site.btaMedia Review: May 7

No single topic dominates Wednesday's news media. 

POLITICS

bTV presents the results of a Market Links opinion poll on Bulgarians' political attitudes, commissioned by the TV channel and conducted among 1,010 adults from April 18 to 30. The poll shows that if elections were held today, GERB-UDF would win with 21.9% of the votes, followed by Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (14.9%), Vazrazhdane (11.2%), MRF – New Beginning (11.1%), BSP – United Left (5.6%), Democracy, Rights and Freedoms (5.4%), MECH (4.5%), and Velichie (4.0%). There Is Such a People, a party currently in the ruling coalition, would get 3.7% of the votes, remaining outside of Parliament. The survey also shows a crisis of trust in politicians. The net rating of the top political figures [the percentage of trust minus that of mistrust in them] shows President Rumen Radev has 16%, National Assembly Chair Nataliya Kiselova has minus 15%, and Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov has minus 21% of the public trust. Among political party leaders, the one with the smallest net trust is MRF – New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski (minus 71%), followed by DRF leader Dzhevdet Chakarov (minus 70%), and Continue the Change co-leader Kiril Petkov (minus 68%). GERB leader Boyko Borissov has minus 40%, which is the best result of all leaders of parliamentary represented parties. April saw a slight increase in the trust in the Government, to 25% from March’s 22%.

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Duma's front-page story quotes President Rumen Radev as saying in his address for the Day of Valour and of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, May 6, that he has no doubt that they will foil any attempt at fomenting disunity and humiliation, will keep up their military pride and will continue to defend the Bulgarian cause with professionalism and dedication, because the Bulgarian people relies on its military. "Politicians and self-proclaimed experts are once again trying to create division and have even accused the men and women in uniform, who risk their lives for the country every day, of treason," Radev said.

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Nova TV's morning show notes that changing the leadership of the regulatory bodies in Bulgaria, such as she Energy and Water Regulatory Commission, the Bulgarian National Bank, the National Health Insurance Fund, the National Ombudman, and the Supreme Judicial Council, was one of the first tasks the new majority set itself. Dozens of state structures are led by people whose terms in office expired years ago.  The record holder is the head of the Bulgarian Commission for Personal Data Protection, Ventsislav Karadjov, who has been in office for 11 years, when his term is 5 years. The request was to put the procedures on the fast track and for the reshuffle to happen in a few weeks. The haste was even criticised by the opposition because, in their view, this does not allow for wider discussion. But then the handbrake seemed to be pulled and the changeover process slowed down seriously, the coverage says.

ECONOMY

In an interview for 24 Chasa, economist Prof. Pencho Penchev talks about the history of Bulgarians' attitudes toward money in relation to the introduction of the euro in Bulgaria. In his words, Bulgarians have been mistrustful of money since the Liberation in 1878, and that should be taken into account when introducing the EU's single currency. Back in the 19th century, owning land mattered more than money, so Bulgarians might not have been rich but they did not experience famine epidemics at the time like those in Finland and Ireland. They preferred to save in gold and silver rather than paper money, having bad experience with the stability of money's value under Ottoman rule. Real estate and land were often purchased with gold after the Liberation. Nowadays, statistics show that Bugarians save through deposits and real estate, and the economist believes they avoid investing in private business instead because of how highly risky it is, as was the case even before the Liberation. In the past, Bulgarians knew that, despite all the difficulties, working hard could fix things, while today hard work is not popular. In Prof. Penchev's words, instead of being so focused on the transition to the euro as being entirely good or bad, we should focus more on being a bit more honest and hard working. 

In an interview for Trud, Assoc. Prof. Grigor Sariiski of the Economic Research Institute with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences comments on the introduction of the euro in Bulgaria, warning that if the country joins the eurozone now, the price for that mistake would be paid for generations to come. He believes that the data presented as evidence that the country meets the entry criteria, are distorted, as was the case with Greece, so joining the euro area now would result in Bulgaria having a similar fate to Greece. The legislation aimed at preventing price speculation will achieve nothing, as was the case in Croatia and other countries who made the mistake of introducing the euro, the expert argues. Those to win from Bulgaria joining the eurozone are: the government, who will have something to boast about and take loans more easily; export-oriented enterprises, whose revenues are in EUR but cover their costs in BGN; banks; and the EU's bureucratic machine, which will acquire an additional instrument for exerting pressure on Bulgaria. Natural persons and households will not benefit from the single currency's introduction; there might be an initial euphoria followed by a drop in incomes in the coming years. The official inflation rate might remain moderate, but consumers will feel acutely the prices going up.

