site.btaMedia Review: May 5

POLITICS

The news media are reporting widespread speculation about the composition of the government of Progressive Bulgaria, which is expected to be sworn in on Friday. On Tuesday, President Iliana Iotova is meeting with the six parliamentary groups, starting with Rumen Radev's party, which has 131 seats in the 240-seat Parliament.

Trud says Radev is reportedly prepared with a proposed cabinet composition, but its overall structure is still being finalized. There are plans to reduce the number of ministries, including a possible merger of the economy and tourism portfolios and even the potential abolition of the Ministry of Innovation and Growth, following the Fiscal Council's recommendations for cuts in the administration and streamlined government structures.

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bTV asked whether Bulgaria will have a government committed to making budget cuts and ending "old schemes". Journalist Valeria Veleva expects a government focused on cutting spending and reducing an oversized administration. Analyst Georgi Prodanov argued that the new government will have to downplay the caretaker Cabinet's perceived success, and stressed the need for politically independent ministers. In his view, the narrative that there is a severe budget problem was largely driven by business circles across the media, whose focus was on cutting the administration and reducing the number of ministries.

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Interviewed by Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), sociologist Marchella Abrasheva commented on what is expected of Radev and Progressive Bulgaria. In her view, the only clear priority so far appears to be addressing a "disastrous" budget situation. She said the point is what they will actually do and how they will communicate it. Beyond legal changes, the key issue is implementation and communication: how policies are explained to maintain public support among a diverse electorate, rather than simply normalizing administrative problems. The analyst stressed that Bulgaria has bitter experience with past attempts at administrative reform.

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Constitutional law experts told Trud News the caretaker government should resign without delay. Prof. Plamen Kirov said the resignation must be tendered as soon as the newly elected Parliament is constituted, which happened on April 30. He commented that instead of submitting their resignation to the National Assembly, caretaker ministers continue to draft and table bills, "and even go on trips to the US". Borislav Tzekov also said the caretaker Cabinet must resign without unnecessary delay and work as an outgoing government until a new one is elected.

The Interior Ministry announced on Sunday that a delegation led by Minister Emil Dechev is on a working visit to the United States. Its members are the Ministry's acting Secretary General Georgi Kandev, Deputy Minister Ivan Anchev and the Head of the Minister's Political Cabinet Ivelina Dundakova. The delegation is expected to return late on May 5.

24 Chasa reports that the delegation held talks with senior US officials on cooperation in counter-terrorism, border security, migration control, future joint training and Bulgaria's progress towards joining the U.S. Visa Waiver Program.

24 Chasa recalls that in a bTV interview on Sunday, Ivan Demerdzhiev MP of Progressive Bulgaria said he was puzzled that senior Interior Ministry officials, who will be out of office within a couple of days, have made a trip to the US. Demerdzhiev, who is tipped as the next interior minister, criticized the caretaker Interior Ministry leadership for failing to announce where they were going, why, and what issues they intended to discuss.

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Trud offers Krystian Szkwarek's comment on the split between Continue the Change (CC) and Democratic Bulgaria (DB) into two parliamentary groups. In a Facebook post, he said that when two valid positions collide, separation becomes inevitable. CC argues that it is unfair to represent 55% of the electorate but end up with under 40% of MPs [in the CC-DB coalition]. Meanwhile, DB, with 45% of the electorate, concentrates preference votes in each constituency behind one or two candidates, reshuffling the joint lists and ending up with over 60% of the seats [in the former coalition].

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The Democratic Bulgaria group in Parliament told the media on Monday it will propose a draft resolution on the setting up of an ad hoc committee to look into what it calls "significant discrepancies" between the officially declared income and the assets, expenses and standard of living of Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) leader Delyan Peevski.

In turn, the MRF will propose setting up an ad hoc committee to examine alleged undue influence on political, economic and public processes by what it calls the "oligarchic circle" linked to the Capital group and businessman Ivo Prokopiev. The MRF claims this circle has been associated with the country's governance model since 2009 through the placement of individuals in the political system, as well as in the legislative, executive, local and judicial branches of power.

