EUROPE: Bulgaria looks at telecoms sell-off
Financial Times; Jun 20, 2001
By PHELIM MCALEER and THEODORE TOREV

The economist tipped to be Bulgaria's finance minister in the new
administration led by the former King Simeon II has said the privatisation of
Bulgaria's state telecoms company will be a priority.

Milen Velchev, who until May was a vice-president for emerging markets at
Merrill Lynch in London, said the privatisation of BTC, the state telecoms
company, was a priority, with the government also intending to grant a new
wireless licence.

He said the new government also planned to deregulate the energy sector,
which might involve the renegotiation of recent contracts worth Dollars 1.4bn
with AES and Entergy, the American electricity companies.

"However if we think Bulgaria has gone too far and it is not financially
advisable to break (the contracts), then we will keep them. If the country
has made too many commitments we will have to honour them," he said.

Simeon Saxe-Coburg's National Movement for King Simeon II, which won
an overwhelming victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections, has promised
an ambitious programme of spending on pensions and education, tax cuts
and economic growth.

Mr Velchev said doubts about the viability of the National Movement's
economic programme, which also envisages eliminating the budget deficit,
were unfounded.

"We are relying on filling the gaps with improved collection of taxes. At the
moment only a small fraction of customs duties are collected and a lot of
VAT escapes," he said.

Mr Velchev also believes that accelerated growth and increased foreign
investment will increase tax revenues.

Copyright: The Financial Times Limited


WORLD NEWS - EUROPE: Ex-king ponders role after poll victory
BULGARIAN ELECTION SAXE-COBURG WORKS ON FORMING NEW
GOVERNMENT:
Financial Times; Jun 19, 2001
By PHELIM MCALEER and THEODORE TROEV

Simeon Saxe-Coburg, the former King Simeon II of Bulgaria, was yesterday
consulting with advisers about the make-up of his new government after his
political movement, set up less than three months ago, won an
overwhelming victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections.

The final result will not be known until tomorrow but, according to the Gallup
polling organisation, the National Movement for Simeon II will pick up at
least 120 seats of the 240 member parliament.

The result represents an overwhelming rejection of the reformist centre-right
Union of Democratic Forces government that had been in power for the past
four years.

However, Mr Saxe-Coburg, who was deposed and forced into exile by the
communist regime in 1946 at the age of nine, has consistently said he will
enter into a coalition with those who share his principles. The National
Movement's programme is broadly similar to the UDF's pro-market and
pro-western policies, although it has said it will speed up privatisation and
crack down on corruption that has tainted the UDF administration.

The former king also says he has not decided what his position in a future
administration will be. Despite not standing for parliament, Mr Saxe-Coburg
could become prime minister. But yesterday Ognian Gerdjikov, the
movement's chief legal co-ordinator and one of his closest advisers, said
this was unlikely.

He said the prime minister would probably be a technocrat or someone with
political experience but who agreed with the principles of the National
Movement.

The unique situation that would then exist in Bulgaria - where a former
monarch, who wins an election steps back and hands control of the
government to a politician - would not cause problems or create instability,
he said.

"This model has never been tested but the basis of it all is the unique
authority from the people for the king. The country believes in him." Mr
Gerdjikov said this authority would be binding on a future prime minister.

"The prime minister will have a moral engagement, legally he may not be
subordinate but morally he will have to co-operate," he said.

"The king is not an expert who will say this and that about various deals. He
will be in charge of the overall political responsibility for the direction of the
movement. Basically he will take the blame if things go wrong."

He added that the National Movement was working on legislation that would
formalise the proposed new structure and see the movement constituted as
a political party with Mr Saxe-Coburg as its leader.

Many observers believe Ivan Kostov, the UDF leader, will resign after his
party's disastrous performance that saw their share of the vote fall from 52
per cent to 18 per cent.

Stefan Sofianski, the popular UDF mayor of Sofia, said yesterday the party
should not go into opposition.

He said the UDF and the National Movement should "find a way to respond
to the expectations of the people for a broader coalition government".

Copyright: The Financial Times Limited