site.btaMedia Review: May 30

POLITICS

Eight ministers will participate in the regular Question Time in Parliament on Friday, BNR reports.

It will start with a question to Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev on the ministry's position on the presented European framework for support to Ukraine. 

Environment and Water Minister Manol Genov will answer 21 questions. 

The Ministers of Labour and Social Policy Borislav Gutsanov, of Justice Georgi Georgiev, of Health Silvi Kirilov, of Culture Marian Bachev, of Agriculture and Food Georgi Tahov, and of Energy Zhecho Stankov will also take questions from the MPs.

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“President Rumen Radev will bear his responsibilities for his actions for a referendum on the euro. What I can say is that there is indeed some kind of coup against the euro being prepared, organisations and tensions are being created. Public and political tensions already exist in Bulgaria. I hope that the protests will be within the law and without excesses,” said Krum Zarkov, former caretaker minister of justice and now former adviser to President Rumen Radev on legal issues, on bTV’s morning show.

“The government is being consolidated by the president's actions and even before the president's referendum, tensions have escalated. There will be no referendum and if the reports from Europe are positive, the euro will enter Bulgaria on January 1, 2026,” he added.

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After the unexpected resignation of DRF floor leader Dzhevdet Chakarov, supporters of Ahmed Dogan are gathering in the capital for a talk about a new party. This was announced by Yudjel Atilla, who is a member of the Central Council of the party, BNR reports.

The meeting in the capital will be for preliminary discussion of the idea but will mark the beginning of the formation of an initiative committee for the founding of the new party. It will also include DRF MPs, regional coordinators and representatives of leading structures. 

"We have to be very careful what kind of party is coming up. I think that [former MRF honorary chairman Ahmed] Dogan will side with the modern vision of the future political instrument of the community. I think the new project is simply inevitable because we no longer have a political instrument in our hands," Atilla said, adding that one of the goals that the new party will set is early parliamentary elections. 

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MRF – New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski steamrolls everything in his way. I would not say that Dogan will finally leave politics, but he is at the end of his rope - this is what it looks like, including this new project that is coming up," said political scientist Assoc. Prof. Petar Cholakov in the BNR studio.

"If Peevski is smart, he won't set out to become prime minister; the more sensible thing would be to instal his own man – someone more acceptable and more likeable, who does not look dependent on him. This is [GERB leader Boyko] Borissov's strategy, and it works well," he added.

“Obviously, Borissov and Peevski are mutually beneficial… For now, they have to tolerate each other for the sake of ruling and staying in power. They are in a stalking match with each other, which sooner or later will sour relations.

ECONOMY

The government is lagging behind in introducing mechanisms to assess, identify, and monitor energy poor households in Bulgaria, BNR reports, quoting an opinion of the Economic and Social Council. One of the recommendations is to add an inflation index to the formula for determining the official poverty line to overcome the abandonment of the income criterion in determining the status of households.

The Council points out that 1,800,000 people, or about 30% of Bulgaria's population, fall into the group of energy-poor households that lack access to basic energy services for adequate heating, cooling, lighting and provision of energy for household appliances. Additionally, about 365,000 have the status of vulnerable customers. In Bulgaria, the number of people who were unable to keep their home warm enough is almost 21%, ranking first in the EU for this indicator.

According to the Council, the efforts of the state should be focused on achieving interconnection of the electricity system of Bulgaria and South-Eastern Europe with those of Central and Northern Europe.

Last July, the average monthly electricity price in Bulgaria, Romania and Greece was more than 110% higher than in Central European countries such as Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.

As a result, the Bulgarian business and the Bulgarian state, through the compensation it provides, pays a prohibitively high price for electricity and this has an extremely adverse impact on economic competitiveness and the standard of living, the opinion says.

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Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank Dimitar Radev participated in the international conference of the IMF and the Croatian Central Bank, which takes place on 29-30 May in Dubrovnik, Nova TV reports. The event is dedicated to the topic of growth and sustainability in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.

On the sidelines of the forum, Radev met with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. The main topic of the talks was Bulgaria's progress in preparing for euro area membership and the expected positive effects of the introduction of the euro on the economy, people's incomes and the business environment. Bulgaria received support for its efforts on this strategic priority.

