site.btaMedia Review: January 26

BOARD OF PEACE

Bulgarian National Radio features an interview with attorney Adela Katchaounova, Co-Chair of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, on the topic of US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace and Bulgaria's place in it. In the interview, she characterized the organization as a personal initiative of Trump that threatens the existence of the United Nations since it creates a parallel security organization that labels itself as peaceful, but there is nothing in its charter to suggest this. She goes on to say that the decision to join was made secretly, without any discussion or mandate for the country's outgoing Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, which raises procedural problems. It appears to be a unilateral decision, without any debate in Parliament or the Council of Ministers, by a very small group that has taken it upon themselves to decide on behalf of the entire country. Katchaounova expressed the opinion that Parliament would not accept such a ratification at this point.

Speaking on Nova TV's morning talk show on Monday, international affairs analyst Ognyan Daskarev said Bulgaria's joining US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace was a good decision for Bulgaria. Daskarev noted that this does not entail financial obligations for Bulgaria during the initial period. He said President Trump's initiative is aimed at creating a parallel system to that of the United Nations, signalling a deep division in the world and in Europe. The analyst noted that it was Trump who played a key role in ending military action in Gaza. "Bulgaria has the capacity to play an active role in this format," Daskarev said. Another panellist, Marin Rusev, a political geography professor at Sofia University, warned that Bulgaria has found itself in a risky diplomatic situation. According to Rusev, the country should not try to please everyone. To sign the Board of Peace document and then to postpone its ratification in Bulgaria is a risky strategy, he said.

Dnevnik.bg carries a joint position of lecturers from the Department of International Law and International Relations at the Faculty of Law of Sofia University concerning the legality of Bulgaria joining the Gaza Board of Peace. According to the joint position, Bulgaria's involvement in the Board of Peace is likely to violate both the obligations under the principle of loyal cooperation and the obligations under the principle of solidarity on which the European Union is based. Moreover, this act threatens to seriously compromise and delegitimize Bulgaria within the EU, eroding confidence that the country can be a reliable and conscientious partner.  The professors end their statement by appealing to the National Assembly not to ratify the signed international agreement, because it violates both the provisions of the Constitution and the obligations that the country has within the framework of the UN and as a member state of the European Union.

POLITICS

Dnevnik.bg has summarized the most important things about the upcoming early parliamentary elections in an article. Firstly, President Iliana Iotova will be responsible for selecting an interim prime minister, appointing a government, and setting the date for the snap elections, which is expected to be announced later this week. Secondly, there is much speculation surrounding the political project of former president Rumen Radev. The main questions are when, in what form, and with which partners he will appear in the vote, what his team and platform will be, and what his current positions are on strategic geopolitical and local issues. Thirdly, the Continue the Change party has decided that it wants to maintain the ratio of candidate MPs from the last elections (October 2024), which is in its favour compared to its coalition partner Democratic Bulgaria. The CC-DB coalition agrees that the lists should include Gen Z representatives, some of whom participated in the large anti-government protests in December. The partners from Yes, Bulgaria, said that they had not yet reached a decision on the issue and that the battle is "not about quotas."

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The topic of Rumen Radev’s political project was discussed on bTV’s morning programme on Monday. General Konstantin Popov, former Chief of Defence, stated that Radev's entry into the political arena at this moment is a strategic mistake, despite the unpopularity of the outgoing government and discontent among the public. Popov also made note of the precedent set by Rumen Radev's resignation, saying that it opens the door for future Presidents to resign from their position whenever they wish. When asked if he would join the future party of the former president, Popov said that he probably would not.

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Nova TV’s morning programme on Monday featured an interview with constitutional law expert Assoc. Prof. Hristo Ormandzhiev who speculated that the next parliamentary elections will be held in the second half of April. He added that the procedure for appointing a caretaker prime minister and caretaker government is not bound by specific deadlines in the Constitution. Ormandzhiev specified that later in the process there is no constitutional deadline for the elected prime minister to present the composition of the caretaker government. However, he expressed the opinion that, in a "normal and reasonable order," the process should not be unnecessarily delayed, recalling that the caretaker cabinet is, by its very nature, a crisis solution when it is impossible for a regular government to be elected by Parliament. 

