The Wednesday dailies inform about the official visit to Bulgaria of Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski.

Trud Daily

"Trud" runs the results of an opinion poll conducted by Mediana in January which showed that opposition attitudes in Bulgaria gain strength, judging by the increase in the approval ratings of the two leading figures of the most liked party outside power, GERB. The approval ratings of GERB informal leader and Sofia Mayor Boiko Borissov increased by 7 per cent, making him the most liked politician in January with 58 per cent. The approval for GERB's Chairman Tsvetan Tsvetanov increased by 6 per cent. The approval for President Georgi Purvanov was 55 per cent. The polling agency notes that the survey does not cover the time of the visit to Moscow of Purvanov and of the visit to the United States of Borissov. Bulgarian European Commissioner Meglena Kuneva has an approval rating of 36 per cent while Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU fund absorption Meglena Plougchieva, 31 per cent. Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev enjoys the approval of 26 per cent of the Bulgarians. "Troud" notes that the PR activities in support of the bid for the post of NATO Secretary General of Solomon Passy, Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee in Parliament and formed foreign minister, has made him the 14th most liked politician with 20 per cent approval.

"Trud" reports that in the last quarter of 2008 seven persons took out loans exceeding 1 million leva. The daily quotes an annual statistical report on deposits and loans of the members of the public by the central bank. About 7,000 leva monthly are needed to service such a loan. Assuming that this is 25 per cent of the borrower's income, it turns out that 119 persons in this country have legal incomes exceeding 30,000 leva monthly, the author writes.

Director of the National Investigative Service Boiko Naidenov tells "Trud" that money is being laundered through jewellery stores. Naidenov describes an easy scheme to make "dirty" money legal money by investing it in shops, mostly jewellery stores. Another way to do so is to invest such money abroad. Naidenov stresses that the EU and the United States have enough rules to allow the movement of unclear capital.

In a front-page headline "Trud" warns that a new crisis with waste threatens Sofia. The crisis is looming as a garbage collection contractor for five big boroughs in the capital failed to be elected to replace the current concessionaire whose contract expires on March 1.

The report also says that Sofia's budget for 2009 exceeds 1,000 million leva, or twice as much as in 2005 when incumbent Mayor Boiko Borissov was sworn in.

Standart Daily

Citing Agriculture and Food Minister Valeri Tsvetanov, "Standart News" writes that producers of foods will have to state clearly in the label the ingredients used in the product and the technology of production. Tsvetanov is also quoted as saying that a meeting of the State Agriculture Fund on Monday made a decision to reduce the number of its directors from seven to four and make them all electable.

Socialist MP Peter Kunev, who was a member of the delegation President Georgi Purvanov headed on a recent visit to Moscow, tells "Standart News" that  Russia has paid back a debt from the Soviet era totalling 38.5 million U.S. dollars. Kunev says that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has confirmed he will attend the energy summit in Bulgaria in April.

"Standart News" writes about a charity auction held in Sofia at the start of the week for the restoration of the building of the Union of Writers in Bulgaria which was destroyed in a fire late last year. The proceeds from the auction stood at 150,000 leva. The most discussed auctioned item was a letter by United States President Ronald Reagan to the Sixth World Meeting of Writers in Sofia in 1986. The letter had been kept by poet Lyubomir Levchev. The letter was bought for 4,000 leva by former interior minister Roumen Petkov, who gave it back to the Union of Writers.

Sega Daily

"Sega" writes that a statement of GERB informal leader and Sofia Mayor Boiko Borissov during a recent meeting with expatriate Bulgarians in Chicago has angered Crvenkovski. In Chicago Borissov said that Bulgaria should "conquer Macedonia from the inside via economic means". Crvenkovski described the statement as politically harmful and absolutely illogical, "Sega" writes. Crvenkovski is quoted as saying that the political harm from Borissov's statement is that is causes mistrust in the relations between the two countries, and it is illogical since it shows that Borissov does not know the principles of business. "Sega" says that President Georgi Purvanov declined to comment the case, saying he is not in the habit of commenting politicians. Purvanov said that he expects the Bulgarian business to "conquer" more and bigger countries.

"Sega" says that only well-off people now can take out mortgages. According to data of financial consultancy companies of January, people living in big cities and earning below 1,500 leva per household do not stand a chance of being approved for a mortgage.

"Parliamentary Opposition - Dream for Any Cabinet" caps an analysis in "Sega" which says that for four years the opposition Union of Democratic Forces, Democrats for Strong Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Popular Union did not succeed in anything except in moving doomed and futile motions of no confidence in the government.

Political Analyst Mihail Konstantinov tells "Sega" that in a time of crisis Bulgaria needs a programme cabinet able to take non-standard decisions.

Quoting Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Spokesperson Kornelia Ninova, "Sega" writes that the BSP is expecting an encouraging report from the European Commission. Ninova expects the report to be fair and to note the progress Bulgaria has made since last February.

In another report the newspaper analyzes how Bulgaria hears Brussels' criticism. The author writes that seven months after being told what they need to do in order to have the blocked EU funding for Bulgaria released, the cabinet and Parliament have fulfilled almost nothing.

"Sega" writes that the European Commission has won a legal case it filed against France for Paris' failure to implement in its domestic legislation all EU regulations about free movement of people concerning nationals of newly admitted EU members Bulgaria and Romania. More specifically, France has not implemented the regulations that would allow Bulgarians and Romanians to find work as doctors, dentists, lawyers, architects, etc.

24 Chasa Daily

"24 Chasa" writes that the one and only anti-crisis measures of the cabinet to reach the business directly and invigorate the economy is the increase by 500 million leva of the Bulgarian Development Bank. However, the author of the report argues, the economy needs nearly 4,000 million leva for liquidity in order to complete ongoing projects and launch new ones in the context of an economic downturn.

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