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Bar associations have announced that from June 1 they will stop appointing temporary and reserve counsel, duty counsel and special representatives. The strike was officially announced in Sofia and almost all bar associations in the country are expected to join it. The reasons are the lack of reform in legal aid and the low level of payment for lawyers' work. The Supreme Bar Council supported the protest. In response, Minister of Justice Georgi Georgiev submitted for coordination draft amendments to the ordinance on the payment of legal aid, which provide for an increase in fees from next year, Nova TV reports.

ROAD SAFETY

A national meeting of the Ministry of Interior will be held Friday with the participation of all regional directorates, BNT reports. The meeting will identify measures to improve road control and the effectiveness of checks.

Late on Thursday night, Sofia Police started increased checks on the Ring Road - the focus was on drivers without licenses and those who have used alcohol and drugs.

The action is part of a campaign to boost road safety. Drivers are checked with breathalysers and drug tests. The checks will continue in the coming days.

Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov on Wednesday gave the traffic police, the toll authority and the State Road Safety Agency one month to improve road controls or they will be restructured.

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An 18-year-old created a “Black Track” - a map of accidents in Bulgaria. Martin Atanassov's idea came after the death of 12-year-old Siyana. Black Track illustrates systemic problems on roads across the country and how they are linked to nearly 180,000 crashes over the past four years, Nova reports.

“The cause that unlocked the desire to address road safety - not just in me, but in many people - was Siyana's death. So, I created the project, which has been public since Thursday and many people have already used it,” Atanassov said.

He explained that the map is interactive. On it are marked with red dots all traffic accidents in Bulgaria from 2021 to April 2025. The idea of the map is to draw attention to the fact that the problem on the roads is not only in certain places, it is not only on the highways, but it happens everywhere.

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The investigation against the animal torturers from Pernik is now an international operation. This was announced by the District Prosecutor's Office in the town, Thursday’s media report. Investigators have sent European investigation warrants to the US and Lithuania, the countries where the two payment systems are based. The aim is thus to find the clients of the two perpetrators and find out how much they earned from filming torture for pay. Already after their arrest, forensic experts announced that the two tortured and killed animals on the orders of clients from all over the world. If the clients are found, they will be prosecuted as the instigators who induced the detainees to commit the crime, the state prosecutor's office threatened. Initial estimates put the number at around 2,000.

CAPITAL WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

The defence industry has a strong position in the country, which attracts foreign partners. There are also opportunities for expansion for many other industries that traditionally make civilian products. Whether companies will be able to take advantage also depends on how fast the administration works. 

Europe's decision to start relying on itself for its own defence, including by channelling billions of funds into capacity development, unlocks major opportunities for Bulgarian companies. The country has always had a well-developed military industry, which in recent years has been growing and expanding even without European funds. However, there is also potential for a few other industries not traditionally related to defence. And the interest of Western companies in partnerships in Bulgaria is a chance to attract much larger-scale projects and new technologies. To make all this happen, however, faster procedures and assistance from the administration are needed.

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For the first time in internal documents provided to the Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF) from the archives of the companies themselves, Hristo Kovachki is directly named as the real head of the invisible energy holding with a turnover of over BGN 5 billion per year (according to data from 2023), including 11 power and heating plants, several coal mines, numerous gas, electricity, carbon and biomass traders, pension, insurance, transport and repair companies. The investigation presents internal documents that contain evidence of: coordinated actions of the energy companies in the Kovachki cartel and manipulation of prices on the free electricity market; draining the profits of the thermal power plants in the holding through fictitious transactions with so-called buffer companies; concealment of more than BGN 900 million of retained earnings for 2023 alone. Regular payment of unregulated financial incentives to state employees by the holding companies; Granting six-figure loans to politicians; Control over senior managers in the structure and over politicians through the obligation of millions of leva in promissory notes to the holding companies; Return of money under the table in fictitious biomass supply deals for the purpose of carbon emission fraud; Leakage of information about upcoming inspections by the European Public Prosecutor's Office.

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International Power Supply (IPS) starts series production of 8 MWh battery systems for the European market. With new minority shareholders, the family-owned company focuses on integrated energy storage solutions. Its modular X-Bess systems have a capacity of more than 8 mWh and will be manufactured at its factory near Sofia. IPS is targeting the European market, having already received orders for 7 GWh for the next three years.