increase in
Bulgaria-based organized-crime activity."
Petrus van Duyne, a criminologist at Tilburg University in the Netherlands,
takes a different view.
"Organized crime is not an entity - it's a way of doing business," he
said, adding that he did not expect EU membership to contribute to a westward
movement of Bulgarian organized crime or its markets.
Upon Bulgarian accession to the EU, said Philip Gounev, who has researched
organized crime at the Center for the Study of Democracy in Sofia, organized
crime groups "would no longer be able to use the weakness of our state
administration."
Haralan Alexandrov, a social anthropologist at the New Bulgarian University,
puts the onus on the Bulgarian government to find a solution.
"People in Bulgaria are ashamed and angry, and becoming more cynical,
giving up any attempt to envision a better future," he said.
"This can be solved if institutions start to function more or less
normally, not because the EU tells them to, but for the benefit of
Bulgarians."
Poor infrastructure hinders tourism growth
According to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD),
excessive development and lack of infrastructure at the national and municipal
level have hindered the successful development of tourism in Bulgaria, Bulgarian
News Agency reported.
During a real estate and investment forum in Sofia, Ilaria Benucci, director
Property and Tourism team at EBRD said that a similar problem also exists in
Romania, Croatia and Montenegro. He said, "Bulgaria is a booming tourism
market, which is happening now." Some of the most promising opportunities
for the development of Bulgaria's tourism market are a booming industry, a
rising number of flights, increasing the number of tourists from the EU, and
developing new and affordable destinations. EBRD forecasts a double-digit growth
in 2007 and afterwards.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria's Parliament passed amendments to the tourism law on a
second reading. Under this law, the prices of all tourist services in Bulgaria
are set to be equal for Bulgarians and foreign visitors by the end of this year.
The different prices for Bulgarians and foreign tourists was according to the
European Union a discrimination and Bulgaria was asked to make some changes in
its legislation, before joining the Union in 2007.
The reforms come as a result from the European Commission's demands on the Free
Movement of Goods and Services chapter. Under the new rules, violators will be
imposed fines ranging from 1,000 levs to 15,000 levs. However, the new tourism
law will be critical for most Bulgarian tourists, who have enjoyed lower prices
up until now. Under the new amendments a special State tourism Agency will be
established within the council of ministers.
Bulgaria is a popular tourist destination among the Poles. Poland is highly
interested in Bulgarian tourism. The number of Polish holiday-makers in Bulgaria
is expected to exceed last year's number of 100,000 said the first secretary at
the trade department of the Polish Embassy to Bulgaria in Varna. Poles are
satisfied with the compatibility of quality-price offered to them in Bulgaria,
he added.
Tourists from the largest Central European country prefer sea resorts on
Bulgaria's Black Sea coast and frequent winter tourism sites at Slovakia and
Austria, the Polish diplomat explained.
Trade turnover between Bulgaria and Poland marked a considerable growth of 49.3
per cent in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year
reaching US$200.8m.
Bulgarian prime minister visits Sweden
Bulgaria will become a member of the European Union on January 1 2007, predicted
Goran Persson, prime minister of Sweden, on December 6. He made the statement at
the start of Bulgarian Prime Minister, Sergei Stanishev's, two-day visit to
Sweden, where he attended a series of high-ranked meetings.
Stanishev, on his first official visit to the country, thanked Persson for his
support for Bulgaria's efforts towards EU membership.
The two prime ministers talked about areas in which economic co-operation
between the two countries could be stimulated and Swedish investments in
Bulgaria enhanced.
After Persson, Stanishev met with Per Westerberg, first deputy speaker of the
Swedish Parliament, who said that all political parties in the Swedish
parliament had agreed on the ratification of Bulgaria and Romania's accession
treaty with the EU. Westerberg also expressed his conviction that within six
months, the ratification will be realised.
"Swedish MPs support the enlargement of the EU," he said.
Stanishev also met with Sweden's minister of foreign affairs, Laila Freivalds,
whom he reassured that Bulgaria would continue the reforms needed for full EU
membership.
On her behalf, Freivalds said that Bulgaria had a significant role in the
stability of the Balkans.
Later the same day, in the presence of Stanishev, the Bulgarian Ministry of
Economy and Energy and the Swedish ministry of industry, employment and
communications signed a declaration of intent.
