Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev spoke extensively on a number of topics in the morning talk show of the private broadcaster bTV.
According to the report of the National Statistical Institute, which he received on May 16, "the average salaries in the country had risen by more than 20 per cent on annual basis. There is an inflation calming down trend (…) Some prices go up, some prices go down - there is a balance," he said.
Asked whether he would call on businesses to increase the salaries, Stanishev reiterated his Labour Day message: "After so many things were done for the business, such as the decrease of the corporate tax to 10 per cent and the introduction of the flat tax, we expect even more social responsibility. In many places fundamental legal rules governing human rights are being violated."
People were the Cabinet's main concern: “Every time, when we took measures, which might have appeared rightist-leaning, we sought for the social aspect." the PM said. "For example, after the flat tax introduction, by the end of April 2008 the incomes for the budget increased by 41 per cent, which gives us more resources for social activities."
Concerning last week's rumours about alleged liquidity problems at First Investment Bank, without mentioning its name, Stanishev said that the depositors of the bank had no grounds to worry. "The Cabinet and BNB monitored closely the bank in the past days," he said. "I ordered the State Agency for National Security to look into the case and find out the source of the rumours because it all looked organised."
However, he would not point the blaming finger at the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party of political rival Boiko Borissov, which, some rumours suggested, was involved in the case. He did say that "the main problem of Sofia mayor and GERB leader Boiko Borissov is the lack of predictability". Borissov's party is top of the opinion polls and is expected to win the next elections in 2009.
Asked to comment on possible coalition scenarios after the polls, he said: “I have probably said it a hundred times that the next cabinet will be a coalition of two, maybe three parties. In politics everything depends on the will of the people (…) Do you think that before the last elections we thought that we would rule with NMSP [National Movement for Stability and Progress]? But that is what the voters decided.”
On the corruption row in the Interior Ministry and malfeasance involving European Union funds, Stanishev said that “the systems are starting to work and yield results (…) The most important thing now is that the Interior Ministry stabilises and re-organises as soon as possible.” The situation with wire-tapping was getting out of hand, with "people literally afraid to talk on the phone. I had cases when people asked me whether we could talk and I couldn’t give them unambiguous answer.”
Stanishev also commented on the annulment of the Trakiya Highway concession and the Cabinet's plans to allocate money for its construction. “We will build it, of course. I am sorry that we lost so much time. We probably made a mistake, but we had to go this way (…) Everything is ready for the construction, we just have to hold the tender and start building,” he said.
In the morning show of Nova TV, the former regional development minister Valentin Tserovski, who signed the deal in 2005, said that “the Trakiya Highway concession contract, 'improved' by the Stanishev Cabinet, could not be funded. It is unbalanced and no bank would finance it".
There were three main problems with the Trakiya Highway concession contract, according to Tserovski. Firstly, Bulgaria’s Cabinet did not understand that not only the concessionaire was to blame if the contract could not be funded. Secondly, the Cabinet could not define the risk of lack of traffic because an independent international body calculated such risk. Thirdly, the Cabinet should consider the higher political risk in the country.