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24 Chasa reports that parties and coalitions represented in the 51st National Assembly of Bulgaria received over EUR 13.4 million in state funding between the October 2024 elections and March 2026, according to published reports on party subsidies.

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Telegraph says the government's 2025 annual report on the state of public administration shows there are just over 12,300 vacant civil service positions, with nearly 5,800 of them remaining unfilled for more than six months.

FOREIGN POLICY

Interviewed by bTV, Meglena Plugchieva, the President's Secretary for Foreign Policy, discussed the European Political Community Summit in Yerevan, foreign policy expectations from Rumen Radev's government, and the state of the European Union. She said President Iliana Iotova took an active and visible role at the Summit, participating in panels and promoting key projects for Bulgaria like the Vertical Gas Corridor, Corridor VIII and regional connectivity. As to the new government, Plugchieva expects Radev to maintain Bulgaria's pro-EU and NATO orientation, but with a more pragmatic, less ideological foreign policy. She stressed that Europe is economically weakened and less competitive, with growing calls for more rational and pragmatic policies. In this context, Bulgaria should focus on strengthening its real economy, especially energy and the IT industry, improving business conditions and reviving production to support income growth and social stability.

ECONOMY AND FINANCE

Mediapool.bg and capital.bg quote the Finance Ministry's preliminary data showing that the budget deficit rose by about EUR 220 million in April after a EUR 1 billion increase in March, as spending grew 17%, outpacing 10% revenue growth. Public sector wages lead the rise in costs, followed by social payments and investment.

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In a Nova TV interview, Fiscal Council member and former deputy finance minister Lyubomir Datsov and Boyan Mitrakiev, Executive Director of the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria, argued that inflation and the budget deficit are being driven mainly by rapidly rising public sector wages and weak fiscal discipline. Datsov said automatic wage increases in the public sector are spilling over into the private sector, fuelling a wage-price spiral, with huge consumption rather than indexation pushing up prices. He warned that the increase in spending without an anti-inflation strategy undermines long-term growth, and that Bulgaria's main fiscal issue is not revenue but excessive and inefficient spending.

For his part, Mitrakiev said that inflation reflects an imbalance between rapidly growing money supply (by around 20%) and shrinking real output (by around 10%). In Bulgaria, some 660,000 people work in the public sector, which is significantly above the OECD average. He argued that public sector expansion, partly financed through external borrowing, is inflating domestic demand without matching production, which pushes prices up and shifts consumption towards imported goods, benefiting foreign producers. He warned that if this continues, Bulgaria risks a Romanian scenario of stagflation, with weak growth and persistent inflation.

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Trud carries a commentary by Stoyan Panchev on the import of cheap labour by some employers in construction, the hospitality industry and branches of manufacturing in the past two years. Employers offering low wages and poor conditions have resorted to importing large numbers of cheaper workers from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and parts of Africa, which may depress incomes, slow economic growth and bring social problems due to large-scale migration.

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In Trud, Boyan Rashev explains why the world is still very far from full electrification of final energy consumption and from the end of fossil fuel use. He analyses the EU's efforts to increase the share of electrification in transport, manufacturing and heating, touted as the only viable path to significantly reducing carbon emissions. Still, electricity in the EU's final energy consumption increased by 1% between 2010 and 2024. He cites electrification levels from 16-18% in Poland and Romania to 33% in Sweden as of 2024, with Bulgaria and France at around 26-27%. Norway is the only European country where electricity exceeds 50% of final energy use (about 52% in 2024), largely thanks to very cheap hydropower, which enables widespread electric heating, "ironically funded by oil and gas exports to the EU". The analyst says the imitation of electrification is exemplified by Norway, which remains stuck at around 50% electricity in final energy consumption despite virtually unlimited financial resources and ideal conditions for full electrification - very cheap electricity, large-scale storage systems such as pumped-storage hydro plants, and widespread electric vehicles. High costs from renewables support and system balancing, carbon pricing that raises power generation costs, and the phase-out of nuclear energy are key barriers to electrification in Europe, while overreliance on wind and solar further slows progress. 

