site.btaMedia Review: May 4

POLITICS

Trud News reports that President Iliana Iotova will begin government-forming consultations with representatives of the parliamentary groups in the 52nd National Assembly on Tuesday. Expectations are that the largest political force, Progressive Bulgaria, will receive the first exploratory mandate to form a Cabinet on Thursday. If the procedure moves forward without delays, the new government could be sworn in as early as Friday.

Anton Kutev MP of Progressive Bulgaria is quoted as saying on Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) on Sunday that one of the first tasks ahead of the majority is to adopt a budget for 2026. He noted that his coalition is developing a system for tracking prices and markups, adding that it is expected to be operational within two or three months. Kutev said he expects the lineup of the new government to be made clear by May 8. “I cannot say for certain, because that is up to [Rumen] Radev. He is the one who has to set the exact timeline, but I am judging by the pace of preparations,” Kutev said.

Asked after the interview whether the new, regular government would include members of the caretaker Cabinet led by Andrey Gurov, Kutev replied: “Rumen Radev is the person who won the elections. He will be prime minister. The decision [on who the ministers will be] will largely be his.” Quoted by bTV, Kutev said he expects that the Radev Cabinet will not include members of Gurov’s caretaker government. 

bTV and Nova TV's morning shows focused on expectations surrounding a potential Cabinet led by Progressive Bulgaria, Rumen Radev’s governing approach, the coalition’s political profile, and possible key appointments.

24 Chasa notes that most of the anticipated appointments centre on figures from Rumen Radev’s previous caretaker governments. The names being discussed in this context are still speculative and include Galab Donev as deputy prime minister and finance minister, Ivan Demerdzhiev as deputy prime minister and interior minister, and Dimitar Stoyanov as a potential defence minister.

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In a commentary for Deutsche Welle, reproduced by Dnevnik, political analyst Daniel Smilov criticized the split within the coalition between Continue the Change (CC) and Democratic Bulgaria (DB), saying that it is a deviation from the mandate CC-DB received from voters as a coalition and offers no visible medium-term benefits. “Democratic Bulgaria becomes the fourth parliamentary group, and Continue the Change the fifth: from those positions, it is hard to convince anyone that you are actually competing for second place in the country.” Smilov writes that CC and DB have set out on a difficult path. It is not impossible for them to achieve their main goals this way, but coordination between them will be unnecessarily complex and will require competition, Smilov says. “Their internal rivalry, however, no longer attracts either supporters or an audience. Is it necessary, then?” he asks.

Commenting on the split on Bulgarian National Television’s (BNT) morning show, CC Floor Leader Nikolay Denkov said there was no separation, since they “have always been separate parties.” “We are seeking a new form of cooperation,” he added. “We have differences with Democratic Bulgaria, mainly on socio-economic issues. We have a different approach,” Denkov said, adding that they had also disagreed in their voting. The CC Floor Leader said that DB had proposed that the two groups merge into a single party. “This is a direction that we consider to be wrong,“ he added.

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Sega.bg reports that Delyan Peevski’s Movement for Rights and Freedoms has been left with just one municipal councillor in Pavlikeni (north central Bulgaria) after another representative, Dimitar Zlatkov, quit the party. In a post on Facebook announcing his decision, Zlatkov wrote: “I will reveal the truth with the facts and evidence I have,” hinting at possible issues with his former fellow party members. In a Facebook group titled “I Support Ahmed Dogan’s ARF,” the news was shared with the comment that “the swarming away from the New Beginning has begun.” “New Beginning” refers to Peevski’s MRF – New Beginning, one of the two factions that split from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms in 2024, with the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (ARF) aligned with Dogan as the rival group. Sega.bg also reports that “the Bulgarian Socialist Party has also seen members leave after it failed to enter Parliament in the April 19 elections.”

