Bulgaria's Health Ministry announced Friday afternoon the declaration of a state of national swine flu epidemic over the rising number of patients with A(H1N1).

The Health Ministry made the decision based on the grounds that the number of people with swine flu has reached 210 per 10 000. On Thursday, Bulgaria's Health Minister Bozhidar Nanev announced a little over 100 000 Bulgarians were infected with A(H1N1).

Thus, all schools in Bulgaria will be in a swine flu break all of next week (November 9-14). The Health Ministry recommends limiting the number and scope of public events.

Any decisions for closing nursery schools and universities over the epidemic will be made on the local level.

There will be no mandatory closing of cinemas, theaters, libraries, or other public facilities despite the declaration of a national epidemic.

The news from the Health Ministry came shortly after the Bulgarian capital Sofia declared a swine flu epidemic starting Monday. Thus, 20 of Bulgaria's 28 administrative districts had declared swine flu epidemic before the news for the national emergency.

Earlier on Friday it was announced that a 53-year-old man had died in a hospital in Sofia as a result of complications of the A(H1N1) virus, bringing Bulgaria’s total swine flu death toll to six.

According to Chief Health Inspector Tencho Tenev, the man had schizophrenia and cirrhosis. He did treat himself at home for a week, when he finally saw a doctor, and was taken to hospital in critical condition.

As the epidemic has been worsening, Bulgaria's MPs adopted Friday emergency amendments to the Medical Products in Human Medicine Act.

The aim of the amendments is to simplify the regime for purchasing medical products with state funds outside of the mandatory health insurance system in a time when the country is facing "epidemics, pandemics, or confirmed use of chemical and biological weapons, or the spread of nuclear radiation."

The MPs were in a rush because of what has been termed "a rising tension" in the Bulgarian society because of the fast spread of the A(H1N1) virus and the lack of any vaccines.

Bulgaria's Health Minister, Bozhidar Nanev, has said that the legislative changes were going to shorten the period for getting and applying the swine flu vaccines by between 1 and 3 months.

Bulgaria's Chief Epidemiologist, Angel Kunchev, has told the BNT that unfortunately there were no A(H1N1) vaccines available in Bulgaria at the moment but said that medications and vaccines would soon be procured from Germany and Sweden.

Young children, doctors, pregnant women, and people with chronic diseases will be the priorities group for immunization. Kunchev has called upon all Bulgarians to still get the regular seasonal flu shots. In his words, the only vaccines available in drug stores are Tamiflu and Relenza.

Bulgaria's former Labor Minister and current Socialist Party MP, Emiliya Maslarova, is under the investigation for the embezzlement of BGN 10 M of state money.

Maslarova, and her friend Ventsislav Draganov, who has a construction firm, are believed to have pocketed BGN 9,8 M by violating the Public Procurement Act over the repair of a Ministry of Labor building in the southern city of Stara Zagora.

This was announced Friday by Prosecutor Stilyana Kozhuharova, a spokesperson of Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor, Boris Velchev. Velchev has demanded the lifting of Maslarova’s MP immunity so the investigation could proceed.

Earlier on Friday Maslarova herself gave up her MP immunity voluntarily, calling the legal procedure against her "a monstrous libel", and claiming her family had been the target of political and personal harassment over the last six months.

The Chief Prosecutor's Office is presently awaiting the results from a large-scale inspection of the Ministry of Labor, which will be added to the 250 volumes of evidence already gathered.

After the inspection is ready, the prosecutors will decide exactly what charges they are going to raise against Maslarova and her friend Draganov. They are being investigated for large-scale embezzlement of public funds, and criminal breach of trust.

If found guilty of embezzlement, each of the two could receive between 5 and 20 years in jail; if found guilty of criminal beach of trust, their sentences could be between 3 and 10 years.

The prosecutors started to investigate the case with the Ministry of Labor building in Stara Zagora in August 2009.

After former Agriculture Minister in the Stanishev government, Valeri Tsvetanov from the DPS party, faced similar charges in September 2009 over land swap deals, Maslarova could become the second Minister to be charged over violations.

Bulgaria's former Prime Minister, Sergey Stanishev, himself is facing potential charges over mishandling and abusing classified information; not unlike Maslarova, he has agreed to have his MP immunity lifted.

Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, has made clear his intention to reduce Bulgaria’s value-added tax from 20% down to 18% or even 16% by the end of the GERB cabinet’s term in 2013.

During a visit to the northeast town of Dobrich, Djankov said he opposed the idea of differentiated VAT rates on some items such as medicines and textbooks because once the flat tax system was broken, that would lead to massive demands for concessions in all sectors.

Djankov cited as a bad example in hand Bulgaria’s tourism sector where the VAT rate is only 7%. In his words, the low VAT enabled the random construction of many economically unsound hotels which then went bankrupt.

“I hope that next year, if the incomes start rising again, and I am sure they will, that we will have the opportunity to reduce the average social security payments by another 3%. I realize that the planned reduction of 2% starting January 1, 2010, is a necessary though not a very big help”, Djankov said.

Bulgaria's finance minister has renewed his calls on banks to lower lending rates by at least 3% due to the decreasing financial risk in the country.

Talking in the Black Sea town of Varna, Djankov said one option for achieving this is issuing Eurobonds on international markets or unblocking payments to the businesses in the construction and infrastructure sectors.

The minister said he expects to hear a dozen proposals for ways to lower lending rates at his upcoming meeting with bankers on Wednesday.

“Since the time the new government came into office, roughly one hundred days, the country's foreign risk has decreased by 3,5 percentage points, which should translate into a 3% decrease in lending rates in about four months,” Djankov said.

At their previous meeting with the finance minister at the beginning of November, the Bulgarian bankers said they will put forward a set of measures, designed to improve market conditions and prepare the ground for a long-anticipated cut in lending rates.

According to the bankers loan interest rates will fall when the deposit market flattens. Bulgarian banks now pay an average interest of 7 to 8% for euro-denominated deposits and 9 to 10% for deposits in leva.

The newly-appointed Bulgarian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Lyubomir Kyuchukov, presented his credentials to the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, at an official ceremony in Buckingham Palace.

During the audience on Thursday, the Queen expressed her interest in the changes in Bulgaria following its accession to the European Union, asking about the reforms and economic development and its efforts to overcome the consequences of the world economic crisis.

The Ambassador and the Queen exchanged opinions on the opportunities for British citizens to invest in Bulgaria, especially in tourism and real estate. They also discussed conditions for improved communication and getting to know better the people of both countries.

At the reception that followed, the diplomatic corps Marshal emphasized the good bilateral relations enjoyed by the UK and Bulgaria, and expressed his hope that they would further develop in the future.

Over 200 guests attended the event, among them several other ambassadors and diplomats, politicians and civic officials, business and cultural personalities, and members of London’s Bulgarian community.

Ambassador Kyuchukov was appointed to his position in the closing days of the previous Bulgarian government. Recently, as Novinite.com has previously reported, the Bulgarian conservative “Order, Law and Justice “ Party (RZS) demanded that he be recalled from London, alleging his involvement in election mismanagement. This request has so far been refused.

Born in 1955, Lyubomir Kyuchukov graduated the Moscow state Institute of International Relations and Georgetown University, USA. He has held served several institutions in Bulgaria, including the Foreign Ministry and the Council of Ministers. He is married, with 2 children.

[Editor’s note: the full formal title for this ambassadorial position is: Ambassador Extraordinary and Envoy Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.]

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, declared Wednesday that his close friendship with French President Nicolas Sarkozy was a “treasure”.

Borisov attended a graduation ceremony of young lawyers specialized in EU law at Sofia University. He responded to the words of Sofia University President, Ivan Ilchev, that there was not enough money for science and academic activities by referring the excessive spending of the former government.

“There is no money because it has been spent. I now have to pay BGN 132 M for last year’s snow cleaning. These BGN 132 M could have been spent on science now,” Borisov said pointing to an arrangement of the former cabinet under which his government now has to assume last year’s costs.

In his words, similar pointless contracts made by the Stanishev government cost the state budget over BGN 1 B.

“We need to give BGN 7,4 B to your grandparents,” Borisov told the graduates referring to the state money for retirement pensions. He made a commitment to change the situation by allocating more money for academic activities the following year.

