site.btaMedia Review: September 9

No single topic dominates Tuesday's news media.

ECONOMY

On Bulgarian National Radio, Stoyan Panchev of the Expert Club for Economics and Politics commented that he does not expect an increase in interest rates on loans after Bulgaria join the eurozone in January 2026. "The eurozone itself is starting to lower its interest rates. We also expect the US Federal Reserve to sharply cut interest rates. The European Central Bank cannot afford to have rates much higher than those in the US. There will be a further reduction in the eurozone. I think there will be a convergence of European interest rates with Bulgarian ones," the expert noted. However, Panchev believes that the rapid growth of lending in Bulgaria is a problem. He described the information campaign on the euro as "more like propaganda." Panchev sees no point in changing the way the poverty line is calculated in Bulgaria. Changing the methodology for such an indicator, especially without careful consideration, often leads to problems, he argued. He also commented on the planned increase in the minimum wage to BGN 1,213.  "The minimum wage is currently calculated as 50% of the average wage. This is the new mechanism that continuously drives an increase in the minimum wage, which in turn drives an increase in the average wage. This mechanism must be changed very quickly. Employers are starting to circumvent the minimum wage even more." Panchev expressed surprise at Prime Minister Zhelyazkov's statement that taxes and social security contributions would not be raised in the 2026 state budget, and described it as a "bold promise". "It seems to me that taxes and social security contributions will have to be raised because of the budget deficit. Perhaps the Prime Minister is planning some kind of cost control so that we can stay within the limits. But I rather expect taxes to be raised. The quickest and most painless way to solve this problem would be to raise VAT. But this is the least likely option because it would lead to additional inflation." The deficit was lost control over back in 2024, the expert pointed out. "We lost control over inflation because the Government itself believed that there would be no inflation after the positive convergence report. If it turns out like in Croatia, there may be an additional increase in prices,"  Panchev warned.  

On Nova TV's morning show, three experts commented on why, with both the minimum and average wages in the country rising, the proportion of working poor is actually increasing: Dobrin Ivanov, Executive Director of the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association, Dobromir Ivanov, Executive Director of the Bulgarian Entrepreneurship Association, and Nikolay Nikolov from the Bulgarian Confederation of Employment. According to Dobrin Ivanov, the business environment must be improved first, because that would allow companies to make more money and thus increase salaries; otherwise, with both the production and exports down, increasing the salaries achieves only a higher inflation rate. Dobromir Ivanov noted that since the employer is limited in how much they can raise the price of their product, they make their employees work part-time to save on insurance contributions or pay under the table, contributing to the grey economy, which is the main reason for the working poor in Bulgaria. Another issue is the personnel shortage, making employers offer higher salaries than they can afford to keep or attract employees, Ivanov added. Nikolov commented that the poverty line varies across regions, meaning that those with higher incomes raise the poverty line.

On Bulgarian National Television's morning show, the topic of a four-day working week in Bulgaria was discussed by Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association head Vasil Velev and former labour minister Hristina Hristova. She noted that the idea is not new, but its practical application is currently not possible for many sectors of the economy; many production processes require constant work, and remote working cannot replace physical presence everywhere. Velev said: "The right message today is that Europe's 500-year-old party is over. If you want to maintain your standard of living, you have to work more, not less." He added that increasing productivity is key, but if working days are reduced, the total volume of production will also fall, leading to a loss of competitiveness. Hristova noted that Generation Z prefers flexible working hours and remote work, which must also be taken into account, but this cannot be a universal solution.

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Capital.bg reports that the Bulgarian Stock Exchange has reported steady growth in individual investors over the past five years, with the number of new accounts exceeding 16,500 by 2025. Interest peaked during the pandemic in 2021, when a record number of over 4,300 individuals joined the stock exchange. The trend shows that an average of around 3,000 people per year are directing their savings towards shares and other stock market instruments. The main reason for the influx of new investors is initiatives such as the BEAM market for small and medium-sized enterprises, where the shares of 17 Bulgarian companies are traded, and the EuroBridge segment for dual listing in Frankfurt. SOFIX is one of the best performing indices in Europe, with a 14% increase in the second quarter of 2025, reaching 1,085 points, which is the highest level in 17 years. In the second quarter of the year, SOFIX caught up with European indices, and since the beginning of 2025, it has grown by 18%. The structure of new participants in the capital market is indicative of a gradual transformation of financial culture in Bulgaria. The data reveals that people aged over 54 account for 44% of all new investors, with nearly 68% of the total number of newly opened accounts belonging to people over 45 years of age. At the same time, young people under 30 show steady growth, which can be interpreted as a positive signal for the long-term potential of the market, although their share is relatively small. Women represent about 40% of new investors, with more than half of them also starting after the age of 54.

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Bulgarian National Television's morning show focused on the state of emergency medical services in Bulgaria. Prof. Nikolay Gabrovski, head of the Neurosurgery Clinic at Sofia's Pirogov Emergency Hospital, commented that there are too many hospitals between which the personnel is dispersed, and there is no need of that many. On the demands for higher pay for young medical professionals, he commented that the conditions for specialization in Bulgaria are not worse than those in the West or in the past; they could be better,  but changes should be made very carefully. "The truth is that hospitals in Bulgaria can finance their specialists only based on what the National Health Insurance Fund provides as funding for activities carried out. Meaning that a hospital with smaller activity cannot possibly pay higher salaries," he explained.

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Telegraph’s front-page story reads that kindergartens throw away 80,000,000 plastic cups.

HOME AFFAIRS

24 Chasa’sa front-page story reads that the new migrants are from Morocco and Egypt. They work like crazy in Turkiye to make the EUR 15,000 to 20,000 it costs to cross illegally into Bulgaria.

