The Ministry of Foreign Affairs's spokesperson hold the regular press briefing

The main highlights of the regular press briefing held today by Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Vessela Tcherneva were the forthcoming meetings of the General Affairs Council and External Relations Council in Brussels, in which Minister Nickolay Mladenov will participate.

 

Regular briefing by the spokesperson
November 8 2011

Greetings colleagues

Best wishes to all those who have a Name Day – the Mihails, Angels, Angelinas…

A few words about both the Council meetings, taking place on November 14 and 15 2011, the External Relations Council and General Affairs Council, which will follow the customary agendas. A few highlights of the External Relations Council: Afghanistan, Serbia/Kosovo will be discussed, as will be the Common Security and Defence Policy and preparations for the EU-US Summit, which will be held on November 28 2011 in Washington. The focus of the General Affairs Council will be the European Commission's proposals for the Cohesion Policy and Common Agricultural Policy. As you know, these two topics are part of discussions about the new financial framework; perhaps the hottest, most complex topics and, at least from our perspective, very important. It is expected that the proposals to the Council on the macro-regional strategy for the Baltic Sea will be reviewed and approved, and there will be preparations for and examination of the agenda for the European Council on December 9. While telling you all this, let’s bear in mind that these Council meetings are taking place amid a very tense situation in Europe, and so in addition to what is on the agenda, there may be other debates.

The Polish Presidency has organised, for the evening of November 14, a high-level forum on enlargement policy. This is an initiative by Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt. They are gathering their colleagues to talk about what can and should be done to accelerate expansion, so the issue of enlargement is not pushed into the background by the crisis and other problems in the EU.

 

Please make a note of an event, this week, on November 9 and 10, Bulgaria presents its consolidated report on the implementation of the Convention against Torture. This is a very important and very serious forum. Bulgaria will be represented by a delegation representing all institutions involved with the topic. The delegation will be led by Deputy Minister Dimitar Tsanchev.

 

Because of the high level of interest, we shall dwell on a consular case, that of Galabin Boevski. Galabin Boevski’s wife and his Bulgarian lawyer, accompanied by our charge d’affaires in Brazil, met Mr. Boevski yesterday at 1.30pm Brazilian time. The charge d’affaires of the Bulgarian Embassy held a meeting with the governor of the prison. He was acquainted with the conditions under which Galabin Boevski is being held, which he described as “acceptable” given that, of course, it is a prison. There necessary medical facilities are there. The prison has promised to take care of the health and safety of the detainee. It is expected that a local lawyer will be contracted to provide legal counsel to Mr. Boevski. An option is being discussed by which the Boevski family will rent a small apartment in Sao Paulo, where Galabin Boevski can be accommodated if released on bail. This will ensure that he has a permanent office in Sao Paulo, where, after being charged, he may await trial and sentencing. There is still no indictment against Mr. Boevski. We expect the verdict to follow after a trial that will begin within two to three months. At this stage, Galabin Boevski has said that he is not guilty. There is a further aspect. After a conversation between Minister Nickolay Mladenov and his Brazilian counterpart, the Foreign Ministry of Brazil has decided to assign a staff member to monitor the Boevski case closely, and to keep the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry informed about the case.

That’s all from me. Please go ahead with questions.

Plamena Todorova, Telefgraf newspaper: It remains to be clarified who will rent the apartment for the Boevski family. And a few more questions. The first relates to the draft budget of the Foreign Ministry. It says there that 12 properties will be sold. Does this mean that more missions will be closed, and where? Which properties will be renovated? And, will the money from the sales go to the ministry or will it continue to be paid into the state budget?
 
Vessela Tcherneva: Yes, as I said, the apartment must be rented by the Boevski family. The budget for next year really does provide for the sale of the 12 properties. Just to remind you, “property” does not only mean an embassy building. It could mean an apartment where embassy staff had been living but in the meantime the staff complement had been reduced, meaning that it comes down to reducing the amount of property managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In some places, this may mean switching to, say, other contractual arrangements with the host country. So this figure derives from an additional reduction of missions. As for repairs, indeed, the new budget provides for renovations of two buildings. The priorities are our bilateral embassy in Brussels and our embassy in Washington - both buildings are in structurally unsafe condition. As to your question about the proceeds from sales, yes, they can be used by the MFA for capital expenditure.