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Former prime minister and former Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Sergei Stanishev told National Radio on Sunday that regaining the top party post is not on his current agenda. "I am worried about the BSP, and I am ready to help find a way out," said Stanishev, who is also former president of the Party of European Socialists and ex-MEP. "If carnage is wrought during the upcoming BSP congress, the party will be weakened and will have little chance of inspiring its voters," he added. The BSP's job will become even more difficult if Rumen Radev, who stepped down as President of Bulgaria on January 23, forms a new political party, Stanishev warned. Radev had won two presidential terms with the BSP's support.

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Journalist and Open Society Institute-Sofia Executive Director Georgi Stoytchev, who headed the team that updated the university rating system in Bulgaria, tells 24chasa.bg in an interview that higher education is the only public sphere where funding is tied up with results. Stoytchev says that seven out of 10 young people who finish secondary education in this country choose to continue their studies in Bulgarian universities. Discussing the link between education and the labour market, he points out that employers appreciate foreign-language skills and logical thinking more than anything else. More than half of university students work while studying.

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SegaBG.com has an article titled "1,900 Students Enroll, 800 Graduate. Where Are the Rest?” that presents the findings of a study on access to secondary education. The study was conducted by non-governmental organizations in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science and local school administrations. In the article, the online publication quotes the Trust for Social Achievement Foundation which says that dropping out of school is not just an issue among the Roma minority in the country but a social and an economic problem. The study argues that the problem of access to secondary education is often presented as being inherent to "minority communities", a term which usually refers only to the Roma. This obscures the reality faced by many children from ethnic Bulgarian, Turkish and Pomak families, and those from other ethnic groups, who live in poor or remote areas. They struggle daily with a lack of transport, food and school supplies - all issues that fall outside the remit of mainstream policies.

ECONOMY

In an interview with Bulgarian National Radio, National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria (NAMRB) Executive Director Silvia Georgieva said that the process of adopting the euro in small settlements in Bulgaria is proceeding smoothly, without any administrative irregularities and with full support from local authorities. “Mayors of small settlements are used to providing all kinds of assistance to their fellow citizens. We have excellent coordination with the Interior Ministry and with Bulgarian Posts”, she said. “Municipal systems have been adapted. They are now operating entirely in euros. Our municipal cash desks are supplied with both currencies”, Georgieva explained.

“From the beginning of the year until January 7, the biggest concern was how pensions would be paid. After this process went smoothly, there are no longer any fears. It has become clear that currency exchange at Bulgarian Posts outlets is proceeding normally. Systems are functioning properly. The transition is smooth. It is now clear to everyone that Bulgaria’s European path is irreversible,” the NAMRB Executive Director stressed.

January’s last week is the last one in which the lev can be used as legal tender. As of February 1, payments will be made exclusively in euros.

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On Trud.bg, journalist Adrian Nikolov writes about the latest attempt to push through a price control law which would set price caps on goods designated as essential for households. Nikolov argues that price regulation is the wrong way to go, and describes it as a form of economic populism in the lead-up to the next snap parliamentary elections. He offers examples from other countries: Hungary, Poland, France, the Philippines, Malaysia, Russia, Venezuela, Zimbabwe and Sweden.

In the case of Hungary, he says, the government imposed ceilings on the prices of petrol and diesel fuel in November 2021. In 2022, amid high market prices and shrinking imports, independent filling stations and suppliers began to limit fuel quantities, causing fuel shortages and long lines of waiting drivers. Suppliers started to consider leaving the country. On December 6, 2022, the government abolished the price caps, citing shortages, panic buying and overstocking. In Sweden, the model of regulated and collectively negotiated housing rents caused a continuous shortage of homes to rent. Lists of waiting buyers were compiled. The housing agency in Stockholm admitted that buyers had to wait an average of nine years, which clearly indicated a deficit associated with price regulation.

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Interviewed by MediaPool.bg, Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev says the waste disposal crisis in the city has been contained. He says there will be enough time for a proper public procurement procedure for a new contact. Terziev admits that the concentration of the waste disposal business poses a problem, but the city authorities were pressed for time and needed a quick solution. Discussing property overdevelopment, the Mayor says it is the result of lack of foresight and a "predatory approach" to urban development over the years. Overdevelopment is not due to a single unlawful act but a thousand small "correct" decisions made without a common framework.

Terziev points to a EUR 50 million gap in Sofia's public transport budget and the need for an allocation of EUR 15 million to clear the most urgent payments for wages, electricity and fuel in the system. A failure to raise the money can lead to more limited services, with fewer public transport lines and more spaced-out schedules, he said.