These are some of the top headlines in Bulgarian newspapers on May 13 2008. The Sofia Echo has not verified these stories and cannot vouch for their accuracy.

Politics

- Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski and Regional Development Minister Assen Gagaouzov were to blame for the European Commission’s treatment of Bulgaria, which lead to an ultimatum for Bulgaria to reform or face a freeze on European Union funding by June 16, Sega daily said.

Society

- The old mentality of the clerks create a bad image of the institutions, Monitor daily said. The clerks serve their ego, not citizens, thus people were convinced that the institutions were always hiding something, but that was due also in part to the bad communications culture of media, the newspaper quoted participants in the second national public relations festival in Sofia as saying.

Economy

- After a 10-month ban on the exchange of forests from the state fund, the head of the new state forestry agency approved eight deals with private forest owners at the end of April, Dnevnik said. On May 12, the agency confirmed that the deals were done, but refused to reveal any information on the companies or their investment plans.

- The ruling coalition decided that Bulgaria should keep its position of the country with the lowest prices of electricity and gas in the region, 24 Chassa daily quoted Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov as saying. Bulgaria would not give in to the pressure to raise prices in Bulgaria to EU levels.