“Here I must thank French President Sarkozy. It is great that we became friends back in my days at the Interior Ministry because otherwise the corvette deal would not be canceled, and I would have to give BGN 1 B for corvettes now,” the Prime Minister declared referring to the time when Sarkozy was the Interior Minister of France and Borisov himself was the Chief Secretary of the Bulgarian Interior.

During his recent visit to Paris, Borisov canceled the deal for the purchase of 2 French corvettes for the Bulgarian navy worth BGN 1 B, which had dragged on for several years.

“I bow to the Prime Minister of Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt because of his unique patience when he listened to the positions of all 27 EU states during the negotiations on who is going to pay for fighting climate change,” Borisov said regarding the Swedish EU Presidency and the recent EU Council meeting in Brussels.

The PM has expressed his confidence of the abilities of the young EU law graduates of Sofia University.

Bulgaria's former deputy foreign minister Milen Keremedchiev will head the state postal monopoly, it emerged on Friday, a day after the government took the first steps in mail service liberalization.

Keremedchiev, who was deputy minister in the previous Socialist-led government, will replace Alexander Tsvetkov, who was fired.

Milen Keremedchiev has previous experience in companies dealing with air traffic of cargo and passengers and freight-forwarding services.

Earlier in the week the new government announced it will create five new subsidiaries of the state postal monopoly as part of plans to liberalize the mail market.

The state will hold a 51% stake in the subsidiaries, which will deal with door-to-door shipping, payment transfer, hybrid mail, catalogue and IT services.

The mail service overhaul is expected to rake in BGN 4,8 M. The minister said that its 28 territorial units will be reduced to seven, while its regional head office – from 126 to 96. There are no plans for lay-offs.

The state postal monopoly posted losses of BGN 1,8 M at the end of September.

Under European regulations Bulgaria should open its postal market, now monopolised by the state company, to competition on Jan. 1, 2011.

The Anti-Corruption Committee of the Bulgarian Parliament has concluded that Minister of Economy, Energy, and Tourism, Traicho Traikov, is not involved in a conflict of interests.

“The signal about me submitted by the Spokesperson of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Korneliya Ninova, was fake, deceiving, and wasted the time of us all,” Traikov himself stated after learning the decision of the Parliamentary Committee.

In his words, the Committee is working on the final report on case in which he was investigated for conflict of interests.

The Socialists have claimed that Traikov’s former position as a legal procurator of the Austrian-owned electricity provider EVN generated a conflict of interests with his appointment as Minister of Economy, Energy, and Tourism because the law required a period of at least 12 months before leaving a private management job and taking up a related government one.

However, it has turned out that under the Conflict of Interests Act the position that Traikov occupied at EVN is not listed among the prohibited jobs.

The Minister explained that the procurator had an executive job and was required to act according to the decisions of the governing body, and thus did not bear personal responsibility.

Ukraine has paid Russia for the October 2009 natural gas supplies, which has assuaged fears about the breakup of a new gas crisis between the two states not unlike the one in January.

The news was announced Friday by Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, during her visit to the Eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

In her words, the Ukrainian national gas company Naftogaz has paid the Russian provider Gazprom the due USD 500 M (EUR 336 M) for the gas supplied in October.

At the end of last week, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared a new gas crisis might be looming as Ukraine seemed to have trouble coming up with the needed funds. Shortly after his statement, the Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz admitted in a communique it had difficulties finding the money.

Bulgaria was one of the worst affected countries in the January 2009 Russia-Ukraine gas war, and Bulgarian analysts have recently underscored the country's unpreparedness for a repetition of the same scenario.

Bulgaria's government will approach prosecutors on suspicions of embezzlement of funds earmarked for Belene nuclear project, the economy and energy minister said on Friday.

“A total of BGN 300,000, which the government allotted for raising the capital of state power utility NEK and forming the joint venture agreement with German utility RWE AG have been spent away,” Minister Traycho Traykov said in parliament.

“The joint venture never happened, but the money is gone,” he said, adding that the revelation raises questions about the control of the then energy minister over the spendings for these companies.

German utility RWE owned a 49% stake in the joint venture that was planning to build a 2-gigawatt EUR4 billion reactor near Belene. NEK owns the remaining 51%.

RWE terminated the joint venture agreement with NEK for the construction of a 2000MW nuclear plant in the Bulgarian Danube town at the end of October due to funding problems.