Nikola Lalov, Mediapool: Just to clarify about those 12 properties. I guess you already have at least a clear idea which countries will be involved? In regard to the repairs, what funds have been earmarked for repairs to these buildings and are there plans to repair other Bulgarian embassy buildings, say in London, in Cardiff. They have already been repaired, if I am not mistaken, if you could please clarify?

And, in connection with elections, has the investigation into the violation of the Protection of Personal Information Act been completed and how many people will be punished for this violation of privacy? Thank you.

Vessela Tcherneva: As to the number of locations of buildings to be repaired, I shall provide you with a list with detailed information.

To my knowledge, the check has not yet ended. When it is completed, the results are to be provided to the Commission for Personal Data Protection, which will give its opinion on the case. That opinion will be made public.

Nikola Lalov, Mediapool: Has the budget provided funds to pay part of the accrued liabilities related to Bulgarian property abroad?

Vessela Tcherneva: Yes, this is a very important issue. There are many places, unfortunately, where there are accumulated debts. The budget for 2012 has provided funds for partial payment of our obligations, including the greater part owed to the authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany and France.

Nikola Lalov, Mediapool: And New York, are there any developments in the case of the local taxes being demanded, and whether the Vienna Convention…

Vessela Tcherneva: You must separate the cases in New York. One case involves a residential building in New York, used for accommodating colleagues who work at the Permanent Representation to the UN, and the other is a so-called villa in New Jersey. These are two different cases, with two different tax authorities responsible for them. In the case of New York, we are pleased that ultimately we achieved an understanding with the local administration. At the request of the State Department, the funds sought were classified as not due.

Plamena Todorova, Telegraf newspaper: A question about the famous ambassador-cops. Rosen Plevneliev has said several times that as soon as he becomes President he will sign the request for the recall. Are you ready with the names? Please remind us how many new names you will put forward? And in addition, are there indeed ambassadors and consuls who are taking court action against the Foreign Ministry Office, for example, for damage to reputation, for unfair dismissal – “dismissal” in quotes because it is not exactly dismissal? If so, how many are there?

Vessela Tcherneva: That’s a number of questions. I shall answer them in reverse order. We have four cases, lodged at the end of September by four Bulgarian ambassadors. Three of them appealed against the Minister of Foreign Affairs’s orders terminating their assignments. These gentlemen are Zlatin Trupkov, Andrei Karaslavov and Georgi Dimitrov, respectively The Hague, Athens and Belgrade. A fourth case is related to an appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court in connection with the retirement of Mr. Atanas Pavlov. As to your question about the next action on the appointment and recall of ambassadors, consultations are underway. The will of the President-elect was absolutely clear. This, of course, will help us finish what we have started. I will use this occasion to dispel a theory that I read recently in a Bulgarian newspaper that surprised me very much. Namely, the idea that if the Constitutional Court hands down a negative decision on the amendments to the Diplomatic Service Act, the new President would be unable to sign a decree dismissing the ambassadors associated with State Security who are proposed for recall. To all of you who come here regularly and are familiar with this problem, it is clear that there is no such connection between these two things. The Council of Ministers proposal to remove these ambassadors, is precisely because there was the declaration by the National Assembly, there is political will on the part of the government not to have any more ambassadors who were connected to State Security. The thinking of the law is for this to happen automatically, meaning that this type of allegiance would not allow such people to be ambassadors. So, I want once again to explain to your readers and viewers that there is no connection between the two things.

Plamena Todorova, Telegraf newspaper: To clarify. The new names, about which consultations are being held, are subject to a check by the Dossier Commission, as has been directed.

