Sega Daily

Unaware of how and why, the MPs surprisingly boycotted a bill proposed by the cabinet for the purpose of tightening the discipline of new drivers, "Sega" writes. Parliament voted down the bill amending the Road Traffic Act at first reading by 60 against, 46 abstentions and only 37 in favour (most of the votes in favour being cast by MPs of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP). Part of the MPs of the BSP and of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) plus the MPs of all opposition groups voted against it. The amendments envisaged severer sanctions for offenders of road traffic rules and stricter requirements for new drivers.

Klasa Daily

Referring to Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) leader Martin Dimitrov's statement in Parliament on Thursday, "Klasa" reports that the United Democratic Forces (UtDF) proposed electronic voting at the forthcoming elections. In Dimitrov's view, this would attract young people, Bulgarians living abroad and voters with special physical needs for whom the polling stations are practically inaccessible. Electronic voting is as safe and reliable as the casting of ballot papers, Dimitrov said.

The next government will be a right-of-centre one, Vassil Tonchev, Director of Sova Haris, predicts in an interview for "Klassa." In his view, the next government will be formed by

GERB, the UDF, the Forward Movement and, probably, the DSB if they form an election coalition with the UDF or manage to overcome the barrier to Parliament running in the elections on their own.  Another possibility is a broad coalition, provided the parties in the next Parliament are fewer, which would strongly reduce their chances for manoeuvres; in this case the only way out is a broad coalition with the participation of the Socialists.

 

Monitor Daily

Adopting some amendments to its Rules of Procedure, Parliament decided that the MPs votes will not be made public, "Monitor" reports. The questions posed to the cabinet ministers at question time will not be published either. The motion made by Luchezar Toshev of the UtDF that the MPs register their presence or absence on going out of Parliament with their cards

was defeated. However, the MPs decided to allow representatives of NGOs and trade union organizations to attend meetings of the parliamentary committees.

Trud Daily

Quoting Sofia Mayor and GERB informal leader Boiko Borissov, "Trud" writes that if GERB does not win a majority at the forthcoming general elections and, therefore, is unable to form a cabinet, it will transfer its mandate to the party ranking second by number of votes polled, which will be the BSP. He wished Prime Minister and BSP leader Sergei Stanishev success with one coalition partner, the MRF, and predicted that if the political developments take such a turn, he will topple the new cabinet within its first 100 days.

The Barbados circle is compiling the election tickets, "Trud" says. According to the "Troud" sources, the Barbados circle (named after a restaurant in Sofia) is preparing its election tickets for the elections for the Bulgarian National Assembly and the European Parliament. Following the example of the UDF and the BSP, having been in the government for eight

years, the National Movement for Surge and Stability (NMSS, the former Simeon II National Movement) formed a think tank with an attractive name. The circle is composed of Ilcho Douganov, NMSS Secretary; Mia Morero, Chef de Cabinet of Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; Maria Divizieva, Deputy Minister of State Administration and deputy head of the NMSS election campaign committee; and Marina Dikova, Deputy Chairperson of the NMSS.

"The Prime Minister: We Cannot Be Held Hostage by Moscow and Kiev," "Trud" writes quoting Prime Minister Stanishev. "I believe it is unacceptable that we, the citizens of the European Union, be held potentially hostage by the problems existing between the Russian Federation and Ukraine," Stanishev said on Friday commenting on a possible new gas crisis. A day earlier he discussed the problem in Brussels. In his words, the problem concerns the entire Europe and resolving it needs an all-European decision to diversify the sources and routes of gas supplies for the EU. Bulgaria is on the right track, Stanishev was told in Brussels. Bulgaria, unlike other, more developed European countries, has kept its [economic] stability which is a serious achievement, Stanishev is quoted as saying.

24 Chasa

"24 Chasa" reprints the results of a Sova Haris poll conducted in mid-February which show that if elections were held now, GERB would poll 25.6 per cent of the vote, the BSP 18 percent, Ataka 7 per cent, the MRF 6 per cent. In addition to the UDF, which would poll 3.7 per cent, the DSB (2.3 per cent), Forward (2.5 per cent) and the NMSS (1.5 per cent) also stand a chance to enter Parliament although the number of their supporters now is below the 4 per cent threshold to it, the pollsters say. The politician enjoying the highest approval rate is Boiko Borissov, 51.2 per cent, followed by President Georgi Purvanov, 47.7 per cent and Sergei Stanishev, 42.7 per cent.

Sega Daily

The State Agency for National Security (SANS) are beginning to recall why the agency has been established, "Sega" notes. The remark is prompted by a case involving an investigating police officer who got caught by the SANS. He was supposed to investigate economic crimes but got involved with organized crime instead. He conducted his own business using the cover of his position in police. The author of the item recalls that the SANS was structured to serve as a corrective of the Interior Ministry and to counteract corruption and crime in it. The detection of the offending police officer is a good beginning, the author observes. "Because we all rely mainly on the Interior Ministry for crime prevention, for raids against banditism, for the protection of our lives, out health and property. And if there is corruption in this system, the use of the Ministry's existence is doubtful."

Standart Daily

Farmers received 400 million leva, "Standart News" reports. This is nearly 76 per cent of the subsidies per hectare of agricultural land for 2008-2009; the money was distributed among eligible farmers by February 20 this year, the Agricultural Ministry said. Another 25 million leva will be distributed among 10,000 grain producers between March 9 and 13 under the Single Area Payment Scheme for 2008/2009.

 

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