ECONOMY

In an interview with BNR, economic analyst Dimitar Chobanov suggested that the latest inflation data are starting to raise serious questions. The figures show a sharp increase in the prices of clothing and footwear, with no clear economic justification. He added that upcoming data for other categories is also likely to reveal that inflation is higher than previously reported. “Spending needs to be restructured and reforms are necessary,” he said. In his view, the manufacturing sector is in crisis and agriculture is struggling, with domestic production covering an ever smaller share of local consumption. At present, the economy relies largely on the services sector for growth, Chobanov said, adding that this model is largely unsustainable. He also argued that the goals of increasing incomes and reducing inflation conflict with each other, which will be a serious challenge for the next government.

FOOD

24 Chasa writes that Bulgarian lamb has become a luxury, and due to the shortage of locally raised lambs, consumers will have to choose imports - mainly from Romania, North Macedonia, and New Zealand. Bulgaria currently accounts for a modest 2% share of EU lamb production, making the domestic market highly vulnerable and dependent on external factors, the daily notes. Decades ago, some 8 million sheep were raised in Bulgaria, and this country was one of the largest exporters, the media outlet adds.

Speaking on BNR, National Sheep and Goat Breeding Association co-chair Simeon Karakolev said: “We have a serious market flaw - a major asymmetry in pricing along the supply chain, from farm to retail. It harms both ends: producers and consumers.” If the State does not take urgent measures to ease the administrative burden, encourage cooperation, and create short supply chains, Bulgarian milk will also disappear as early as next year. “At present, 50% of the dairy products we consume are not made with Bulgarian milk,” he added.

Interviewed on bTV, former agriculture and food minister Kiril Vatev said: “Around 70% of fruits and vegetables are imported. That is the main problem. The most effective mechanism against high prices is increased supply, and that requires production. Bulgarian producers are at a disadvantage compared to foreign ones.“ Imported goods can be sold with a markup of 25%, while Bulgarian products can exceed 100%. As a result, imported items look cheaper on the shelf, while local ones seem more expensive - even though that is not actually the case, he added.

LANDSLIDE

Morning TV shows report on a massive landslide that has destroyed dozens of metres of the Smolyan–Pamporovo road. BNT says that for a fourth consecutive day there has been no road connection between Smolyan and Pamporovo due to the tons of earth that swept away the road on Friday. The head of the National Toll Directorate, Prof. Oleg Asenov, said that the Road Infrastructure Agency has been working intensively since the landslide was discovered, taking active steps to study and assess alternative routes. Smolyan Regional Governor Zarko Marinov said that Monday a written report will be send to the Prime Minister with information about the situation and a request for assistance in dealing with the consequences.

In an interview with bTV, Prof. Stefcho Stoynev of the St Ivan Rilski University of Mining and Geology said that the landslide is still active. “There is still a risk that it could expand, though not on the same scale,” he noted. “This landslide shows that there has been extremely severe oversaturation of the soil masses, which have moved down the slope in this section,” Stoynev said, adding that the most likely main cause of the oversaturation is snowmelt and rainfall. He noted that this landslide is just a small part of the largest landslide in Bulgaria - the Smolyan landslide. He added that it would have been very difficult to prevent the landslide on the Smolyan–Pamporovo road, as the preparatory stage - the first of the three stages in landslide development - was very short. In his view, prevention is linked to building monitoring systems to track the key factors that lead to landslide processes.

HEALTH

In an interview with Dnevnik, Bulgarian Society of Cardiology President Prof. Kiril Karamfilov stressed the importance of prevention when it comes to cardiovascular disease. The interview was prompted by the latest data from the National Health Information System, which show that in less than four months, the number of recorded cases of myocardial infarction in the country has exceeded 11,500, while 1,135,763 people suffer from ischemic heart disease. Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of death worldwide, Karamfilov noted, adding that the share of deaths reach approximately 55–60% in Bulgaria, compared to a global average of around 30%. He said that the first major risk group consists of patients with a family history of such conditions. The second key group includes patients with early-onset hypertension, which has a long-term adverse effect on the cardiovascular system, as well as on the brain and kidneys. Nearly 2.4 million people in Bulgaria live with hypertension, many of whom do not have their blood pressure well under control, according to data from the Bulgarian Society of Cardiology. Prof. Karamfilov added that although Bulgaria is among the countries that have built a highly effective network for treating myocardial infarction, there are still gaps in prophylaxis.