site.btaMedia Review: May 9

OVERVIEW

All media report on the election of Pope Leo XIV, the new head of the Catholic Church. Another topic that dominates Bulgarian media is Europe Day. An analysis published by Nova TV points out that Bulgaria's economy has more than tripled since the country joined the European Union in 2007 from BGN 63 billion back then to BGN 203 billion in 2024.

POLITICS

24 Chasa quotes GERB leader Boyko Borissov who criticized President Rumen Radev for destabilizing the National Assembly by using the Constitutional Court to enter a ninth political party in it. Borissov was referring to an instance from March 13, when the Central Election Commission set the 4% threshold for entry into the 51st National Assembly at 97,390 valid votes, down from the previous 97,458 before the review of the results. Earlier that day, the Constitutional Court issued a decision that would ban the election of 16 MPs, four of whom represented GERB-UDF.

The Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) quotes President Radev who referred to a technical glitch in the newly purchased F-16 aircraft that was announced on May 6. While Radev acknowledged that the US corporation Lockheed Martin strictly fulfilled its obligations under the contract, he said that Borissov's 2019 government drastically cut the ground technical package. The President added: "I vetoed this, if you recall, at the time, because I made it very clear, and I made an address, that the way the Bulgarian side entered into the contract with this drastic cut in maintenance, packages and services, would lead to serious technical problems in the maintenance of the aircraft."

The head of State further said that only under NATO pressure did Bulgaria increase its defence spending to 2% of GDP, and this cannot be attributed to Borissov's. bTV quotes Radev as being concerned that Europe appears to have no clear vision as to how to end the war in Ukraine. He stated: "The tragedy of our time is that 80 years after the end of [WWII], international disputes are once again being settled by force of arms. What is even more disturbing is that Europe does not have its own vision of ending the war and establishing peace but continues to invest in what is, in my view, a doomed cause, in the utopian hope that by pouring more weapons into it, Ukraine will be brought to a negotiating position from a position of strength. We see every day that what is happening is the exact opposite – more casualties, more destruction, more lost territory."

Nova TV quotes Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov who during Friday's hearing in the plenary said that the malfunction may have already been fixed. In his words, "During the flights from the USA to Spain and from Spain to Bulgaria, there was an indication of a malfunction in the unit. An indicator came on, which informs about some malfunction of a section of the batteries and accumulators. The indication then disappeared, the aircraft landed and was taken to the hangar. This is a unit that is under warranty, has already been ordered, delivered and probably already installed."

The same article quotes Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov who said during a press conference: "I have always maintained the balance of good manners in communicating with the presidential institution, but it is trying to act like a shadow Ministry of Defence. Our ministry adheres to its constitutional and statutory powers and responsibilities. I expect the same from Rumen Radev. I call on him to stop politicizing what is a technical problem with the F-16."

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In an interview for Nova TV, Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Zafirov stated that whenever there are indictments against MPs, those MPs should have to give up their own immunity. Otherwise, the public is left feeling that double standards are in play. He also commented on the two recent no-confidence motions, saying that they were untenable and only served to prove that the current cabinet has no alternatives. He added that the sponsors behind the motions were aware that the votes could not pass. Zafirov said: "What holds the cabinet together is not so much the faceless opposition, but several things that link the three parties in government: political experience, moderate centrism and our strategic goals – strengthening financial stability, economic reforms, health, education, etc. The government is stable." He singled out the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) - New Beginning as one of the political forces that are showing reason.

The Deputy Prime Minister reported that the postponement of the liberalization of the electricity market will be for at least two years. Until the end of the current government, Bulgarians will be consuming the cheapest electricity in the EU, which he said is a big accomplishment.

Commenting on the Day of Europe, the Zafirov said: "On May 9, we commemorate the retribution that has befallen all those who ignited a hateful war. But it is also a day of hope and liberation for hundreds of thousands of innocents who were imprisoned in jails and concentration camps. If there were no Victory Day, there would be no Europe Day."

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Dragomir Stoynev MP of BSP - United Left, quoted by Nova TV, seems to agree with Zafirov in terms to MPs' immunity, as he reported that his coalition is planning to table legislation that would waive the immunity of all MPs. Continue the Change Co-Chair Kiril Petkov said: "We urge everyone to waive their immunity, as we have done. We have asked [Parliament Chair Nataliya] Kiselova to set up a Commission to examine immunities, as is the European standard. She has not granted this request. We are showing how European Bulgaria is. We will demand the lifting of the immunities of the members of the Vazrazhdane party,but without detention, because they would not abscond."

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The BNR and Trud report that in response to a question from Democracy, Rights and Freedoms MP Pavlin Naydenov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Innovation and Growth Tomislav Donchev said during Friday's Question Time in Parliament that Bulgaria has a good chance to take full advantage of all Recovery and Resilience Plan funding. The Minister said: "As a result of the negotiations [with the European Commission], I expect that the requirement related to a second payment for liberalization of the retail market will be dropped, as well as Bulgaria's claim that it has met the demand related to the adoption of a roadmap for climate neutrality. This has now been met. The other important movement is the reorganization of the investments themselves, insofar as those whose projects have not been launched and have not been put out to tender should be dropped from the plan. There is no chance that they will happen within the month of August next year and will weigh on the budget. This operation has been carried out in a way without Bulgaria being in danger of losing funds, inasmuch as when it was submitted, the plan was over-contracted by more than 1 billion."

