site.btaMedia Review: March 26

Thursday’s news coverage spans a wide range of topics, with fuel prices emerging as a central theme across television programmes.

Speaking on Bulgarian National Television, Atanas Katsarchev, Chief Economist of the Podkrepa Confederation of Labour, and Vassil Velev, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association, discussed measures to counter the rise in fuel prices. “The measure to allocate EUR 20 per car seems ill-timed and inappropriate to me. If anything is to be done, the priority should be vulnerable groups. We need to determine whether they require some form of social assistance,” Katsarchev said. Velev also expressed the view that the government’s measure is inadequate. He noted that public transport - which is used by lower-income people - should be prioritized over private car use.

Interviewed on bTV, Dimitar Hadzhidimitrov of the Association of Bulgarian Fuel Traders, Manufacturers, Importers and Carriers said: “At the moment, there are absolutely no internal problems. Overall, both the transport sector and our industry are completely calm—there is no legal tension or legislative change that is causing concern for any of us.” He added that there is no monopoly on the domestic market: “On the contrary, I can even say that wholesale prices on the domestic market are currently much lower than, for example, in Greece or Romania.”

Nova TV examines the measures being taken by Romania and the United Kingdom to address rising fuel prices.

POLITICS

Trud reports on a “surprising and publicly unannounced reshuffle at the top levels of the Interior Ministry.” Since Wednesday, the National Institute of Forensics has a new director, according to the website of the Ministry, headed by Emil Dechev. On the Insitute's page, the name of senior commissioner Kremena Ilieva has been replaced by that of Anatoliy Angelov, who is now listed as acting director of the Ministry's unit that prepares all forensic analyses related to a high-profile criminal case in which five men and a 15-year-old boy met a violent death in early February. The daily says that the issue has taken on political overtones, with There Is Such a People calling for an urgent sitting of Parliament over Ilieva’s dismissal and linking it to a possible attempt to cover up the case. 

Speaking on Nova TV’s morning programme, caretaker Interior Minister Dechev justified his decision to make the personnel change, saying that Angelov had extensive managerial experience unlike Ilieva. He added that the change would not hinder the investigation into the case, because expert assessments are appointed by the investigating police officers or the supervising prosecutor.

Dechev also commented on the detention of the head of the postal station in Kardzhali on Wednesday evening on suspicion of exerting pressure and engaging in unlawful political campaigning. The Minister said that the mayor of Kardzhali and party members attempted to storm the regional police station after the arrest. “These are supporters of a party represented in Parliament,” he said. In a story on the topic, Mediapool.bg writes that the mayor of Kardzhali—often referred to as a stronghold of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms party—is Erol Myumyun, who is second on the party’s candidate list in the constituency. The head of the regional postal station is Rusi Latunov, appointed to the position in 2015 and, according to local media reports, a member of GERB. The postal station head allegedly threatened and pressured employees of a humanitarian organization to tell recipients of food aid in the village of Benkovski, Kardzhali Region, that the food was being provided by a specific political party, for which they should vote in the April 19 parliamentary elections, acting Interior Ministry Secretary General Georgi Kandev said in a Facebook post, without naming the individual. 

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24 Chasa reports that former president Rumen Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria has raised nearly EUR 149,000 in donations since the start of the election campaign. It is the only party or coalition registered for the April 19 vote that is currently receiving transfers. According to the website of the Bulgarian National Audit Office—where participants are legally required to report donations—only one other political force had received financial support from a supporter as of Wednesday. This is Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), which has declared a donation of EUR 600. Candidates themselves have also gradually begun financing their campaigns, contributing a total of EUR 34,219.65 so far, the daily adds. In the October 2024 elections, the largest amount of donations was raised by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which collected BGN 430,000 from five party politicians. Second place at the time went to CC-DB with BGN 300,506. Now, less than a week after the start of the campaign, Radev has already nearly reached that amount, 24 Chasa says.

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In an interview with Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), political analyst Ivo Indzhov described the election campaign as “sluggish and boring,” adding that it is unlikely to drive a high voter turnout. He noted the absence of major leadership debates and any real political clashes. Indzhov also argued that the flood of topics and messaging on social media, pushed through various channels, does not necessarily translate into higher voter participation. In his view, it is unlikely that anyone will rise to prominence through social media.

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Also on BNR, Kalin Slavov, Executive Director of Transparency International Bulgaria, said that the recently passed Lobbying Activities Act ”contains grounds for being deemed unconstitutional and also comes into direct conflict with EU law, which does not allow for such a hollow legal framework.” “The adopted text has flaws that distance it from the expectations of our international partners and from what was agreed under the Recovery and Resilience Plan mechanism,” he added. The law regulates only the creation of a register of individuals representing interests before public authorities. The decision-making process and the obligations of public authorities in this process are not addressed, Slavov added. “Such a hollow legal framework creates the possibility for each public authority to set its own rules and grounds for access to and participation in the consultation process, which would effectively turn interest representation into an obstacle race in the dark,” he said.

