Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Saturday 28 January 2012


	28 Jan 2012 \| Issue 279 \| Sofia: min -13°, max -3°; Varna: min -11°, max -2°

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Sofia Speaking

On Bulgaria's Political Sanity and Tapegate: It's Boss's Choice!

By Ivan Dikov

Monday, January 23, 2012, was a pretty exciting day in Bulgaria for a number of reasons. | read |

Sofia Speaking

Support Your Local Sheriff - The Bulgarian Sequel

By Maria Guineva

The latest case of Bulgarian police brutality sent shockwaves throughout society, NGOs, and the opposition. | read |

Sofia Speaking

The Bulgarian First Lady Dilemma

By Nikola Petrov

The wife of new Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev was notably absent from his inauguration ceremony on Sunday, thus immediately triggering discussions in the media and the society alike. | read |

Sofia Speaking

Bulgaria's Love-Hate Paradox

By Milena Hristova

It has begun to snow again. The flakes, silver and dark, fall obliquely against the lamplight. Who would believe that under the peaceful and poetic whiteness that has wrapped the country, there is discontent and anger? | read |

Sofia Speaking

Tackling the Crisis in Europe: Deregulation and Privatization?

By Ognian Kassabov

2011's Davos World Economic Forum marks a new stage on the debate for EU emergence from the crisis with important speeches by adversaries Angela Merkel and David Cameron. | read |

The Week in Pictures

New Bulgarian President Plevneliev Officially Assumes Office

Commissioner Hahn: Few Can Boast Bulgaria's Success

Bulgaria to Make National Intelligence Service Reshuffle

Russia's Lukoil Pours USD 1.5 B in Hydrocracking Facility in Bulgaria

Bulgarian President in Brussels: We Need More Europe!

Bulgarian, EU Presidents to Press Netherlands on Schengen

NATO Secretary General Thanks President Plevneliev for Bulgaria's Contribution

Blizzard Grips Bulgaria, Staggering Power Outages Reported

Bulgaria, Greece Turn WD Teen Patient Nightmare into Happy Ending

Bulgarian Police Beat Own Record for Bombastic Spec Op Name

Brown Bear Gives Birth to 3 Cubs in Bulgarian Zoo

HOT PHOTO

Polar Cold Wave to Hit Bulgaria Next Week
Highs will remain unusually low throughout next week, hovering about 6 degrees below zero. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Top Story

Bulgaria's Parliament Greenlights Joining EU Fiscal Pact

Bulgaria's parliament approved on Friday the draft decision for joining the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union or the so-called EU Fiscal Pact.

The treaty was supported by 129 MPs, 1 voted against, while 48 abstained.

Foreign Affairs Minister, Nikolay Nladenov, informed the MPs that the country has set six conditions for the joining, such as no tax harmonization in the EU.

The Eurozone pact aims at establishing more rigid fiscal discipline and stronger coordination of economic policy.

On Wednesday, MPs from three Parliamentary Committees - on Foreign Policy, on European Affairs, and on Budget, at a joint meeting, passed the proposal with which the Parliament gives the cabinet green light to take part in negotiations for the Pact.

The decision states that in joining the Pact, Bulgaria should not assume fiscal responsibilities and will not coordinate its economic policy with the one of the countries in the Eurozone; will not harmonize taxes with the Eurozone, and will have a status of observer at meetings of Eurozone members.

Another condition is for the rules to be valid for the entire EU, without exceptions and parallel structures. The decision also states that Bulgaria will fully endorse the Treaty after joining the Eurozone.

Meanwhile, economy experts have said that Bulgaria's joining of the Treaty is a must, but it remains unclear how the new fiscal discipline rules will be controlled - they ask for the establishment of an independent body to execute this control.

Bulgarian Economy to Grow 2.5-3% in 2012 - FinMin

Bulgaria's economy is likely to grow between 2.5% and 3.0% in 2012, according to Bulgarian Finance Minister Simeon Djankov.

A government growth forecast of 2,8% for this year had looked optimistic until the last few weeks, but it now looked more achievable given signs of an upturn in both exports and domestic demand, Djankov said Friday in an interview for Reuters cited by the press service of the Bulgarian Finance Minitry.

"In the last month, month and a half finance ministers - generally pessimists - are starting to be a bit more optimistic," Djankov said.

"There are signs in the last few weeks of Europe doing better than the very pessimistic forecasts that were coming out," he said. "This is also the case for Bulgaria."

Bulgaria is still recovering from a deep recession but probably grew 2.2-2.3% last year, according to Djankov, and by maintaining a tight fiscal policy it has not had to bring in severe austerity measures like its neighbors Greece and Romania.Â Analysts are however still cautious. They see the economy expanding by 1,2-1,5% this year.

Djankov said the government should be able to beat its budget deficit target of 1.3 percent of gross domestic product this year, which was important to avoid pressure on its currency peg to the euro.Â "This year's forecast is 1,3 percent and I think we can do better than that," he said.

Djankov has also told Reuters that Bulgaria's center-right government will push ahead with privatising state assets this year and plans to issue a Eurobond worth up to EUR 1 B in the second quarter.

He said the government aimed to sell a stake of between 10 to 25% in state energy company BEH (Bulgarian Energy Holdring) via a foreign stock exchange by the end of the year, which could raise "several hundred million euros".

Business

Cost of 2nd Bulgarian-Romanian Danube Bridge Up EUR 26 M

The sum of EUR 25.7 M will be added to the total cost of the construction of the second bridge linking Bulgaria and Romania across the Danube River, the Bulgarian Parliament agreed.
| read |

Energy

Bulgarian Govt to Sell Up to 25% of State Energy Holding

Bulgaria's Cabinet is considering privatizing a minority share of the state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding, a deputy economy minister has confirmed.
| read |

More News

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Finance