Vessela Tcherneva: Yes, of course.

Plamena Todorova, Telegraf newspaper: However, if the Constitutional Court rejected these amendments but Plevneliev signs the decrees, do you not expect an even greater wave of court actions against the Foreign Ministry?

Vessela Tcherneva: Look, this is what I have just precisely explained. There is no logic in your question. The political will is that such people would not be assigned. An Ambassador is not a clerk, an Ambassador represents the entire state. Who may become an ambassador or not, to be assigned as an ambassador, that is not your human right and somehow that must become clear. When there is political will to send one kind of people, at the expense of others, as was the case in the past 10 years, now the will is the other way around – that kind of person will no longer be assigned to be ambassadors, and this has nothing to do with the requirements of the new law regarding people with proven identity.

Recalling these ambassadors has no connection with the Act. What I am saying is that there is political will on the part of the Government and the President that these people should be recalled. There is already a decision by the Council of Ministers on this issue, and there has to be a signature by the President. The law deals with appointments that take place from now on.

Nikola Lalov, Mediapool: In proposing the new ambassadors, will you strive to have more career diplomats as a principled position by the Foreign Ministry? You have declared your ambition for there to be transparency in ambassadorial appointments, are you ready to present the names, say, to have a public debate or in some form these names be known before the competition is held, as until now?

Vessela Tcherneva: I think this is a very important question; both are important. As regards the principle of appointments, it is dealt with in the law in the following way: a requirement for 80 per cent to be employees of the MFA while 20 percent may be political appointees. This is the wording of the Act. This principle remains valid. As for the debate, we are of the opinion that all institutions that are relevant to the sending of ambassadors should be included in the discussion. Therefore, after the procedure in the Council of Ministers is completed and agreement is reached – as we have done up to now with ambassadors in accordance with the guidelines for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – they will be heard in the National Assembly, as the representative body of Bulgarian society. Although this extra effort is not a constitutional requirement, which we believe is important and we intend to put forward this tradition.

Nicolas Miladinov, BNR: What is Bulgaria's position on the change of government in Greece, in the context of the Bulgarian application for membership in the euro area and the overall stability of the EU? And second question: the official position of the Government of the Netherlands to Bulgaria's accession to Schengen is that the government needs at least two positive reports under the Justice and Home Affairs mechanism of the European Commission before the Netherlands re-examines its political support for or not supporting a date on which Bulgaria would join Schengen. What is your comment on that position, because the last thing I heard from Prime Minister at the summit in Brussels is that Bulgaria insists that the issue of Schengen be resolved by the end of the year? Thank you.

Vessela Tcherneva: On the first question, when it comes to member states of the European Union, we do not have the habit of commenting on internal political developments in these countries. These are our partners with which we work very closely. In the case of Greece, it has regional significance, importance to the European Union and importance to Bulgaria as an immediate neighbour of our country. We hope the proposals of the Troika will quickly get approval and be implemented soon, and hopefully with that the general crisis of confidence can be overcome, because in addition to short-term risks to our region from the crisis in Greece, apparently there are long-term image risks that should not be underestimated.

As to your question about the Netherlands, we are looking in principle for the taking of a position, a decision on the question by the end of the year, and we have stated this repeatedly.

There is a proposal to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy for the drafting this proposal and that proposal is part of the minutes of the last European Council meeting, at which he urged all Member States to follow the logic of the process and, following a June 23 decision that Bulgaria and Romania have met the criteria for membership of Schengen, to follow through with a decision on the Schengen membership of the two countries.

Nicolas Miladinov, BNR: That is something recorded in the minutes of the Council, what is its legal or binding value?


Vessela Tcherneva: Look, this is a question of a political process, where a political solution is sought to a problem largely created because of internal political difficulties and peculiarities of one of the Member States. Obviously, when you seek political solutions you start from common ground that can be shared by all. This territory was marked out by the declaration by Mr. Van Rompuy and, as I said, we hope the Council in December will give a clear definitive statement on the matter.