site.btaMedia Review: September 4

HEADLINES

Not a single topic dominates the front pages of print media on Thursday. The top headline on the frontpage of 24 Chasa is about Bulgaria’s next state budget which will be the first in the euro currency. Trud leads with a headline reading that Bulgarian have the least advantages from eurozone membership. Telegraph’s frontpage headline reads that 500 with properties is in Greece are investigated by the National Revenue Agency. Duma’s frontpage headline is about Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of the National Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party Atanas Zafirov’s visit to China and attendance of the military parade there.

POLITICS

24 Chasa has an interview with writer and producer Rosen Petrov who comments on the upcoming Bulgarian holiday Unification Day on September 6. Petrov says that Bulgarian people are negligent towards the meaning of the holiday and criticizes the current political scene in the country. Asked about Bulgaria’s position on the global political scene, Petrov says that the country is “politically adaptive” and always has a “big brother” to adjust according to.

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Trus has an interview with the leader of the ABV (Alternative for Bulgarian Revival) political party, Rumen Petkov, who says that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called Bulgaria a frontline country of the EU, which according to Petkov is a reason for Bulgaria to “kick her out”. He commented on her visit saying that it was a “very heavy blow to Bulgaria’s national security”. “It is full of lies, demonstrates fear of facing reality, and brutally misrepresents the place and role of Bulgaria and our military-industrial complex in the war in Ukraine. The claim that we have provided one-third of Ukraine's weapons is completely untrue,” Rumen Petkov says. According to him, Bulgaria is incapable of providing one-third of Ukraine's weapons. He expresses concern over the provision of funding from the EU for the construction of two military production facilities in Bulgaria, saying that it is omitted that this funding will be a loan that Bulgarian people need to pay back.

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The morning programme of Nova TV hosted a discussion studio on the upcoming political season in Bulgaria and the meaning behind Atanas Zafirov’s visit to Beijing. “The government we have had for almost nine months now is an uncomfortable minority coalition between parties that have different political priorities and incompatible political identities. The visit of Deputy Prime Minister and BSP leader Atanas Zafirov to Beijing during the military parade is an example of this,” said political scientist Rumyana Kolarova. According to Kolarova, the big test for the government will be the drafting of the new state budget.

ECONOMY

Trud quotes Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov saying that Bulgaria’s contract with the Turkish energy company BOTAS decapitalizes state-owned public supplier Bulgargaz. The total amount under the 13-year contract exceeds BGN 6 billion, Stankov says. He adds that this is equivalent to 12 Black Sea motorways between Burgas and Varna, three Hemus motorways, or the entire average annual pension of over 600,000 Bulgarian pensioners. From a defence perspective, the amount is sufficient to fully equip the Bulgarian army. "The scandalous thing is that part of these funds, according to their agreement, will be used for payments to the Russian state for the construction and completion of nuclear power plants on Turkish territory. A Bulgarian company, which is extremely financially stable, with an average profit of between BGN 20 and 60 million per year, has been literally brought to its knees," Stankov is quoted as saying.

A headline in 24 Chasa also quotes Stankov saying what BGN 6 billion is equivalent of in Bulgaria.

Telegraph quotes Stankov on another topic, saying that the government of Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov has adopted a screening mechanism that prevents companies from Russia and Belarus from owning strategic assets in Bulgaria and the European Union. The energy minister comments on the information about the possible sale of Lukoil Neftohim to the Azerbaijani company SOCAR.

HOME AFFAIRS

Ivan Takov, chairman of the Transport Committee at the Sofia City Council, commented on the frequent tram accidents in the capital in an interview with Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).  "There have always been minor accidents. This is due to both the outdated infrastructure and the morally obsolete fleet of vehicles. Sofia is a large city with an extremely busy daily life. Every day there are minor accidents involving public transport vehicles. Objective factors have accumulated over the years,” he said. In the incident involving tram 22 on September 2, the factors are entirely objective - we have a criminal act that could have had much more serious consequences, Takov pointed out. A tram went off the tracks in central Sofia early in the morning on September 2. It hit several parked cars and knocked down the entrance to a subway, but nobody was hurt.

The Bulgarian National Television (BNT) hosted a discussion studio on the issues of the capital’s electric transport system. Participants were Alexander Shopov, chairman of the Federation of Transport Unions at the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria, and municipal councilor Vanya Grigorova.

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The morning programme of bTV reports on the case of teenagers who climbed a 200-metre crane at a construction site in the capital. The parents will be punished for their children’s actions. The children climbed through a hole in the fence around the crane. Over the years, while this building was under construction, there have been many attempts to climb the crane. It's a hobby, a search for thrills, for adrenaline - to set foot where no human has ever set foot before. Roof-topping is practiced by relatively few people, but fatal accidents occur every year. "The children were looking for a strong sensation, a powerful image, so they could post it on social media and stand out. Some of the parents knew that their children were doing this, but they were not aware of this particular construction site," said Stefan Popov from the Sofia Regional Police Directorate.

CULTURE

Dnevnik.bg writes that a miniature replica of the Soviet Army Monument in Sofia is included among the exhibits at the Rescued Europe Miniature Park in Kaliningrad. According to a statement by the Russian Embassy in Sofia, "models of seven monuments that were demolished with the greatest resonance and barbarism" are on display there. These are "copies of monuments to Soviet soldiers-liberators that have been demolished in European countries in recent years." The space is organized "on the basis of a map of liberated Eastern Europe." It includes monuments from Prague, Warsaw, Kiev, Riga, Klaipeda, and Tartu. The first of these is a monument in the Polish capital to Soviet-Polish brotherhood in arms, which was removed in November 2011, i.e. before the illegal annexation of Crimea. The monument in Sofia is formally under renovation.