Bulgaria - governmental institutions will use free software (EDRI-gram: 09/04/2003)
A draft law, currently discussed in parliament in Bulgaria, will
oblige all governmental institutions to use free software and open
formats with their computer information systems within 2 years.
The law addresses all state bodies, mayors of municipalities and
regions, higher schools, medical establishments, non-profit legal
entities as well as other bodies and entities that receive
governmental funding. A permit of exception from this obligation
can only be procured on a case-by-case basis, if no free software
is available for a specific purpose.
BULGARIA TO
RECEIVE ECO-DEVELOPMENT FUNDING
Sofia, April 10, 2003 - In the next three years, starting from
June 2003, Bulgaria will receive USD 1.325 billion in grant monies
for the development of alternative tourism and agriculture in 11
municipalities.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Meglena Plugchieva
announced that the Ministry will provide USD 800 thousand, the
United Nations Development Program will contribute 360 thousand,
and local governments will chip in with USD 165 thousand.
The project "Sustainable Development of Rural Areas" targets the
boundary area between Bulgaria, FYR Macedonia, and Serbia and
Montenegro. The first municipalities selected are Trun, Varshec,
Satovcha, Ardino and Kirkovo.
It is hoped that the beneficiaries - local governments, farmers,
land and forest owners, small and medium-size companies, NGOs and
professional unions - will be able to increase their capacity to
implement sustainable development activities.
According to Plugchieva, this project will enable local-government
representatives with the necessary skills to apply for European
Union pre-accession rural-development funding through SAPARD
(Special Accession Programme Agriculture Rural Development).
-by Maria Krusteva, Zemia Daily, Bulgaria,
http://www.rec.org
Supreme Court The Bulgarian Supreme Court has said that it is against the
government's agreement with the EU in relation to the anticipated
closure of the two nuclear reactors that date back to the
communist era.
Portugal An intergovernmental agreement between Bulgaria and Portugal
will enable, on a reciprocal basis, the free circulation of
workers who hold a work contract, between the two countries.
Bulgaria Sells Commecial Bank
The Associated Press
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - The Bulgarian government is selling the country's
fourth largest bank to Bank Austria Creditanstalt.
Under the deal, Austria's leading bank will pay 82.5 million euros ($82
million) for Biochim Bank, which controls roughly 7 percent of the Bulgarian
market. The contract, signed Friday by Finance Minister Milen Velchev and
Bank Austria's chief executive Gerhard Randa, stipulates that Bank Austria
can't sell of transfer Biochim shares for three years after the purchase.
The deal is expected to be formally sealed in late September or early
October.
The Bank Consolidation Company, the government body that manages the
privatization of state banks, picked Bank Austria's bid over bids submitted
by the Bulgarian Rosseximbank in consortium with Russia's MezhPrombank,
British-based Charlemagne Capital fund and Bulgaria's Hebrosbank, which is
owned by Hong Kong investment fund iRegent.
The sale of Biochim Bank is part of a government privatization program aimed
at improving the country's ailing economy.
The World Bank has demanded that Bulgaria sell four of its largest
state-owned companies to qualify for up to $750 million in loans over the
next three years.
Besides the Biochim bank, Bulgaria plans to sell the tobacco monopoly
Bulgartabac, the Bulgarian Telecommunication Company and the State Insurance
Institute.
26.07.2002
OPPOSITION DECIDES TO STOP PUBLISHING DAILY Former Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mihailova, the chairwoman of
the conservative opposition Union of Democratic Forces, announced
on 25 June that the party will stop publishing its daily "Demokratsiya,"
Bulgarian media reported. Mihailova said the newspaper lost about
$1,000 per day and the party can no longer afford to publish it. "Demokratsiya,"
which is owned by the Democracy Foundation, was founded in 1990.
In an open letter, Mihailova said that she will seek ways to
publish "Demokratsiya" again.
Parliament approved the agreement which aims to
destroy missiles, mainly Scuds dating back to the Soviet era. The
agreement plans for the USA to provide a subvention of over 5
million euros for the destruction of the missiles before the NATO
summit in Prague in November 2002. http://www.parliament.bg/
CALM RETURNS TO PLOVDIV DISTRICT AFTER RIOTS. Calm
returned on 21 February to the Plovdiv district of Stolipinovo, after three
nights of riots during which the inhabitants, who are mainly Roma, demanded that
the power supply to their neighborhood be restored, AP and dpa reported. In a
compromise with community leaders, the local authorities agreed to restore the
power supply for the Muslim holiday of Kurban Bayram, which began on 22
February. The holiday lasts three days.
("RFE/RL Newsline," 22 February)
LEADERS OF EVANGELICAL CHURCHES WARN AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM. Leaders of five
Evangelical churches warned against a wave of anti-Semitism, according to a
Tolerance Foundation press release dated 21 February. They said on 16 February
that publications with a manifestly anti-Semitic character have recently been
published and that Holocaust-denying literature is also being circulated. They
cited a book by Volen Siderov, deputy editor in chief of "Monitor," one of
Bulgaria's largest dailies. The book, they said, is nothing but a collection of
classic anti-Semitic stereotypes, but also targets Roma and other minorities.
"If there are now people in Bulgaria who want to see the Jews dead," they said,
"our answers as Bulgarians can only be: we are Jews as well."
("RFE/RL Newsline," 22 February)