RWE's withdrawal from the Belene project came after months of speculation that RWE would shelve the plans due to the issues with the Bulgarian state in arranging the necessary financing.

The Bulgarian state is now looking for further investors and is considering to reduce its stake to around 20%. According to Minister Traykov the stake of the Bulgarian state will be fixed by the consultant, which is due to be picked.

The cabinet of the center-right GERB party says it is not willing to provide any state guarantees for loans and is yet to decide whether to scrap or push ahead due to purely economic terms the construction of the multi-billion Belene nuclear power plant.

The new cabinet has spent most of its first 100 days in office uncovering wrongdoings by the previous Socialist-led cabinet, blaming it for depleting the treasury.

Bulgaria is not going to reduce the number of its troops in Afghanistan despite the financial difficulties of its Defense Ministry.

Defense Minister, Nikolay Mladenov, said he hoped that additional funds could be allocated to the Ministry’s budget in 2010. Despite the fact that the Defense Ministry will have to adopt austerity measures, it most likely not going to have to cut down on its Afghanistan contingent.

Mladenov and his team are currently working on a report on the financial troubles of their institution.

The Minister said he was worried by the reduced funding for Bulgaria’s military missions and military representatives abroad.

In his words, the idea for setting up a Bulgarian military field hospital in Afghanistan will not be realized soon since that is “a very expensive exercise that we cannot afford.”

According to the revelations made by Mladenov in October 2009, the former defense administration was involved in large-scale violations and abuses of the Ministry's funds. This is said to have lead to a huge deficit of some BGN 350 M at the Ministry, which in October was left with only BGN 1 000 in its account.

The workers of Bulgaria’s bankrupt steel mill Kremikovtzi are awaiting delayed salaries and social security payments totaling BGN 56 M.

This has been found by the Mission for protecting the rights of the workers at the plant set up in October 2009, as cited by the Sega Daily.

The salaries and welfare payments are due for the period from December 2008 until September 2009. However, the factory is not legally liable for the delay since its management has obeyed the legal provisions which say that at least 60% of the salaries must be paid out without delays.

In addition to the above sum, another BGN 9,4 M of compensations under the Collective Labor Contract have also been delayed.

Over 3 000 workers have been dismissed or have left the Kremikovtzi plant, which used to be Bulgaria’s largest steel-maker. A total of 3 171 workers are still employed at the factory located outside of the capital Sofia.

The fate of the bankrupt plant, which according to some reports is the victim of a long-time draining scheme and general mismanagement, is still unclear as its bondholders are to decide in November on the proposed recovery plan.

The wood-processing industry is one of the first economic sectors in Bulgaria which has started to recover from the economic crisis.

This has been stated by Kalin Simeonov, Chair of the Bulgarian Chamber of Wood-Processing and Furniture Industry, as cited by BTA. Simeonov reminded the wood-processing industry in Bulgaria was one of the first economic sectors affected by the crisis.

Over the last year, Bulgaria’s import of lumber declined by 50% whereas its export dropped by only 8%.

According to Simeonov, over 50% of the wood-processing firms in Bulgaria expect an increase of their turnover of 5-15% by the end of 2009, and only about 5% of the companies expect a decline.

30% of the firms in the industry are planning to hire more employees but some 60% point to the shortage of qualified workers as a huge problem.

Bulgaria’s furniture producers, however, are still struggling as the slump in their sales is predicted to reach 40% by the end of 2009 because of the sharp decline of demand on the Bulgarian market after the collapse of the construction sector.

The average furniture prices have dropped by up to 25% since the start of the crisis, and some producers are said to be ready to sell at a loss in their attempts to secure cash.

Bulgaria’s furniture import dropped by 40% in the first six months of 2009 year-on-year, whereas its export declined by 30%.

Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva discussed on Thursday her nomination for European Commissioner at an informal meeting with European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso.

After the meeting Jeleva refused to disclose details, saying the European Commission has asked her for discretion, but did not spare her harsh criticism against the Bulgarian media for their interest.

“We talked about things, which concern the Lisbon Treaty, Bulgaria and the next European Commission,” the minister said.

Brussels representatives have also refused comment.

According to the minister it is still not clear what resource will be assigned to the Bulgarian commissioner in the next Commission.

