Today’s press is dominated by the decision of the leftwing Member of the European Parliament Ivailo Kalfin to lead a separate ticket at the forthcoming European elections supported by the ABV (ABC) movement of former President Georgi Parvanov. Duma Daily quotes Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Sergei Stanishev as saying that Kalfin’s decision has come as a major disenchantment and is hostile to the Left. Trench warfare at the BSP is on, reads a headline in Sega Daily, while according to Standard News, there will be a head-on collision at BSP. With the title ABV, a second leftwing alternative, Trud Daily summarizes the commentaries of leading sociologists and political analysts. Andrey Raychev is adamant that ABV has got no potential to be an alternative. In his analysis he writes the following: “The new Left now emerging or about to emerge shall come from the younger generations, not from the current generation.”

State authorities begin large-scale checks into illegal transport companies. According to Trud Daily, they account for as much as 20% of the passenger transport business. This has become clear a single day after bus operators warned they would stop transporting passengers from 1 February unless central authorities provided support for them. The measure looks a bit extreme and unexpected, however it is a fact that from 2400 bus operators in this country three years ago, now their number has shrunk to 950. If things remain unchanged, not more than 500 of them will survive by year-end, the Chairperson of the Union of Bus Operators Galia Topalova has told Trud Daily.

It is absurd to be given a sentence in prison for failure to pay social security contributions similar to a murder sentence, experts remark in a commentary for Standard News in connection with the new Criminal Code that will be discussed by the Council of Ministers. Amendments envisage up to 6 years in prison for any company boss who has failed to pay to the national revenue social security contributions worth at least 25 minimal monthly salaries. In cases when due amounts come to 140 salaries, the sentence can be extended to 8 years, a prison term given for unpremeditated murder, the daily comments.

Sega Daily accentuates the decision of the European Commission to check into the tender announced at the end of last year for a builder of the South Stream project in Bulgarian territory. EC Spokesperson Chantal Hughes has voiced concerns over public procurement for the construction of the Bulgarian section of the pipeline. She explains that EC experts have been checking into the tender and adds that it is still early to say whether the rules are good and whether some of them have been violated.

Bulgaria is one of the 43 countries who achieve the highest scores in the annual edition of the Index of Economic Freedom of the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, Monitor daily writes. For a 20^th year in a row, Hong Kong remains at the lead of the chart of economic freedom. Once again, Singapore comes second. Australia is third. Switzerland is the only European country in the top 5. The average index of economic freedom in the world is 0.7 percentage points up. The same improvement was seen in Bulgaria. In 2014 Bulgaria takes the 61^st position in the world, and 28^th in Europe. This country has received better scores from the world average in the category of Regulatory Efficiency. Traditionally, Bulgaria has the best scores in fiscal freedom and freedom of trade.

The occupation of the Rectorate is over, a Novinar Daily headline reads. On Tuesday the Wake-Up Students left Aula Magna of Sofia University that they had occupied in early November. The young people who protest against the government discussed their future actions after their protests subsided before the New Year. Now everyone agrees that occupation as a mode of protest has lost most of its momentum. On 25 October last year, the Wake-Up Students declared a full occupation of the Rectorate. They later moved the blockade to Magna Aula alone so as to not to disturb classes at the University.

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee has pressed for the legalization of narcotic drugs in this country. This stance was supported strongly by Krassimir Kanev, Chairman of the human rights organization financed by a George Soros foundation, during a working meeting for the new Criminal Code, Telegraph Daily writes on its front page. According to Kanev, drug dealers who are addicts themselves should not be punishable by the law.

English Daniela Konstantinova