Priorities should be stated after all

Things in the country are proceeding strangely. On the one hand there is a world crisis underway, allegedly there is no money in the budget, the IMF is pressing us to tighten our belts from this year and, lo and behold, the Cabinet has bought more foreign debt for a total of 88 million leva - and is preparing to buy more.

There is something wrong here. It is clear that with limited resources each million is precious and vital. Why did the Cabinet not reduce taxes with this 88 million leva as businesses wanted? The effect from the zero tax on reinvested profit would be approximately the same without counting the foregone profits which the economy would have reaped as a whole. Or why not allow accelerated amortization? On the contrary, instead of alleviations, the Ministry of Finance offered a package which at the same time negatively affects the interests of all kinds of economic agents - retired people, lawyers, car owners, businesses, households - everybody. This cannot be a good policy.

At the same time, an operation was made for the buyback of a large-sum state debt. Well, this is already a scandal and not just a problem.

It turned out that the experts from the Ministry of Finance were not able to defend in front of the IMF the measures for stimulating the economy's growth. They did not have enough expertise or courage.

But they had enough courage to pay 88 million leva for a strange, non-transparent and obviously not priority deal for debt buyback.

Nowhere in the campaign and the after-election promises of the National Movement Simeon II was it said that a debt buyback would be the first thing for which tens of millions would be spent.

This time, let the all-knowing and impertinent representatives of the International Monetary Fund be so kind as to comment whether this action is acceptable having in mind their own fears, dogmas and requirements. Or let them keep silent. Whenever it suits them, they are reciting the economics textbooks, when it does not - they are silent about it. After all, their people are in the Ministry of Finance.

It turns out that the only thing for which there will never be money is the development of business.

As long as this is the case, we will stay where we are now.

Kapital

Drivers get help

It's nice when the authorities have not closed their ears to the voice of the independent media. Some days ago, the 24 Chassa daily suggested that only the road police should be able to stop and fine people on the roads.

The chief secretary of the Ministry of Interior Affairs, Boiko Borissov, listened to the advice and announced that the road police will move to a three-shift work regime so they can monitor for violations of the laws on road traffic.

Thus the "volunteer" controllers from the regional police departments will not be able to go out after working hours with the stop baton, to make a few leva. This of course, as long as they have not equipped themselves with white caps, green vests, speedometers and alcohol measuring apparatus.

In all cases, the corrupt policemen will be hurdled. The new regime of work will create some order - it will be clear who, where and what is done. Road control will be increased, but still the subjective factor at the checks will remain - the man in a uniform.

So the change is for the better, but let us also note what else 24 Chassa wrote: Corruption during the road checks can be removed 100 per cent only with cameras on roads and cross-roads.

24 Chassa

For MPs - a parliamentary city minibus

After Boiko Borissov personally started handling criminals and Emil Dimitrov started handling customs officers, Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Vassilev also decided to give an example by his own self-sacrifice. To the question of a journalist as to why he and the minister of justice, Anton Stankov, arrived with one car at the seminar in Borovets, he said they did it out of thriftiness. And he is right, because each car can have three more passengers apart from the driver. Not to mention Solomon Passi's Trabant which has even transported more than that.

Apart from that, there are no ministers in the calibre of Alexander Bojkov. That is why Vassilev's approach is laudable. It needs to be taken over by the MPs and, for this purpose, for example, a minibus could be bought to take them to Parliament in the morning. In this way, they will get to know each other much better than at seminars. Parliamentary consensus will be confirmed as well.

In this way also, the faux-pas of Passi with Velchev will be smoothed over, because the MPs will be travelling on each other's shoulders when the city minibus is filled to overflowing.

Monitor