“This is worrying since we are running out of time for preparation,” the minister said.

In her words the next Bulgarian European Commissioner is likely to head an important sector, even though “the reputation of the country in Brussels is not very high.”

Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister, Rumiana Jeleva has previously stated her ambition to be in charge of the foreign policy sector in the next European Commission.

Borisov first mentioned she would strive to become Energy Commissioner, but it became clear later that Bulgaria would actually fight for the Enlargement post.

The European Parliament is expected to grill the European Commissioners candidates in the last week of November, before the members of the next commission are put to the vote.

Bulgaria PM Boyko Borisov has stated that Bulgaria will fully support Montenegro’s integration into the EU at a meeting in Sofia with the President of Montenegro, Filip Vujanovic.

Borisov and Vujanovic agreed to deepen their bilateral cooperation in the field of Montenegro’s integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures, economy, transport, tourism and combating organized crime in the region.

Borisov also expressed the readiness of the Bulgarian side to work towards the opening of a regular air service to Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica, which he said would enormously facilitate business contacts between the two countries and will encourage more Bulgarian citizens to visit Montenegro.

Borisov concluded that “true integration of the peoples of the Balkans will come with EU membership.” Vujanovic shared the view of his Bulgarian hosts on the need to strengthen bilateral contacts at all levels.

On the second day of his state visit to Bulgaria on Friday, Vujanovic and his wife Svetlana will visit Bulgaria’s second largest city, Plovdiv.

Russian oligarchs have paid up to EUR 3 800 per square meter for vacation properties at Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast.

This has been announced by Konstantin Bobchev, managing partner at Home for You, during the real estate conference BalRec on Friday.

The properties for which the Russian buyers paid the highest price for a Bulgarian Black Sea spot is located at the Oasis Complex, close to the southeast town of Tsarevo. Over a dozen apartments at the complex have been sold for the price of EUR 3 800 per square meter.

All of the 320 luxury apartments have been sold, mostly to Russian buyers, for an average price of EUR 2 000-2 700 per square meter.

The conference participants have also announced that a number of Swedish and Finnish families were also looking to buy Bulgarian Black Sea properties but their major requirement was to have a fully furnished kitchen.

The real estate businessmen have pointed out that some of the vacation properties constructed further from the sea coast would remain unsold, making good monuments of “entrepreneurial madness”.

The economic crisis has revived the demand for the Socialist era apartments on the Bulgarian real estate market.

This has been announced by Dobromir Ganev, director of the Foros real estate agency, as quoted by BTA.

Ganev has explained that the cheaper price of the so called “panel” apartments constructed before 1989 has made them more desirable because of the crisis. In his words, there is practically no demand for “greenfield” apartments on the residential market in Bulgaria at the moment.

According to Ganev’s data, at present the real estate market in Bulgaria is dominated by Bulgarians, and only 8% of the deals involve foreign buyers who come mostly from Russia and the former Soviet republics.

The supply of residential property offers is much greater than the demand, and the average time for striking a deal has risen from 1-2 months a year ago, to 5-6 months. Ganev expects the imbalance between the supply and demand to even out in the coming months in some parts of the larger cities.

Bulgaria's Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, stated Friday night that in his first 100 days in office he stopped embezzlement of state funds, and found money for large infrastructure projects.

In a political talk show of the BNT, Borisov said that even though 30 of his first 100 days were in August, during the regular summer vacation period, they had still been counted.

He said he was happy with the work of the GERB Parliamentary Group which initially needed a little time as newcomers to the Parliament. Borisov also made it clear he was very satisfied with the work of his ministers.

“Stanishev was the Prime Minister in the government of the three-way coalition. They performed all the wrongdoings. If he did not want to be a part of that, he should have left, caused early elections, and could thus have won everyone’s respect,” Borisov said about his predecessor.

“Stanishev’s clique incurred heavy damages on Bulgaria. The pizza is meatless because they stole the toppings,” the PM said referring to the metaphor used by Finance Minister Djankov who likened the 2010 State Budget to a small, meatless pizza.

“It is obvious that they had been stealing state money, that they governed in a very bad way. Just look at the secret intelligence reports missing from the National Security Agency. People want justice and order,” the Prime Minister said regarding the former government.