The visit continued with a lecture delivered by Stanishev, entitled 'Bulgaria
Prior to its Accession to the European Union.' The Stockholm Institute of
Transition Economics and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
organised the event. The lecture was delivered to eminent representatives of the
diplomatic and academic circles in Stockholm.
"The EU is the most successful project of the 20th century, and the Union's
enlargement is part of it," he said. "Bulgaria does not regard itself
as a consumer, but as an active member of the EU from January 1 2007."
Stanishev's visit included a meeting with representative of leading Swedish
companies in the fields of energy, communications and the banking sector, such
as SEB (Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken), Investor AB, Nordic Investment Bank,
Swedfund, Carl Bennet AB, Swedish Export Credit Agency, SAAB Industrial
Cooperation, Volvo, Scania and Ericsson.
Among the issues discussed was Bulgaria's preparation for EU membership,
bilateral trade, possibilities for Swedish investments in Bulgaria and the
business climate in the country. Stanishev touted Bulgaria's friendly investment
climate, particularly due to its approaching EU membership.
Overall, Stanishev's visit to Stockholm aimed to contribute to the development
of trade and economic relations and to encourage Swedish investments in
Bulgaria, as well as to increase trade volume and intensify tourist exchange
between the two countries. Stanishev's programme also included an audience with
the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf.
«
Top
AVIATION
New Sofia Airport terminal to be ready in summer 2006
Once its new passenger terminal and runway go into operation in summer 2006,
Sofia Airport will be able to handle 20 aircraft movements of all classes and
2,200 passengers per hour in rush hours, or up to 2.6 million passengers a year,
plus 26,000 tonnes of cargo annually, authorities announced after Transport
Minister, Petar Moutafchiev, visited the construction site, Sofia News Agency
reported.
The Sofia Airport Reconstruction, Development and Extension Project is worth 210
million Euro. The European Investment Bank will provide a 60 million Euro loan,
with 38.1 million Euro from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, a 50
million Euro grant from the EU ISPA and Phare programmes and the rest is
Bulgarian co-financing.
February 2006 was the deadline for the completion of the strip, but the
construction will not be ready in time. The deadline for completion of the new
runway has been extended by another four or five months, Sofia Airport executive
director, Kalin Barzov, told Sofia news agency.
Barzov explained that the airstrip's composition was completed and 2,500 metres
of the strip has been constructed during the past three months. It will be 3,600
metres long and the airplanes would lift off a kilometre sooner compared to the
old strip.
Barzov stressed that the new runway has been moved 500 metres eastward, which
will reduce noise and environmental pollution.
The facility will have state-of-the-art surfacing and a new ICAO Category III
approach system that will allow landings and take-offs even in a dense fog.
Danish company Bruel & Kjaer & Sound & Vibration Measurements A/S
has been selected to supply and install a system for aviation noise and flight
paths monitoring.
The new airport terminal and its accompanying infrastructure are also almost
finished and would be operational before the airstrip, in early summer 2006.
Barzov said that the old airport would continue to run in parallel to the new
one as aircraft traffic is expected to rise, especially from charters and
low-cost flights.
This winter alone, charter operations are expected to increase by 40 per cent
from last year and the summer charters will be some 30 per cent more. Secondly
the old airport would continue to operate in order to have a back-up for
emergency landings.
Moutafchiev said that no agreement has been signed on an extension of the
terminal construction deadline with the Austrian contractor Strabag. He recalled
that in a letter dated July 11, 2005, Strabag asked the transport ministry for
two intermediate extensions of the deadline for completion of work.
«
Top
BANKING
Unicredito buys 25% stake in DZI Bank
Unicredito Italiano SpA, owner of Bulgaria's Bulbank has acquired a 25 per cent
stake in Bulgaria's eighth-largest bank, DZI Bank, and 13.05 per cent of the
insurance company DZI AD, Sofia News Agency reported, citing a note issued by
the Sofia stock exchange.
The purchase was carried out indirectly, according to the note. According to the
Bulgarian Stock Exchange, both transfers of shares were made to the Central
Depository on November 17th. With this acquisition the Italian banking group
takes the reins of 21.7 per cent of the Bulgarian bank market, also being owner
of Hebros bank and HVB Bank Biochim. DZI became the country's largest financial
group after the merger of its banking and insurance units. The murder of DZI's
CEO, Emil Kyulev, on October 26 has renewed the interest of some big investors
to buy this prosperous business.