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An article on Segabg.com reads that there is no sign that the Government is concerned about the infringement procedure initiated by the European Commission back in December 2024 for non-compliance with public procurement rules in the building of information systems for state institutions. In July, the awarding of this activity directly to Information Services without competition brought the infringement procedure to the next stage, bringing Bulgaria closer to being taken to the EU Court of Justice. Despite this, the Cabinet continues to bring new institutions under the system integrator. At its last meeting, the Government brought three new structures under the wing of Information Services: the Ministry of Culture, the National Innovation Fund, and the National Social Security Institute, the latter being the last on the list under number 45. On July 17, the day Brussels announced new actions under the infringement procedure, the Cabinet added the Commission for Personal Data Protection to the list of institutions that are required to work with Information Services. The Archives State Agency was added on July 10. In April, there were a total of five additions to the list: the Ministry of Innovation, the Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency, and the InvestBulgaria Agency. Against the backdrop of the expansion of the list, a key institution - the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency - has been removed from it, after being added in 2022. 

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Mediapool.bg reports that the Greenpeace Bulgaria and For the Nature environmental organizations have lodged a complaint for violations of EU legislation by four coal-fired power plants in Bulgaria from 2018 to 2023. All four plants are linked to businessman Hristo Kovachki - Bobov Dol, Brikel in Galabovo, Republika in Pernik, and Maritsa 3 in Dimitrovgrad. The environmental organizations are taking this step because they have already exhausted the possibilities of the Bulgarian judicial system in challenging the environmental permits for the companies' operations issued by the Executive Environment Agency, even though the plants cannot comply with the conditions set out in the licences. According to the organizations, the four power plants are emitting illegal emissions into the air and water and using banned fuels. For the 2018-2023 period, Brikel was sanctioned 44 times for illegally releasing unpurified emissions into the air, Bobov Dol 27 times, and Republika 22 times, for example.  The legislation allows power plants to operate without purifying their emissions, but sets a limit of 120 hours per year of operation in the event of a breakdown or malfunction. However, one of the units at the Bobov Dol thermal power plant operated for 924 hours without a gas treatment system in 2021 and for 455 hours in 2022.

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24 Chasa has an interview with Dr. Radosveta Stamenkova, Executive Director of the Bulgarian Family Planning and Sexual Health Association, who comments on the recent case of a 31-year-old teacher in Sofia charged with having had sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old student of his. Dr. Stamenkova recalls that under the law, a person under the age of 14 is incapable of giving an informed and competent consent, therefore the lawyer’s claim that the girl wanted to be with his client is irrelevant. Dr. Stamenkova does not believe the age at which the new generation has sex for the first time has dropped; it is around 16 for Bulgaria, based on a survey conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, she does not believe that the age of sexual debut is what matters in the current case but rather whether a 21st-century society can regard as socially acceptable the fact that a 31-year-old teacher had sex with a 13-year-old student of his. 

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Trud reports on its front page of fake medicinal products for diabetes online. Up to 62% of products purchased online turn out to be fake or of poor quality, with some containing everything from sugar water and toxic chemicals to heavy metals and even rat poison. Illegally sold medicines often come from fraudulent websites or are resold injections, and the lack of effective control makes consumers vulnerable to fraud, health complications, and potentially fatal consequences. The Bulgarian Drug Agency warns that these products can easily reach Bulgarian consumers, presented as GLP-1 receptor agonists for the treatment of diabetes and weight loss. Information on the illegal obesity drugs was released a few days ago by the European Medicines Agency.

On Bulgarian National Television's morning show, Prof. Georgi Momekov, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Medical University of Sofia, commented that medicines, in the regulatory sense, are products that are strictly controlled by drug agencies; the imitation products people often buy online cannot be called medicines. According to him, even if a person obtains a legal prescription medicine, there is a risk of side effects, but this is part of the therapy that the doctor monitors and assesses. The problem lies with those who buy something online without control or guarantee. "Only buy medicines from pharmacies. Bulgaria has thousands of pharmacies, and all medicines approved by the European Union are available here," he advised.

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In an interview for Telegraph, Assoc. Prof. Mihail Gruev, head of the Archives State Agency, says that the anti-fascists who died in Bulgaria number only some 2,700. In 1972, an almanac entitled “Stars” was published by the Museum of the Revolutionary Movement. It listed the names of just over 2,700 communists, farmers, etc. who were killed with or without trial during the entire period from June 9, 1923 to September 9, 1944. The publication was soon confiscated and hidden away, but this is the truth about Bulgaria's anti-fascist resistance, the expert notes.

POLITICS

On bTV's morning show, Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Deputy Chair Kaloyan Pargov, said that during BSP Chair Atanas Zafirov's controversial visit to Beijing last week, there were no talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. bTV recalls that the visit angered the opposition last week and even led to calls for Zafirov's resignation over footage released by the BSP press center showing Zafirov shaking hands with the Chinese President. "History teaches us that we should never put all our eggs in one basket. We have experienced this twice with Germany and once with the Soviet Union. It is evident that the world is shifting from unipolar to multipolar, and China cannot be ignored, especially considering that the BSP and the Communist Party of China have a 76-year history of relations. The BSP's respect for attending this event is part of these traditional ties," Pargov explained. "The result of our visit to China is strengthening our good ties and relations. We discussed cultural exchange, student exchange, rose oil, tourism, and investments in Bulgaria," said the BSP Deputy Chair. He was adamant that the BSP's participation in the military parade in China did not make the party "anti-European and anti-NATO."