Bulgaria's prime minister has said it is impossible to strip the immunity from prosecution of ethnic Turkish leader Ahmed Dogan as he has been careful not to leave evidence of his allegedly controversial deals.

“He has not signed a single document. Bulgaria is a country of the rule of law and charges can be raised only based on evidence,” Boyko Borisov said on Friday, taking up a journalist question.

The statement came hours after Bulgarian prosecutors asked parliament to strip former Labour Minister Emilia Maslarova of her immunity from prosecution so that they can investigate her for large-scale embezzlement.

The previous government, in which Ahmed Dogan party was a junior coalition partner, has been hit by a series of corruption scandals. Former prime minister Sergey Stanishev has been accused of losing classified reports on crime, while ex-farm minister Valeri Tsvetanov has been charged with abuse of power.

Asked whether the ethnic Turkish leader can be the next in line, Borisov said there is no order, which the government is following in its probes, but praised Dogan for not provoking him with verbal attacks and criticism like former Socialist Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev.

Yet Ahmed Dogan is known for a few notorious statements, including the most famous one in 2005, in which he claimed that every political party in Bulgaria used "rings of firms" to fund its activities.

Earlier this year, when the three-way Socialist coalition, was still in office, Dogan scandalously declared himself to be the back seat ruler of the country.

According to a survey compiled by InsureandGo, a UK based insurance company, tourists can save up to 40% by traveling to Bulgaria rather than the French Alps to ski this winter.

The insurance company compiled a survey of flights, accommodation and lift-pass prices to reveal that between Christmas and New Year, skiers are likely to spend approximately GBP 819 on a ski holiday in a top Bulgarian resort, compared to GBP 1 366 in a typical French alpine resort, GBP 1 162 in Austria or GBP 1 045 in Italy.

InsureandGo founder Perry Wilson said: “Christmas falls conveniently on a Friday this year, so many British skiers and boarders will be looking to get away on Boxing Day for a week on the slopes.

Wilson added; “Despite signs of economic recovery people are still feeling the pinch, so we predict that many skiers and snowboarders will be taking advantage of the significant savings they can make by going to a country like Bulgaria.”

The sale of alcohol in the Bulgarian capital Sofia will be banned on November 15 from 6 am to 8 pm due to the elections for mayor that will take place that Sunday.

The ban does not include the wholesale of beer and spirits and in the bars and restaurants, where weddings, christenings, funerals and other happy or sad occasions are marked.

Police warned that on the day of the elections rallies, marches, meetings, canvassing and other events are forbidden.

Eighteen runners are vying to replace former mayor and current prime minister Boyko Borisov, the main rivals being Yordanka Fandakova, candidate from the ruling center-right GERB party, and Socialist Georgi Kadiev.

The Editorial Team of Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) would like to invite its readers to participate in our poll by voting for the top five candidates for Sofia Mayor.

The Bulgarian capital Sofia is holding early Mayor elections as former Sofia Mayor, Boyko Borisov, became Prime Minister in July 2009.

The top five candidates for the Sofia Mayor position are Yordanka Fandakova (GERB party, supported by the Blue Coalition and Ataka); Georgi Kadiev (Bulgarian Socialist Party); Pavel Popov (“Order, Law, Justice” (RZS) party); Teodor Dechev (Union of Bloggers and Internet Users); Ivan Antikadzhiev (Union of Free Democrats chaired by former Sofia Mayor Stefan Sofiyanski).

In order to help you with your choice, we are offering you information about each of the five top Sofia Mayor candidates in our “Elections 2009” subsection.

The Sofia Mayor Elections will be held on Sunday, November 15, 2009. You can vote in our elections poll until noon on November 13, 2009, when we are going to publish the results.

Take this chance to express you view on who is the most suitable personality to be in charge of the affairs of the Sofia Municipality until the 2011 regular local elections. Thank you in advance for your participation!

You can VOTE HERE

A Bulgarian pensioner woke up one winter morning, some 15-20 years after 1989, and realized that it was warm in his apartment, the central heating was on, there was hot water, the fridge was full. He looked outside the window, and saw smog from industrial plants..

Old memories flooded his mind, he panicked, and starting crying out to his wife in a horrified voice:

"They are back! The communists have come back in power!"