ECONOMY

Dnevnik.bg writes that Bulgaria will redirect EUR 525 million from EU funds originally intended to improve the business environment, the environment, and education toward projects in defence, water supply, and energy connectivity. This follows an agreed reallocation of funds from the EU’s cohesion funds to the Union’s “most urgent strategic priorities.” The largest share of the reallocated funds—EUR 186 million—will go toward improving the water supply network and ensuring sustainable water use, and will be taken from the current Environment Operational Programme, financed through the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund. Another EUR 177 million from programmes for business modernization (EUR 85.5 million), education (EUR 77.5 million), and the green and digital transition (EUR 14 million) will be redirected to improving defence and crisis preparedness. These funds will come from the budgets of the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund. The budgets of these two funds for Bulgaria will also be used to implement projects for energy connectivity and technological autonomy. A total of EUR 162 million will be redirected to this priority, taken from existing programmes for the green and digital transition (EUR 81.5 million) and business modernization (EUR 80 million).

Trud reports that income from cryptocurrency transactions, as well as payments received in crypto assets, will be subject to taxation, and crypto owners will no longer be anonymous. The daily notes that this will be introduced through amendments to the Tax and Social Insurance Procedure Code, which have been published for public consultation. The revisions will implement EU directives aimed at combating tax evasion.

Citing a survey conducted by the Bulgarian Industrial Association, the daily also writes that doctors, journalists, and social workers have the highest levels of stress in Bulgaria. The risk of professional burnout in the country has reached dangerously high levels—more than half of sick leave is due to overwork, and business losses exceed EUR 300 million annually. Professional burnout is a global trend, according to the Association.

JUSTICE

A story in Mediapool.bg says that the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) is attempting to prevent a ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) in a case concerning the removal of Andrey Gurov as BNB Deputy Governor. Five days after he resigned from the post in order to be sworn in as caretaker Prime Minister, the BNB requested that the Supreme Administrative Court terminate the case in which he is challenging his 2024 dismissal from the central bank on grounds of incompatibility. During the proceedings before the Court in Luxembourg, the European Central Bank issued a position in support of Gurov. If he wins the case, it will confirm suspicions regarding BNB Governor Dimitar Radev and the entire BNB leadership that Gurov’s removal was carried out in response to a political request from GERB and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, the media outlet writes. Gurov was temporarily removed as BNB Deputy Governor after the now-defunct Anti-Corruption Commission found him incompatible with this office by reason of a conflict of interest because when taking up his post at the central bank he was a partner in a commercial corporation and a member of governing bodies of non-governmental organizations, without having obtained permission from the bank's Governing Council. He appealed both the Commission’s decision and the BNB’s decision, which was based on it. At first instance, the Commission lost the case, but it did not proceed to a second instance after Gurov’s lawyers asked a panel of the Supreme Administrative Court to approach the CJEU for a preliminary ruling.

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Duma's top story is about caretaker Justice Minister Andrey Yankulov's request that the Supreme Administrative Court refer the issue of acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov's term of office to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE

24 Chasa quotes caretaker Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Nikolay Naydenov as saying on Wednesday that EUR 2.262 billion had been spent on road maintenance over 18 months, although the funds were supposed to last for four years. These figures prompted caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gurov to order an audit of the activities of the Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA). In an interview with the daily, former head of the RIA Yordan Valchev said that no funds had been spent outside the budget for the respective year. Asked to comment on Naydenov’s statement about EUR 528 million in unpaid liabilities to road construction companies, Valchev said the obligations had been accumulating since 2018. “Very often, some ministers have allowed themselves to halt payments. Companies then start filing lawsuits, and in many cases the RIA is ordered to pay interest, so we have often had to reach settlement agreements,” Valchev noted. “Last year the State allocated EUR 220 million so that we could at least cover some of the old liabilities. In addition, when Assen Vassilev served as finance minister, the budget deficit could have been increased by 1% through borrowing without exceeding the 3% threshold, and the funds could have been used to settle all outstanding road construction payments at that time. However, the money was instead reallocated within the budget, and some BGN 300 million from the RIA was redirected to other needs. Had that not been done, many more roads would have been repaired,” he said. The situation is the same with the halted construction of the Hemus Motorway, he added. Valchev also commented on the issue on Nova TV’s morning programme.

HEALTH

Capital.bg reports that 2.5 million Bulgarians are living with severe chronic illnesses. A total of 7,811 people have suffered myocardial infarctions since the beginning of the year up to March 18, averaging around 3,000 cases per month. The media outlet cites data based on reports on socially significant diseases in 2026 submitted by medical professionals to the National Health Information System. The statistics reveal that 2,489,000 people are living with serious chronic conditions—for example, 1,128,000 have ischemic heart disease, while the number of diabetics stands at 816,449. Asthma patients number around 201,000. Even more concerning is the high number of newly diagnosed cases. In just the first few months of the year, 2,298 insulin-dependent diabetics and 18,221 people with type 2 diabetes have been identified. A total of 27,409 people have been newly diagnosed with ischemic heart disease.

bTV reports that measles cases in Vratsa Region are increasing. A total of 17 cases have been registered, most of them among unvaccinated children. Speaking on bTV’s morning programme, epidemiologist Hristiana Batselova said there was a risk of an outbreak, as vaccination coverage with the first dose is below 95%. She rejected claims of a link between autism and the vaccine, which tend to discourage parents from having their children immunized, and added that some medical professionals also delay vaccination without any real medical grounds.