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Mon, Sep 06 2010
Greek border blockade costs 3M leva every day
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The Bulgarian economy is losing three million leva every day due to the closure of border checkpoints by protesting Greek farmers, Dnevnik daily reported on January 20 2010.
The "preliminary estimates" come from the "crisis task force" set up by Economy Minister Traicho Traikov, who along with Transport and Agriculture ministers, Alexander Tsvetkov and Miroslav Naidenov respectively, delivered a report before Parliament on January 20.
Traikov is to hold a meeting later with Greece's ambassador, Danae-Madeleine Koumanakou, to discuss a possible resolution to the crisis.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Naidenov said that Greece is Bulgaria's largest export market for agricultural produce. According to the National Statistics Institute, in January 2009 Bulgaria exported about 44 million leva worth of goods to Greece, followed by exports worth 37 and 22 million leva for Spain and Italy respectively.
Naidenov said that he has sent a letter to the European Commission along with his Romanian counterpart, Mihail Dumitru, in which they demand that the EC take immediate action against Greece because its farmers are violating the constitutional right to free movement across borders, both of businesses and civilians.
Meanwhile, 3km-long queues of lorries have formed at the Kulata-Promahon border crossing point, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported. Greek farmers had not allowed anyone to pass through for about 30 hours as of 10am on January 20.
"We have absolutely no information on the intentions of the Greek farmers and whether they will let anyone pass," Todor Georgiev, commissioner with the Bulgarian Frontier Police was quoted as saying by the BTA.
He added that along the other border crossing points there are no current problems and traffic is flowing normally. Currently, the Ilinden – Exhohi checkpoint is open, as is the neighbouring one at Gotse Delchev and Drama.
On January 19 2010, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov held an emergency meeting with the European Commission to discuss the ongoing border blockade.
Borissov told Bulgarian media that he had held discussions with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barosso on January 19 during which he had requested up to 10 million euro in compensation, greater than the six million initially reported by Dnevnik.
"Many European Union directives are being violated. This is not Bulgaria's problem and there is no reason why this country should bear the brunt of the problem," Borissov was quoted as saying by Dnevnik.
Why are the Greeks protesting now, and not in the summer when they have to do the harvest, or at Easter when more than 50 000 Bulgarians go to their country on holiday? They do it now because they have nothing better to do," he was quoted as saying.
In order to relieve the strain, the Bulgarian Frontier Police have worked out a system with their Macedonian colleagues whereby traffic would be eased at the border to offset the situation in Kulata.
The "preliminary estimates" come from the "crisis task force" set up by Economy Minister Traicho Traikov, who along with Transport and Agriculture ministers, Alexander Tsvetkov and Miroslav Naidenov respectively, delivered a report before Parliament on January 20.
Traikov is to hold a meeting later with Greece's ambassador, Danae-Madeleine Koumanakou, to discuss a possible resolution to the crisis.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Naidenov said that Greece is Bulgaria's largest export market for agricultural produce. According to the National Statistics Institute, in January 2009 Bulgaria exported about 44 million leva worth of goods to Greece, followed by exports worth 37 and 22 million leva for Spain and Italy respectively.
Naidenov said that he has sent a letter to the European Commission along with his Romanian counterpart, Mihail Dumitru, in which they demand that the EC take immediate action against Greece because its farmers are violating the constitutional right to free movement across borders, both of businesses and civilians.
Meanwhile, 3km-long queues of lorries have formed at the Kulata-Promahon border crossing point, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported. Greek farmers had not allowed anyone to pass through for about 30 hours as of 10am on January 20.
"We have absolutely no information on the intentions of the Greek farmers and whether they will let anyone pass," Todor Georgiev, commissioner with the Bulgarian Frontier Police was quoted as saying by the BTA.
He added that along the other border crossing points there are no current problems and traffic is flowing normally. Currently, the Ilinden – Exhohi checkpoint is open, as is the neighbouring one at Gotse Delchev and Drama.
On January 19 2010, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov held an emergency meeting with the European Commission to discuss the ongoing border blockade.
Borissov told Bulgarian media that he had held discussions with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barosso on January 19 during which he had requested up to 10 million euro in compensation, greater than the six million initially reported by Dnevnik.
"Many European Union directives are being violated. This is not Bulgaria's problem and there is no reason why this country should bear the brunt of the problem," Borissov was quoted as saying by Dnevnik.
Why are the Greeks protesting now, and not in the summer when they have to do the harvest, or at Easter when more than 50 000 Bulgarians go to their country on holiday? They do it now because they have nothing better to do," he was quoted as saying.
In order to relieve the strain, the Bulgarian Frontier Police have worked out a system with their Macedonian colleagues whereby traffic would be eased at the border to offset the situation in Kulata.
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The Greeks have the same problem we Bulgarians have - we can't see that our problems come from our own work habits, low productivity, propensity to avoid the law, combined with high expectations from the government.
All that amounts to this tendency to blame others.
There is a price for the easy lifestyle too that we are in denial about.
why don't they just eat their kebabcheta in peace and move their tracktors away ?
Every I am in Greece there is always some kind of strike whether it is the garbage/rubbish cleanup in Athens or the workers in Piraias. Strike should be illegal in this country!