site.btaMedia Review: May 23

HEADLINES

Friday's news media cover Day One of Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov’s visit to Rome, where he conferred with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Speaking to Telegraph, Zhelyazkov said their talks focused on identifying new funding sources for European defense. 24 Chasa ran the headline: “Bulgaria and Italy to Work on Joint Energy and Defence Projects.”

All major newspapers also report on the sentencing of 14 Bulgarian migrant smugglers in Greece. They received a total of 140 years in prison each. The convictions followed a joint investigation by Greek and Bulgarian authorities, launched in late 2023, with the first arrests taking place in Thessaloniki in early 2024. Several of the smugglers were also fined EUR 1.4 million.

Capital Weekly’s cover story is headlined: “Whose is Sofia”. It reflects on the chaos caused by a six-day blockade of the city’s above-ground public transport. The media outlet describes the disruption as “a test ahead of a new battle for the mayor’s office, a year and a half after the last local elections”.

24 Chasa front-pages an interview with Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev, in which he discusses the resolution of a standoff with protesting public transport workers who had been demanding higher wages. The daily also highlights a statement from Prof. Sotir Marchev, Head of the Cardiology Department at the Interior Ministry’s Medical Institute, who warns that magnesium deficiency has become a widespread health issue on par with obesity and hypertension.

Duma dismisses as false a Facebook post by Ivaylo Mirchev of Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), which claimed that Bulgaria’s Permanent Delegation to NATO had been targeted in a Russian cyberattack leading to a supposed leak of sensitive information. The daily recalls that Vesela Atseva, spokesperson for the delegation, denied these claims on Thursday.

Trud leads with a story quoting guidelines from the Interior Ministry’s Institute of Psychology  aimed at curbing youth aggression. The daily recalls that since the beginning of the year, Sofia police have recorded 28 incidents involving groups of young people—aged 14 to 19—dressed in black and armed with batons, knuckle dusters, and other weapons while roaming city streets. The issue has also been covered by the morning programmes of Bulgarian National Television (BNT) and bTV.

POLITICS

Capital Weekly writes that the recent strike by public transport workers amounted to “political blackmail” against Mayor Terziev by what the media outlet describes as an economically motivated majority in the Sofia Municipal Council made up of GERB, BSP and There Is Such a People.

The media outlet notes that just hours before a planned protest in support of Terziev, GERB leader Boyko Borissov stepped in as a “savior,” announcing that the government would provide BGN 15 million for wage increases. Capital Weekly adds that although Borissov is not prime minister, he “has ordered finance minister [Temenuzhka Petkova] to allocate funds without offering a long-term solution to the underlying issues.” “These events point to a renewed battle for Sofia a year and a half after local elections, when a non-GERB candidate was elected for the first time in nearly two decades,” the media outlet writes. 

“The way in which the protest unfolded created a sense that the trade unions have been complicit in a controlled crisis aimed at achieving specific political objectives,” according to Capital Weekly. 

The protest came shortly after Save Sofia – one of the coalition partners that backed Mayor Vassil Terziev’s candidacy – left the coalition with CC-DB and withdrew its support, and just days before the Sofia Municipal Council is due to vote on the city's 2025 budget. Given Terziev’s weakened position in the council, the strike may have been timed to pressure him into being more flexible in negotiations, the media outlet says. 

In an interview with bTV, former finance minister and CC-DB MP Assen Vassilev said that the responsibility for securing public transport workers' salaries lies with their employers. “Their bosses are appointed by the Sofia Municipal Council, by GERB. We saw a problem created by the Sofia Municipal Council – GERB, BSP, There Is Such a People, and some others,” he said. Vassilev added that neither trade unions nor companies’ management are under the mayor’s authority, but rather that of the council. “This is being used to apply political pressure—not just on the mayor, but on the people of Sofia,” he added.

