These are some of the top stories in Bulgarian newspapers on October 8 2008. The Sofia Echo has not verified these stories and cannot vouch for their accuracy.
Politics
- The lead story in most Bulgarian newspapers is the World Bank report on the efficiency of Bulgarian judiciary. Budget financing of the judicial system has doubled as a share of the gross domestic product since 2001 and is higher than that in Romania, Slovakia or the Czech Republic, but 60 per cent of the funds are spent on salaries, the report finds and concludes that efficiency has gone down.
- 24 Chassa daily reports about the latest development in the row surrounding the State Agency for National Security. The paper writes about the proposed creation of Parliament's sub-committee that will have the duty to monitor and control SANS. The new sub-committee will replace an ad hoc committee currently headed by one of SANS' biggest critics, Socialist MP Tatyana Doncheva, which the paper interprets as a blow against Doncheva.
Economy
- Dnevnik daily leads with a story on the 50 per cent increase of tax evaluations of real estate properties planned by the Finance Ministry. Tax evaluations are used when closing real estate deals in Bulgaria. Sega daily reports on the same story.
- Trud daily, among other dailies, leads on the October 7 decisions of finance minister of all EU member countries to guarantee individual bank deposits of up to 50 000 euro in light of the financial crisis that started on Wall Street.
- Duma daily leads with a story that the European Commission might renew the payments of European Union funds to Bulgaria for road construction. It all depended on a KPMG reports on Bulgaria's ability to handle EU funds in the constriction sector, the newspaper said.
Social
- 24 Cassa daily leads on changes in advertising of spirits in Bulgaria that will be introduced as of 2009 based on a decision taken by European Parliament.
- Novinar daily reports about traffic police officer being left without forms when recording a road offense. Traffic Police is in a process of switching to new forms that will have a section in English, but while the change is taking place police officers run out of the old forms, the paper says.
