site.btaMedia Review: April 22

DEATH OF POPE FRANCIS

The death of Pope Francis, his legacy and his ties to Bulgaria dominate the Tuesday media and TV programmes.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church passed away at the age of 88 on April 21 at 7.35 am. His rule lasted for 12 years and 39 days. Pope Francis will be buried on Saturday, April 26 and the procedure for electing a new pope, will begin on 5 May.

Former ambassador to the Vatican Bogdan Patashev (2019-2023) said on Bulgarian National Radio that Bulgaria is coming out of a comfort zone after the death of Pope Francis,

"Pope Francis, used to share that his grandmother fed him Bulgarian yoghurt, which though trivial certainly helped him to have an outlook on our country and to choose to come to Bulgaria as a pilgrim of peace and to give Bulgaria as an example of a country where there is peace. This comfort zone is easy to be taken for granted, but we have to fight for it," he said.

In his words, Bulgarians can remember Pope Francis as a pilgrim of peace. According to him, one of the messages that will perhaps leave a lasting mark of Pope Francis is forgiveness and mercy:

"Pope Francis was willing to explain to everyone that God is merciful and forgives everyone. With this message he went to the peripheries. My guess is that the new Vatican administration will not focus on just that, but there will certainly be some follow-up. Many doors were open. With his courage to make reforms, he really opened many new pages."

The Church has always tried to remain distanced from the forces of time, Patashev also said, according to whom the Church will now be focused on how to keep the balance without being misinterpreted and being involved with one side or the other. But this balance is very difficult to keep, he said.

Patashev noted that the vast majority of the cardinals who will now choose the new pope were elected by him, which links them to his messages, behavior and policies. He created many cardinals from Asia, he recalled.

"He antagonized some with his reforms, but there was a very definite line about opening up to novelty," said our former ambassador to the Vatican.

Patashev believes that the new Pope will not come from Europe again. The Pope, he said, has also shown bias - treating some leaders more cordially, others more coldly.

HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

Every year since 1994 the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) has published its annual human rights report. This time it will take the form of a discussion, which will highlight the findings in four areas - rights of people with mental disorders, independence of the judiciary, digital rights and climate rights. 

"There is undoubtedly, and unfortunately, a retreat in a wide range of areas. In others where there is stagnation. The situation is not rosy at all," Radoslav Stoyanov, co-chair of the BHC, said on Bulgarian National Radio.

In his words, one of the main areas where retreat has been reported is the state of the judiciary.

"The political situation has an impact because a large part of the problems we observe as regression in human rights are precisely violations committed by Bulgarian institutions. This means two things - either that the legislative framework needs to be changed to address these issues, or that administrative and sometimes judicial practice also needs to be changed. But this depends on the will of the government. 

However, when there is no stable government or when the government is led by anti-democratic forces or forces with low respect for the separation of powers, there is no way the problems can be solved," Stoyanov said.

He said the BHC has not had access to state psychiatric hospitals for many years. What they found there is that in most places the situation is getting worse, Stoyanov said.

This year's report also has a chapter on digital rights. In his words, Bulgaria is lagging behind with the implementation of European legislation in this direction, which is our main watchdog.

"There is also an increase in the risk of misinformation and manipulation on social networks, misuse of personal data, including through political influence campaigns abroad linked to Bulgaria. One of the biggest players in this respect is the Russian Federation. Yet Bulgarian institutions have shown no will to prevent or be responsible, even in the face of serious security breaches,” he added.

INTERVIEW

In a 24 Chasa interview, Plamen Mladenovski discusses what will happen from July 1 with the full liberalization of the electricity market He says that proposals have been tabled in the National Assembly to postpone the liberalization – either by 2 years, or by 10 years. In either case he does not expect a drastic change in household prices.

There will be a mechanism in place to make up for the difference between the price on the exchange and the base price set by the government. The regulator will actively work with the Ministry of Energy and with the cabinet to set this base price. He says that if we want to liberalize the market and for households to advantage of it, the most important thing is to provide for as long a transition period as possible for the compensation schemes to operate and to use this time for the digitization of networks. In connection with water rationing last year because of the drought, Mladenovski says that according to various estimates, between BGN 10 billion and EUR 10 billion are needed to overhaul the water network. There is no way this happen, especially without European support. “We need to focus attention on a few key aspects, the most important of which is eliminating water losses through network zoning, real-time data transmission with balance meters to see where water is being lost and to react.

