site.btaPM Borissov Suggests that Bulgaria, Greece Pool Efforts against Contraband Trade

PM Borissov Suggests that Bulgaria, Greece Pool Efforts against Contraband Trade

Brussels, June 26 (BTA correspondent Nickolay Zheliazkov) -
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov believes that Bulgaria
and Greece must pool their efforts against contraband trade.
"Greece has a huge crisis and we have a problem with contraband
trade from Greece. I invited Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to
come to Bulgaria and see how we control the border and if he
agrees that we do something together, we will be much stronger
and higher revenues will be generated," Borissov told Friday
Bulgarian reporters covering the European Council meeting in the
 Belgian capital.

The Bulgarian government leader said that paying taxes is "at
the core of the democratic system for redistribution of wealth
to those who have less".

He also said that the Bulgarian Finance Ministry and central
bank have a joint unit monitoring Greek banks in Bulgaria to
make sure there is no panic. Bulgarian depositors in Greek banks
 in Bulgaria have no reason to worry because these banks are
independent of their parent banks in Greece, according to him. 

According to Borissov, the situation in Greece is a good lesson
for Bulgaria about what would happen if prudent fiscal
discipline is not observed.

Taking a reporter's question, he said that Bulgaria still wants
to join the euro zone but there is no reason to hurry before all
 countries in the euro zone start to observe district financial
discipline. "If we were in the euro zone now, we would have had
to make a contribution to support Greece, in which case the
poorer would have been supporting the richer, which does not
make sense to me."

The Prime Minister went on to say that with its political and
financial stability, Bulgaria is attractive in the region as an
investment destination and could be "an island of stability, if
the Bulgarian politicians show wisdom".

He also said that Bulgaria is a country of eurooptimists and
added that over 70 per cent of the money it spends comes from
the EU funds. SN/LN/

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