These are some of the top headlines in Bulgarian newspapers on August 8 2008. The Sofia Echo has not verified these stories and cannot vouch for their accuracy.

Politics

- Late in the evening of August 6, Jean-Luc Demarty head of the EC’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development informed Bulgaria that the local Sapard agency could carry out payments for the frozen projects under the EU Sapard pre-accession programme only if the administration provided strict control, Deputy Prime Minister for EU Funds Meglena Plougchieva said on August 7, as quoted by Dnevnik daily. The Cabinet had discussed where to provide the money for the funding.

- Information provided by ministers for the Cabinet summit, where the question of subsidies for the protesting farmers was discussed, was totally different, Sega said. Granting the subsidies without EC permission was a violation of EU rules and Bulgaria risks being fined an amount equal to the subsidies plus interest.

Social

- Sofia city hall has started removing illegal stands and shops from the central city streets, Sega daily. The first streets to be “cleaned” were Vitosha and Graff Ignatiev Boulevards.

Economy

- Banks would be forced to inform the Bulgarian National Bank and the State Agency for National Security about each payment above 30 000 leva, Monitor daily said. This was one of the 80 measures to fight organised crime and corruption, approved by the Cabinet.