No one can say what the government announced on Tuesday as priorities in its new program was unexpected. And it'll be hard to find someone who's surprised by the ambitious tasks the government plans to fulfill. The underlying reason for this is they came to power with too big ambitions. With promises, one might say, to deal with problems that no other government so far even dared to outline.

They promised to fight corruption, to boost the economy, to make people's lives better. For the first time, common people were able to look into the future, to see some prospects, to make plans. And hope appeared.

Now, as the time to act as come, disappointment is likely starting to return to people's minds. Unfortunately, the first steps of the former king's government showed the public that the new rulers have no experience in running a country.

However, now they have to illustrate what they plan to do in the next four years, the term of their office. And this should have been obvious in the program with the name "People Are The Wealth Of Bulgaria." An interesting title, given that everyone knows that people are Bulgaria's main asset. Bulgarians are well educated, clever people who are competitive everywhere in the world, which is one of the reasons for the brain drain that has damaged the country so much in recent years.

So the question is how to keep these people in Bulgaria. How to make their lives here better and make them forget of what the western civilized world offers. Enter the government's program.

One famous Bulgarian financial expert, Emil Hursev, called it a "set of wonderful wishes." The first such wish is that Bulgarian incomes will reach European standards by 2005. If this means to reach the standards of the European Union member countries, this won't happen, because such income improvement needs at least several hundred per cent growth in the next few years and not the planned 5-7 per cent annually.

Up next are the new taxes. It is a contradiction to promise growth when you're actually increasing taxes. Every economist knows that in order to encourage the economic players, you have to lower the tax burden. In addition, instead of simplifying the tax system, it's being made more sophisticated.

Steve Hanke, one of the fathers of the currency board, warned that the government-planned tax changes will make the tax system harder and more costly to operate, which could lead to tax evasion and corruption. According to him, Bulgaria needs taxes of a new type, more simple and lower.

Looking at the promise of $1-1.2 billion in foreign investment each year (that was so proudly announced by Economy Minister Nikolai Vassilev), it becomes obvious that this "suggestion" is not backed by any serious moves or implications. None of the planned measures will draw foreign investors to Bulgaria. Not even the notorious zero tax rate on reinvested profit, which by the way was shown a red light by the IMF.

The rest of the program has all been heard before. In previous governmental programs, in pre-election campaigns, and even in times when Bulgaria was building a society of another type. There are no specific engagements, no particular plans for investment in one or another sphere, just general conclusions on what should be done. Liberalize, privatize, harmonize, etc.

And let's not speak about the poor or disabled people, or the ones that are always kept behind the label of "risky groups." Most of the promises are directed to them. Equal access to health care, education, etc. However, they can only hope they'll see a brighter future by the end of this government's term of office.

All they're seeing now are "wonderful wishes," and a 200-page document telling them they're part of the wealth of Bulgaria...