These are some of the top headlines in Bulgarian newspapers on July 18 2008. The Sofia Echo has not verified these stories and cannot vouch for their accuracy.
Politics
- The European Commission (EC) would deprive two Bulgarian agencies of the right to deal with European Union funds under the Phare pre-accession programme, Dnevnik daily said. The measure was included in the EC’s draft interim report on Bulgaria's fight against corruption and organised crime.
- President Georgi Purvanov set the State Agency for National Security (SANS) on the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), Trud daily said. According to the president, SANS should verify whether OLAF’s claims that powerful forces in Bulgaria’s Cabinet and/or authorities protected businessmen involved in EU funds malfeasances were true.
- National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP) members of Parliament did not exclude the possibility of the party leaving the ruling coalition, Monitor daily said. NSMP’s political council was deciding on July 18 the measures the party would take after the information the the EC would cut hundreds of millions of euro of funding for Bulgaria.
Social
- The Cabinet started spending money from the budget surplus, Trud said. The ministers decided to allocated an additional 120 million leva for road construction and repair.
- Police continued searching Sofia’s upscale suburbs for a third consecutive day, Monitor said. Policemen searched suspicious buildings and examined larger vehicles. The Interior Ministry did not say officially whether the police action is related to the search of Kamelia Boncheva, who was kidnapped while paying a ransom for her husband, Litex football club president Angel Bonchev.
Economy
- Kozloduy nuclear power plant management asked International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) director general Mohamed El Baradei for co-operation, Monitor reported. Kozloduy management hoped for an independent examination of the nuclear fuel used by the plant, after rumours that the plant was using unsafe fuel.