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Dnevnik.bg writes that the National Revenue Agency (NRA) has recovered less than one-third of the outstanding bank loans that undergraduate and postgraduate students have obtained with a government guarantee to pay for their studies at public or private universities. In 14 years, 1,588 of those who took out such loans have not repaid them. The debts have fallen into arrears, and the State has paid nearly BGN 11 million to the banks. Of these, the NRA has recovered nearly BGN 3.5 million from the debtors, who have withdrawn several loans, according to the Agency's answers to Dnevnik's questions. Student lending on soft terms (with a state guarantee) was introduced to ensure equal access to higher education. In order to be approved, applicants must be uder 35 years of age, be enrolled in full-time education, have not obtained the same degree or interrupted their studies. The loan must be repaid within 10 years of graduation. A report by the Education Minister reveals that from 2010 to the end of 2024, a total of 22,509 loans have been granted to students and PhD students with a total amount of over BG 168 million. Acording to the law, the State repays the unfulfilled parts of the students' debts when the loan matures early in cases where the students do not repay their debts to the banks.

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Capital.bg reports that German company Liebherr has bought an electric bicycles plant with 200 ha of land near Plovdiv (South Central Bulgaria) from PIERER & Maxcom Mobilities for BGN 68.5 million. When at the end of 2021 the Austrian company PIERER and the Bulgarian company Maxcom decided to make a joint venture and to build a plant for electric bicycles near Plovdiv, there was a good reason, the article reads. The market was booming and all manufacturers were struggling to raise their capacities and meet the growing demand. A year and a half later, however, when the building was ready, the picture had already changed dramatically and the new factory became redundant, the article goes on to say. The building will now find a new lease of life after PIERER & Maxcom Mobilities recently sold the property to Liebherr. The German group has three plants in Bulgaria, and two months ago announced it would expand its newest production facility, for concrete truck mixers, in Plovdiv. What its plans are for the new factory remains to be seen, as the company has so far given no details. According to sources, the factory will have more than one purpose: concrete truck mixers and air conditioning systems.

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Nova TV's morning show reports that the east-central town of Kotel has welcomed its first organized group of Spanish tourists. The history of 19th-century Bulgaria, its cultural heritage and folklore older than that of Andalusia won Spanish residents from Granada, Malaga and Seville, who chose to visit Bulgaria. “We were noticed by one of the biggest tourist companies from Spain after painting the facades in the city centre in Kotel carpets and Bulgarian embroidery,” explained Kotel Mayor Kosta Karanashev. "What we see is richness in churches, architecture, music, dance, culture. I'm so impressed by what we can see here," one of the tourists said. The Spanish tour groups will visit Bulgaria until autumn, with visits including Veliko Tarnovo, Perperikon, and Kotel. 

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24 Chasa writes on its front page that according to the latest data of the National Statistical Institute, only four Bulgarian settlements are growing in population, with the coastal town of Nessebar topping the list.

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Trud's front-page article reads that Bulgarians eat imported honey containing lead. According to the Association for Affordable and Quality Food, Bulgaria imports honey mostly from Ukraine and Turkiye, when OLAF reports of 46% of the tested samples of honey imported from third countries into the EU being falsified. At the same time, in Bulgaria the main tests that are done on the product are only for pesticides, while mass sale of honey mixed with sugar syrups has been established throughout the EU. There is information that large quantities of Chinese honey of unclear quality are imported into the EU via Ukraine. Honey is imported because Bulgaria produces only 10,000 - 12,000 tonnes a year. 

HOME AFFAIRS

Segabg.com reports that a case led by the Bulgarian office of the European Public Prosecutor's Office stumbled at the start. The Sofia Appelate Court returned as incomprehensible the indictment filed by European Delegated Prosecutor Dimitar Belichev against businessman Julian Dimov. He is accused of fraud in connection with a public procurement for the acquisition of trolleybuses by the Municipality of Vratsa (Northwestern Bulgaria) under an EU-funded project worth EUR 4.5 million. According to the public tender, the trolleybuses in question were to be supplied by a Polish company, but the prosecution gathered evidence that the vehicles were provided by a Belarusian state company, which was placed under EU sanctions for supporting Russia's war against Ukraine. According to Emiliya Nedeva, Dimov's lawyer, the case is important for the image of the European Public Prosecutor's Office. Acording to her, the expert opinion on the case has established that the trolleybuses, although manufactured in Belarus, comply with the EU standards, and there is no requirement in the financing conditions that they be manufactured in the EU.