In an interview with 24 Chasa, Mayor Vassil Terziev criticized the government’s decision to allocate BGN 15 million from the central budget to fund wage increases for public transport employees, calling it “a populist move” and “not right for many reasons.” He says that “Borissov did Sofia a disservice” because Sofia will face difficulties paying salaries as early as October or November. 

"The 2024 increase costs us an additional BGN 40 million this year. The trade unions want us to increase spending on wages by over BGN 200 million by 2027. But no one says where this money will come from. Even if we find it, at what cost?” Terziev adds. He also voices concern that other sectors may follow suit. 

Terziev also commented on warnings from two waste management companies threatening to stop operations and citing unpaid dues from the municipality.

Asked about the upcoming 2025 budget vote, Terziev outlined his top priorities: investment in kindergartens and schools, developing transport infrastructure, and upgrading neighborhoods.

***

Trud has an article with a headlined reading: “Nurses Demand Wages of BGN 3,077, Threaten Strike”. The daily quotes the head of the trade union of Bulgarian medical specialists, Maya Ilieva, who said that nurses are demanding that starting salaries be set at 150% of the national average for public sector workers, along with qualification-based bonuses. She added that the average age of nurses in Bulgaria is 62. 

In a story titled "Librarians Get BGN 18 Pay Rise", Telegraph writes that employees at the St Cyril and St Methodius National Library have mocked what they describe as an insulting wage increase in a letter to Culture Minister Marian Bachev. The library staff also warned of a potential protest. 

ECONOMY 

Speaking on BNT’s morning programme, Labour and Social Policy Minister Borislav Gutsanov discusses pension model changes proposed by the ruling coalition, including a potential increase in social security contributions and a possible revision of the retirement age. The Minister said that the retirement age should remain unchanged and the maximum should be set at 65.

Also on BNT, former deputy prime minister Atanas Pekanov commented on Bulgaria’s preparedness for joining the euro area and the expected findings of the upcoming ad hoc convergence reports.

ENVIRONMENT

Bulgarian National Radio has interviewed Toma Belev, former deputy environment and water minister and co-leader of the Green Movement, ahead of Friday’s meeting of the ad hoc parliamentary committee concerned with the water shortage in Bulgaria. Belev warned that Bulgaria’s water sector is suffering from a lack of qualified experts and workers. He noted that nearly 50 settlements, with 40,000 people, are currently facing water shortages. “For 10% of the settlements, there is no data because they do not have a water operator,” Belev said. He also highlighted the need for Parliament to formally recognize access to clean drinking water as a basic human right and to enshrine this principle in policy.

MEDIA

Trud reports on the upcoming 20th World Meeting of Bulgarian Media in Sofia, organized by the Bulgarian News Agency. The event mottoed: “Media and Knowledge” will be opened by Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Bulgaria’s last serving monarch (1943-46), who also inaugurated the first edition of the forum in 2005. This year’s meeting will begin on Saturday with the participation of Vice President Iliana Iotova, Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev, Tourism Minister Miroslav Borshosh, parliamentary Culture and Media Committee Chairperson Toshko Yordanov and Committee on Foreign Policy Chairperson Yordanka Fandakova and will feature and array of keynote speakers. 

CORRUPTION

Dnevnik.bg has published findings from the investigation of the Anti-Corruption Fund exposing a large-scale corruption scheme involving rigged public procurement contracts at the Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA). The investigation is based on documents and the testimony of Anton Taskov, owner of Bituleit Ltd, a leading road marking company in Bulgaria.

According to Taskov, public funds meant for road marking were siphoned off as bribes to senior government officials and their associates. This was done through a shell intermediary company that was part of a consortium including Bituleit Ltd. In 2019, the RIA announced a tender for road markings in Bulgaria's six planning regions. Taskov claimed that shortly before the tender, he had been approached by Miroslav Manolov, a former director at Trace Group Hold AD, a company already linked to road construction corruption scandals. Manolov allegedly offered to secure one of the regions for Bituleit through people in the Road Infrastructure Agency in exchange for 7% of the contract value.