site.btaPrime Minister Talks with Muslim and Orthodox Christian Leaders

March 11 (BTA) - Prime Minister Boyko Borissov met with
the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Neophyte,
and with the Grand Mufti of Muslims in Bulgaria, Moustafa Hadji,
 on Monday to discuss the writing off of the debts of religious
denominations in Bulgaria.

The meeting came after the National Assembly approved amendments
 to the Religious Denominations Act on first reading on Friday
with the apparent intention to grant an amnesty for overdue
financial obligations of religious denominations. The Bulgarian
Socialist Party accused the ruling GERB of striking a deal with
the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) to forgive the debt
of the Grand Mufti's Office in exchange for MRF's support for
overriding a presidential veto of Election Code amendments. The
Grand Mufti's Office is said to owe 8 million leva, mainly for
social and health insurance, and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
owes about 150,000 leva.

Emerging from Monday's talks with the Prime Minister, Hadji
said: "It is important to preserve peace. You know what happened
 in the other countries in the region." The Grand Mufti went on
to note that the debt of his office has been incurred since 2005
 and much of it is interest payments. The revenues of the Grand
Mufti's Office are not enough, he said, because a large part of
what were once waqf foundation properties were nationalized
under the former communist government and were never returned.

Patriarch Neophyte, who emerged from the Council of Ministers
offices 20 minutes after Hadji, said: "We thanked Prime Minister
 Borissov for his good intentions towards the religious
denominations." The Chief Secretary of the Bulgarian Orthodox
Church, Bishop Gerassim of Melnik, said: "We have always worked
well with the government. All technicalities about the
implementation of the new law on religious denominations can be
sorted out in the parliamentary committees."

Gerassim further said: "The government treats all religious
denominations equally well. Of course, we have specific
problems. Our brothers who profess Islam have specific
administrative problems like the ones we used to have over the
years but our Church managed to solve them." Gerassim believes
that the remuneration of religious officiants should be financed
 by the state. "This will completely eliminate the possibility
of their being financed by foreign countries," he added.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister was updated on the need
to rehabilitate the Patriarchal Cathedral of St Alexander Nevsky
 in Sofia and many other churches. RY/VE

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