He expressed hope for cooperation with the Regional Development Ministry as without joint action, any reform is doomed. The other thing is to introduce penalties for poor water quality or to have another price if it is undrinkable. Also, the new head of the regulator says that he will work to reduce the administrative burden. As a case in point he says that the regulator has to authorize the loans any licensed company. This Slows down the investment process, and uses up the regulator’s human capacity. Removing this would free up resources and they could be directed to control activities as there should be more on-site inspections.

TOURISM

Quoting Newsweek, TrudNews.bg writes that according to a DiscoverCars.com ranking Sofia has been named the best European capital for a city break this spring Cities were ranked on the cost to rent a car for four days this spring, and the cost to stay in a hotel for four days. The study also examined 5 popular attractions in each city, comparing their distance from the airport, and the price of entry for both adults and children. Each city was given a score based on these factors.
 
The scores were added up to create the final ranking. Sofia, Bulgaria landed in first place with a score of 170 overall. It was the third cheapest place to rent a hotel in the capital city between May 3 and 7 - according to a popular hotel booking website, this would cost EUR 266.59.
 
Four out of the five top attractions highlighted by DiscoverCars.com in Sofia were free for adults to visit - the only one that charged for entry was Boyana Church. 

AVIATION INDUSTRY REPORT

Capital.bg writes that nearly 85% of Bulgarian airlines' aircraft in 2024 operated in markets outside Bulgaria, referring to data of the Bulgarian Airlines Association for the past year. The countries in which Bulgarian-registered airlines operated are mainly Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Greece, Turkiye, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, etc. Cargo flights were also operated to and within Europe.

The number of operating airlines registered in Bulgaria at the end of 2024 was 12, both passenger and cargo. They operate 80 aircraft, of which 59 are passenger aircraft and 21 are cargo aircraft. In the Bulgarian fleet, 58% of the aircraft are Airbus and 38% are Boeing. 

Passengers on international flights last year totalled 10.9 million. Of these, 9.4 million were on scheduled routes, which saw a 4.6% increase compared with 2019. Around 1.4 million passengers were on chartered international flights. That's just 60% of the 2019 number, with a 3.5% decline from 2023. "This is a regular trend that we have seen for years. It is due to both the growth of low-cost carriers operating and tourists making their own travel arrangements,” the Association says.

The data show that Sofia Airport's total international passengers are up by 12.7% from 2019 and reached 7.6 million in 2024, a 10.7% increase on 2023. Varna and Burgas airports were lagging behind. At Varna Airport, international passengers in 2024 decreased by 17.4% compared with 2023, with the most serious decrease being in passengers on scheduled international routes - 20.5%. At Burgas Airport, this decline was 2.3%. At Varna Airport, 22% of passengers on international charter flights were carried by Bulgarian airlines, and at Burgas - 26%.

The Association also reports continued development of aircraft maintenance bases in the country. In its market analysis, the organization cites Ch-aviation data, according to which Sofia ranks 9th in the world in terms of the capacity of actively operating maintenance bases, with additional capacity to be built in Sofia and Burgas.

Globally in 2024, an average of 83.5% of airline seats were occupied. The aviation industry with over 30,000 aircraft carried nearly 5 billion passengers, a 10.2% annual increase, and transported 30% of global trade by value. Cargo flights saw an 11.6% increase to 68.5 million tonnes, reversing the downward trend since the COVID pandemic

There is currently a shortfall of more than 4,500 commercial aircraft and this is causing a slowdown in the pace of aviation development.

Q1 HOUSE MARKET DATA

Sega.bg writes that property transactions in the country slowed down in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the fourth quarter of 2024.

In Sofia, the drop was 17%, to 8,588 transactions were recorded, down from 10,441 transactions. In Varna the drop was even bigger - by 25%, with 3,099 transactions registered. Plovdiv also reported a 23% drop - the number of registered transactions for the first quarter was 3,482. A drop of 18% was also observed in Burgas, where 1,837 deals were registered.

The total number of registered property transactions for the whole country in the first quarter of 2025 was 45,144 compared to 60,429 in the previous quarter, a decrease of 25%. On a year-on-year basis, the market is showing a marginal growth of around 2%. 

However, real estate brokers report that the real estate market remains stable and active. Demand continues to be high and outspaces supply, despite the boom in new construction. Industry experts comment that this is the reason for the retention and growth in property prices, although the start of the year saw a decline in the number of transactions compared to the last quarter of 2024.