«
Top
ENERGY
Bulgaria may become electricity importer
Czech state-run power producer CEZ Regional Manager for Bulgaria, Tomas Huner,
recently warned that Bulgaria may lose its position as electricity exporter and
become an importer as a result of unreasonable price policy. He said that both
electricity distributors and producers face regulation problems, as the
utilities are not being repaired and are not utilised to their full capacity,
Sofia News Agency reported.
Huner stressed that price increases should be gradual and not only favouring
natural gas and the central heating. The company even organised a special
meeting to mark the first anniversary since it acquired 67 per cent in three
Bulgarian power distributors for 281.5 million Euro. The Western Bulgaria power
utility pool includes Sofia City, Sofia District and the town of Pleven. It was
also announced that the three CEZ-owned power distributors in Bulgaria have
reduced electrical energy losses by about 10 per cent for the first nine months
of the year.
«
Top
FOREIGN INVESTMENT
EBRD to invest a quarter billion Euro next year
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) executive for
southeastern Europe, Olivier Descamps, said that the EBRD will retain the
existing level of investment in Bulgaria and has earmarked 250 million Euro for
projects in the country next year, New Europe reported.
The bank will concentrate primarily on projects concerning the infrastructure
energy industry, private sector and local self-government. The money will be
provided if the investment is deployed through concession arrangements and
public-private partnerships, following transparent and open procedures, said
Descamps. The EBRD is the largest single investor in Bulgaria, having committed
more than 1.1 billion Euro in 57 projects. EBRD plans participation in the
electricity distribution companies, railway transport and the national
electricity transmission company.
Descamps said that EBRD will become a shareholder in two Bulgarian electricity
distribution companies owned by Austria's EVN and Germany's E.ON. The
privatisation contracts for the power distributors allow the bank to acquire up
to 12 per cent of the share capital.
The acquisition of the equity stakes in the power distributors is one of several
projects that EBRD will implement in Bulgaria. If the state-owned railway
company follows through with the plans to spin off cargo and passenger haulage
into separate companies, EBRD is ready to invest 50 to 100 million Euro in the
restructuring of the railway system.
In early December, EBRD signed a loan agreement for the disbursement of 157
million Euro for the rehabilitation of thermal power plant Maritsa Iztok 1.
EBRD also plans to invest 40 million Euro in Varna and Bourgas airports after
the litigation of the concession procedure for the two facilities is resolved,
added Descamps.
As part of its package, the bank will also provide 18 million Euro to Bulgarian
pulp producer Svilosa AD to help double its production capacity and strengthen
its position as a regional leader in the pulp sector. The Nordic Investment Bank
is expected to lend the remaining 10 million Euro. The loan will also support
substantial energy efficiency investments enabling Svilosa to make significant
energy savings. This loan is in line with EBRD's new strategy for Bulgaria which
will provide long-term financing to help domestic companies become more
competitive, and to meet EU environmental requirements.
This project should demonstrate that local companies with consolidated
transparent corporate structures and who work in accordance with sound corporate
governance principles can and should be considered for 10-year financing, said
Descamps.
The loan is expected to support the revival of the company by doubling
production at the mill and help develop regional trade through exports to
countries including Turkey and Greece. The loan will maintain local employment
as the company expands, and local suppliers such as the wood harvesting
companies will benefit too.
«
Top
TRANSPORT
Danube Bridge 2 boasts construction permit
Deputy Regional Development Minister, Savin Kovachev, handed the second Danube
River Bridge construction permit to Transport Minister, Petar Mutafchiev, Sofia
News Agency recently reported.
This move opened doors for the beginning of the construction works in 2007. The
European Commission has already given its approval to the short list with the
construction companies of the Danube Bridge 2. Bulgaria should contract a
constructor for its second Danube River bridge by July 2006. The facility should
be ready by the end of 2009, connecting the Bulgarian town of Vidin, in the
northwest of the country, and Romania's Kalafat. About 236 million Euro will be
invested in Danube Bridge 2. It was recalled that Romania and Bulgaria signed
the agreement for the project in March 2000, but the lack of funding hampered
the immediate realisation.
« Top
|