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Trud quotes official data showing that in the first quarter of the year, Sofia saw a sharp surge in new housing construction - up 60% in buildings and 187% in dwellings year-on-year - regaining the top spot ahead of Burgas and Plovdiv.

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Trud reports that the National Revenue Agency has collected taxes on paid adult content, after identifying significant undeclared income from creators using subscription-based video platforms. According to the NRA's annual report, a campaign last year targeted individuals earning from adult content platforms through inspections, phone outreach and electronic notifications, urging them to declare their income. As a result, taxpayers voluntarily declared over BGN 13 million in previously undeclared earnings.

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The caretaker government has reshuffled the management of the Montagi state company, specializing in construction and installation of energy and industrial projects, segabg.com reports. The government has ordered a full external audit of its contracts, especially those for dam repairs, amid claims of irregular fund transfers into the company. Slavi Vassilev MP from Progressive Bulgaria claimed that about EUR 120 million was transferred from ordnance plant VMZ's profits to Montagi, where he alleged the funds were drained.

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Interviewed on bTV, Ombudsman Velislava Delcheva warned that over 100 cars leased or rented abroad, mainly from Germany and the Netherlands, have been seized in Bulgaria after being found to be wanted vehicles, as they were resold locally and later reported as stolen once lease payments stopped. The Ombudsman warned buyers to use written contracts with full prices, avoid large cash payments, and check vehicles thoroughly before purchase.

ARMED FORCES

The Air Force Commander, General Nikolay Rusev, told Bulgarian National Television that Bulgaria needs two squadrons of multirole fighters, as one is insufficient compared to regional capabilities. This country has eight F-16 Block-70 jets, with eight more expected, and six trained pilots. By November, there will be 12 trained pilots, with the current six already operating the aircraft as a combat platform. However, the aircraft will not enter combat duty this year due to incomplete delivery, leaving MiG-29 crews overstretched. F-16 fighters will take part in the parade on May 6, marked in Bulgaria as the Day of Valour and the Armed Forces.

JUSTICE

Lawyer and human-rights advocate Zdravka Kalaydjieva, who was a judge on the European Court of Human Rights in 2008-2015, told Bulgarian National Radio there is a clear regrouping in the judiciary, not limited to the position of the Prosecutor General. She warned that prolonged operation of Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) members past their term has enabled networks of familial and other dependencies that threaten judicial independence. She said a moratorium on judicial appointments is urgently needed but insufficient, as competitions for senior judicial and prosecutorial posts, secondments and internal reassignments continue. Kalaydjieva argued that in 30 years Bulgaria has seen no real judicial reform, but rather simulated reforms, without a clear concept or shared vision within the legal community about the direction of change.

Interviewed by Telegraph, constitutional law professor Nataliya Kiselova spoke against a moratorium on appointments, saying that public pressure on the SJC and its Judges and Prosecutors Chambers is a far more effective tool. If SJC members are unable to exercise a substantial part of their powers (due to a moratorium) yet still receive full salaries, it effectively means accepting that people can be paid in full for work they have not done, she said.

SOCIETY

Interviewed by Bulgarian National Radio, Vasil Dolapchiev, Chairman of the Union of the Blind, said disabled accessibility in Bulgaria has been a long-standing problem. Work is being done with municipalities to address it, but the key issue is mindset. Architects often underestimate accessibility requirements and implementation is poor, preventing useful improvement.

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The first available cherries in Bulgarian stores currently come from Greece and cost around EUR 25/kg, with retail chains also selling them in 250 gram packages, Telegraph reports. A week earlier, cherries from Spain appeared in some supermarket chains at roughly EUR 49/kg, but their price has since dropped to about EUR 25/kg.