Bulgaria Party Offers to Reinstate 11

In an attempt to mend fences with reform-minded opposition groups here, the regime of new Bulgarian leader Petar Mladenov offered Tuesday to reinstate 11 key people expelled from the ruling Communist Party for their political activities.

Included in the 11 are Georgy Tambuev, a journalist banished for writing a series of investigative articles about a corrupt rural prosecutor.

Others are Ivan Dzadzhev, president and secretary of the Club for the Support of Glasnost and Perestroika and a professor at Sofia University; Hristo Smolianov, a member of the executive committee of Eco-Glasnost, one of Bulgaria’s leading opposition organizations, who is a professor of logic now teaching in the United States, and Chavdar Kiuranov, a prominent sociologist.

A Western envoy called the reinstatement offer “the first clear indication of the character of the new regime . . . a significant signal that this regime intends to treat responsible dissidents favorably.”

Other signs of an improving climate for dissent include the election of an outspoken new rector of the prestigious Sofia University and a government decision to consider the legalization of Eco-Glasnost.

The regime’s conciliatory approach comes only days after the dramatic forced resignation of Todor Zhivkov, 78, Eastern Europe’s longest-reigning leader with 35 years at the helm of the ruling Communist Party.

Many feel Mladenov’s political support is not yet established inside the party, which was routinely purged of dissent under Zhivkov.

A special meeting of the Central Committee of the party is expected Friday, followed by a meeting of the National Assembly. Political analysts anticipate several former Zhivkov supporters will be dropped from the ruling 11-member Politburo.