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On Bulgarian National Radio, Assoc. Prof. Milen Ivanov, national security expert and former deputy rector of the Academy of the Ministry of Interior, commented on the recent appointments and removals from office at the Interior Ministry. In his words, nothing new is happening at the Ministry. Things are being brought to light that have happened outside the public interest. The problem is from the highest level to the last policeman who enters the system without motivation, and selection allows this, the expert noted. He sees the problem "in the general moral decline of the adolescent generation, the lack of education, of moral coordinate systems." In his words, there are three categories of people in the police force: hereditary policemen, highly motivated people, and those who do not know what to do and have ended up at the Ministry by chance, he explained. A large number of cadets do not want to be uniformed police officers but to be operatives or investigators. This points to a systemic problem, said Assoc. Prof. Ivanov. Since 2006, after the so-called de-militarisation in the Interior Ministry, you can appoint anyone anywhere, he argued. When a person is appointed on the principle of political and party convenience, he cannot have the necessary knowledge and competences to manage a crisis, much less a regional directorate in a border area like Haskovo, the expert commented on the change of leadership of the police there. In normal countries, state bodies are elected by Parliament, not appointed by the Interior Ministry like in Bulgaria. This defect, which is enshrined in the law on administration, affects all state bodies, the expert told Bulgarian National Radio.

On Bulgarian National Television's morning show, Yes, Bulgaria co-leader Bozhidar Bozhanov commented on the political influence at the Interior Ministry and the security services, and the existing mechanisms for control. "There are many gaps and shortcomings in road traffic legislation that we are trying to fix," he said. One of the measures they are proposing [as part of the Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria parliamentary group] is the introduction of municipal cameras, which would be placed in places where the municipality decides and then impose sanctions. Part of the idea is that a percentage of the fines would go into the municipal budget, but that it would be directed towards road safety - to be spent on lighting, on road markings, on kerbs, on more cameras and so on, to actually improve road safety, he added. "Another such example is our proposal that repeat offenders who have not been hande  their e-tickets, should be forcibly stopped on the road. The important thing with this type of offence is to have inevitability of punishment, not just to put some very high penalties that are not implemented or are implemented after 10 years, which is ineffective." He pointed out that some of these proposals are backed by the majority and that between the first and second readings, all the proposals will come together for the sake of the public interest.

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On Bulgarian National Television's morning show, former Union of Bulgarian Judges head Neli Kutsarova commented on slow justice, especially for road traffic accidents. It is not very difficult to check 10-15 cases that have become public knowledge by being overly delayed, so as to inform the public, she noted. In her words, there are a lot of splinters in the court system to be chipped. "There is a conditional rule that justice delayed is justice denied, which is why especially such cases, which are related to human anguish, to the suffering of parents, should be finished faster. Each individual case may have different reasons and therefore should be followed up, and that is the job of the Inspectorate," she added. She said the Justice Minister had proposed good ideas, but care should be taken with the sanctions imposed on expert witnesses, because it would make it harder to find them. "Sometimes delays in cases can be due to human carelessness and incompetence of investigators, prosecutors and the courts. Sometimes, however, the reasons may be objective," she added.

On Bulgarian National Television's morning show, Bulgarian Electromobility Association Chairman Vladislav Stoitsov and Emil Markov from the Road Safety Institute commented on the necessary measures in the context of the increasing number of accidents with electric scooters in Bulgaria. According to Markov, it is necessary to introduce new regulations, including mandatory wearing of helmets for all age groups. "The control of electric scooters is extremely difficult. It is not reliable, and some sort of restricted use needs to be implemented," he added. According to Stoitsov, it will be very difficult to introduce a registry for electric scooters in Bulgaria as proposed, because there are already tens of thousands of such vehicles that have been purchased and no one has documents for them.

On bTV's morning show, Stoitsov commented: "Electric scooters are subject to regulations. We participated fully in the dialogue and the adoption of the law. There is a law and it must be respected." All scooters, when sold, are limited to 25 km/h. However, their limiters can be removed; owners ignore the law. Lawyer Silviya Petkova commented that the existing regulations date back to when the scooters on the market could move at no more than 25 km/h, while now there are scooters capable of 80 km/h. This is where control and sanctions are missing; there are loopholes in the law, she noted.