Two months after Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg outlined the four-year priorities of his new Cabinet, the government officially presented its program on Tuesday.

Entitled "People are the Wealth of Bulgaria," the 200-page program promises the achievement of high economic growth of five to seven per cent by the end of the 2002-2005 period, and a decrease in the number of unemployed people by 150,000 within the next four years.

Economy Minister Nikolai Vassilev pointed out that the program envisages attracting considerable foreign investment of $1-1.2 billion from 2002 to 2005. Most of this is expected to come from the European Union and North America, he said. Also in the highlights of the program is a new tax policy giving aggressive incentives for the export of Bulgarian goods and services to traditional and new markets using every means allowed by the World Trade Organization.

Labour and Social Policy Minister Lydia Shuleva presented the social priorities. They include employment provided through active measures on the labour market, fair distribution of welfare through setting up a single information index of people in need, reforms in social services directed towards de-institutionalization, carrying out of reforms in social insurance, constructive social dialogue, and a new incomes policy.

By the end of the year, a guarantee fund for microcredits will be launched to promote small and medium-sized enterprises. This is the most immediate task in the tenure program.

Minister of the Interior Georgi Petkanov underscored the role of his Ministry in the fight against organized crime and urged all institutions to join in efforts to crack down on corruption. "The important thing is to eliminate the conditions that breed corruption," he said.

According to the defence minister, Nikolai Svinarov, the first and absolute priority of the government is accession to NATO and then to the EU. "Another priority is to establish Bulgaria as an important political factor and a source of stability in the region," he said.

The opposition's immediate reaction was mixed, but all its representatives are striving to debate the program in Parliament.

"Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic and the Parliament is where such programs are discussed," said Bulgarian Socialist Party MP Roumen Ovcharov. He promised to propose parliamentary debates on the program. "It is the first tenure program since 1989 that was not submitted to Parliament," Ovcharov said.

Muravei Radev, MP for the United Democratic Forces and former finance minister, expected serious debates through the mechanisms which allowed for such discussion. "I am happy that there is a tenure program now and the ministers have no chance of stepping down from their commitments," he said.

Asked to comment on the promised increase of public sector wages, Radev said that people will not feel it because one part of the increase will go toward payment of the higher social insurance contributions and the rest will be eaten away by inflation next year. "The overall effect will be lower incomes," he said.

Yunal Lyutfi, an MP from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, the coalition partner of the National Movement Simeon II, saw the program as people-oriented and aimed at improving their welfare.

However, the Podkrepa trade union said they were not happy with what the government announced. The deputy leader, Dimitar Manolov, explained that one reason was that the program speaks of the productivity of labour instead of productivity of technologies.

The leader of the CITUB trade union, Zhelyazko Hristov, spoke of an inherent conflict between the program's goals and the resources for achieving them. Hristov stressed the need for fast reforms in agriculture and politics aimed at increasing living standards, which at the moment are below the 1990 level.



Government platform for 2002 to 2005
"People Are The Wealth Of Bulgaria"

Stable Macroeconomic Framework

• Economic growth of five to seven per cent for 2002-2005
• Job creation and income increase
• $1-1.2 billion foreign investment annually for 2002-2005
• Encouraging export to improve the trade balance and the current account
• Low to zero budget deficit

---

Improving the Standard of Living and Developing Social Capital

• Reducing unemployment by 150,000 people
• Gradually increasing child benefits
• Caring for poor and disabled people
• Modernizing education
• Increasing hi-tech and Internet use
• Finding alternative sources for financing culture
• Continuing health reform
• Ensuring equal access to health care
• Solving the water problem
• Developing alternative energy sources

---

Sustaining Economic Development and Improving the Business Climate

• Completing the privatization process by 2005
• Developing information technologies
• Liberalizing the telecommunications market
• Liberalizing the energy market
• Developing a national tourist advertisement program
• Developing the agricultural sector under the requirements of the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU
• Improving the transport infrastructure of the country

---

Financial Policy

• Lowering direct taxes - profit and income tax
• Improving the collection of indirect taxes - VAT, excise and custom duties
• Optimizing public spending
• Tightening fiscal discipline
• Maintaining the foreign debt within the Maastricht criteria
• Restructuring and active management of the debt
• Stimulating bank credits
• Developing new financial instruments and services
• Developing capital markets

---

Foreign Policy

• Integration of Bulgaria in NATO and the European Union
• Keeping the role of Bulgaria as a stability factor in Southeastern Europe
• Winning the 2004 presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

---

Justice, Internal Affairs and Administration

• Faster court procedures
• More active approach to law enforcement
• Transparency and public control over the security forces