CIGARETTE SMUGGLING

An article in Mediapool is dedicated to the cigarette smuggling scandal that led to the arrest of the director of Plovdiv Territorial Directorate of the National Customs Agency, Miroslav Belyashki on May 1. The court accepted the thesis of the state prosecution service that a reasonable assumption could be made that the accused was involved in the commission of an official offence for which he was held criminally liable, consisting in actions to prevent a customs inspection of a truck carrying cigarettes.

The article reads: "GERB leader Boyko Borissov has personally asked [MRF - New Beginning leader] Delyan Peevski if there is a channel for smuggled cigarettes. He [Borissov] was told no and he believes it. This was revealed by Borissov's words on Friday in Parliament. The reason was the scandal that broke out after it was revealed that police officers were forced not to detain illegal cigarettes worth nearly BGN 8 million. The case dates back to the end of last year but was only revealed a few weeks ago.

"Since then, GERB and Peevski's MRF - New Beginning have been blocking demands for a hearing of the police officers in Parliament. In the meantime, the former head of Plovdiv customs Miroslav Belyashki was arrested. Suspicions are again for cigarette smuggling but linked to the former customs chief Petya Bankova who was arrested a year ago. Three others are involved in the case against her, including Nikola Nikolov-Paskal, who has been suspected of being a smuggler for years. He is currently in Serbia.

"On Friday, Borissov was adamant that the canal in Plovdiv was not Peevski's. Asked how he knew, he said he had asked him and then said he believed him."

ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE

An article in Trud reports that the Supreme Administrative Court rejected an appeal of the supposedly green NGOs, grouped around former deputy environment minister Toma Belev, former environment minister Borislav Sandov and MEP Andrey Kovatchev, that alleged that the Struma Motorway lacks a valid Environmental Impact Assessment. The article concludes: "When will the institutions and law enforcement authorities react and hold those responsible accountable? The facts are there – out of 14 cases filed by environmentalists, all have been dismissed by the courts. This shows that the 'greens' are constantly abusing the rights given to them by the overly liberal Bulgarian environmental legislation. The 'green' racket and terror in Bulgaria must finally come to an end."

EDUCATION

Capital has dedicated an article to what they describe as the failed reform of the Bulgarian education system. The text reads: "In the next five years, technology skills will grow in importance in the labour market faster than any other type of skill. These include working with AI, big data, networks, cyber security. These are the expectations of employers around the world, according to the World Economic Forum's latest Future of Jobs survey. However, alongside technology skills, employers cite creative thinking, resilience, flexibility and adaptability to change, curiosity and motivation for lifelong learning as growing in importance.

"[...] In order to prepare Bulgarian schoolchildren for life and for the era of changing professions, the Ministry of Education and Science made a reform request at the beginning of its regular term in January. Education is at a standstill, the new-old Education Minister Krasimir Valchev stated in his first speeches. And he is right – in the last few turbulent years, education has permanently fallen out of the priorities of successive governments.

"In other words, one of the most important functions of school becomes to turn knowledge into skills that are useful to children, to help them cope in an environment of extremely rapid and often unpredictable change. The Education Ministry proposed to start the reform from the curriculum and published a concept for changing it in February. [...] In this document, the Ministry recognized that the current framework makes students memorize facts without much connection to how those facts would serve them in real life. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's international PISA survey reached this conclusion years ago. Its results clearly show that the Bulgarian education system is seriously lagging behind in terms of the formation of so-called functional literacy – namely the extent to which students can put into practice what they learn at school. The latest data from 2022 show that Bulgarian children's performance is deteriorating in all three areas – reading, maths and science. More than half of Bulgarian students lack skills such as analytical and critical thinking, reading comprehension, reasoning, argumentation and decision-making.

"The Education Ministry proposed to overcome these deficits by shifting the focus of the curriculum towards knowledge shaping skills and attitudes, rather than learning for an A. Their idea is to reduce the content of the curriculum, to lighten it in terms of factual content, to free up more time for teachers and students for practical exercises. [...]

"It turned out, however, that Minister Valchev meant something else, when he said that schools should develop emotional intelligence and strengthen their educational function. In his interviews with the media, he summed up this goal as children "being good people, citizens and individuals" and linked it to the introduction of the subject Virtues and Religion in the compulsory curriculum. To this, the teachers' unions added their own exotic ideas of introducing discipline assessments, a complete ban on the use of mobile devices and a reduction in family absence days. They said that this would overcome the 'helplessness' of Bulgarian teachers to bring order to the classroom. And the Minister has publicly stated support for 'giving teachers more power to discipline'. These ideas have exploded the public conversation and brought a new level of division among the people."

The article concludes: "They also changed the meaning of the forthcoming reform. The original document does not mention anything about religion as a focus of change. And in the end, the Ministry of Education has strayed from its own stated goal – to prepare flexible and adaptable children ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow's technological and societal change. Whether the cacophony created is the result of a political bargain, a strategic turn to conservatism because of the winds blowing from the West and East, poor communication, or a combination of all three is unclear. But the effect is that meaningful conversation – what change in education would be in the best interests of children – has been sunk."