site.btaMedia Review: October 6

OVERVIEW

One topic that dominates all media is the recent floods that devastated parts of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and what could have been done to prevent them.

FLOODS IN BULGARIA

Nova TV aired a series of interviews with experts discussing the recent floods. Former environment minister Julian Popov said that the Golden Sands and Sunny Beach resorts have been built on dunes, and rivers were sealed off. Buildings were also erected on rivers in Konstantin and Elena, in Sofia and other places, as building on rivers and riverbeds is a widespread practice. Popov stated that the law is flawed and unclear regarding construction activities. He added: "The flood in Elenite was caused by unusually high amounts of rain. We should have expected the rainfall. In 2023, there were major floods around Tsarevo, and we prepared a report at that time. One of the factors is climate change, which will bring more and more extreme events. It is very important to conduct a serious investigation into all the factors that led to the disaster. There is often pressure on the cadastre not to include rivers and dunes - there is even a term for such cases: 'dune blindness'."

The former minister said that two rivers, Drashtela and Kozluka, run through Elenite, and buildings have been constructed on them, which is absolutely unacceptable. Finding out who authorized this would be a matter of public accountability. He believes that it cannot have been just one person of party, as the process likely required multiple signatures, including from the Basin Directorate.

Natural disaster expert Atanas Krastanov pointed out that there are several legal norms concerning riverbeds, which include the Water Act and the Spatial Development Act. He said: "They explicitly state that any construction on riverbeds is prohibited. Asphalting and concreting are absolutely prohibited in catchment areas and riverbeds. This is criminal construction, and the responsibility lies with the municipality, the Directorate for National Construction Control, the Basin Directorate. These institutions must be brought to justice. Since the construction is illegal, the buildings must be demolished."

Another expert, Georgi Stefanov, concurred that such building should be removed and added that there must be hundreds of them across the country, as they are present in nearly every settlement in Bulgaria.

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Trud quotes Tsarevo Mayor Marin Kirov who reported in a Facebook post on Sunday that after last year's disaster, his municipality got funds for the restoration of bridges and dam walls but not the requested funds for cleaning and repairing riverbeds. Kirov's post came in response to a statement from Continue the Change Chair Assen Vassilev Chair, who said that in 2023, Tsarevo was allocated BGN 43 million for cleaning rivers and for building a bridge. Kirov stated that the allocated funds were the result of party support from GERB leader Boyko Borissov and the personal commitment of Kalin Stoyanov, former interior minister and current MP from Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) - New Beginning, who was born in the region.

BULGARIA-US RELATIONS

Dnevnik quotes the Wall Street Journal, which reported that during his visit to Bulgaria in late April, Donald Trump Jr. met with GERB leader and former prime minister Borissov. The Bulgarian politician spoke about the potential sale of a stake in TurkStream to the US in exchange for relief from US Magnitsky Act sanctions for some of Borissov's close allies, among other favours. A prominent Bulgarian politician that was sanctioned under the legislation is MRF - New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski. He was named as an oligarch who "has regularly engaged in corruption, using influence peddling and bribes to protect himself from public scrutiny and exert control over key institutions and sectors in Bulgarian society". Peevski is challenging the designation in a US court. His lawyers argue that there is no evidence of any wrongdoing by their client.

Another public figure sanctioned under Magnitsky for corruption is former finance minister Vladislav Goranov. Mediapool points out that mid-April, days before Trump Jr.'s visit, Borissov said that he is confident that both Peevski and Goranov's sanctions will be lifted.

CORRUPTION

Following the corruption scandal that revealed that two police officers requested bribes from truck drivers who worked for Robbie Williams's music tour, the Bulgarian National Radio published an interview with Hristo Radkov, Chair of the Bulgarian Drivers' Union. In the article entitled "Why foreign truck drivers are subject to corruption on Bulgarian roads", Radkov said: "When a vehicle weighing over 3.5 tons, which must be equipped with a tachograph when crossing European borders, is stopped for inspection, there are two ways to check it: one is to check the driver's documents, the second is to check the tachograph by removing the card and checking the device located in the motor vehicle administration's vans, or by bringing their device close to the tachograph, through which they read the information. In both cases, the date and time of the check are recorded on their device and on the tachograph. If there is an exceedance of the working day, driving hours, or other violation that must be penalized, the screen lights up red and this information is recorded and subject to future verification."

The expert shared that the long waiting times at the border, sometimes going up to 24 hours, means that trucks entering the country, often driven by foreign drivers, are most likely to be in violation that is recorded by the tachograph. He specified: "Any truck [...] that transports goods to Western Europe is in violation the moment it is stopped 50 km after the border. The wait at the border itself is 24 hours. During this time, the driver has no rest, even though they must have at least 9 hours of rest per day, during which the truck must not move. But, having been in the queue, they have moved the truck, exceeded their working day, and then, anyone who stops them would find that truck was in violation from the first meter it entered Bulgaria. We have created the conditions for bribery."

Radkov shared that the further east a truck is travelling, the more likely it would be to get pulled over by a police officer who "would need money for soup, for coffee, for cigarettes". He added: "They urge you in every way to leave some money to complete this check, which may or may not result in a fine."

Commenting on calls to close the Executive Agency for Automobile Administration, for which the two officers were working, Radkov shared his belief that such a move would be impossible, since the agency's responsibilities include a number of other functions besides controlling heavy goods traffic. A major one is conducting driving tests. If a change was to be made, he believes it would be most reasonable to transfer the agency's functions to the State Agency Road Safety.

JUSTICE

24 Chasa quotes a bTV interview with former justice ministers Ivan Demerdzhiev and Anton Stankov, who warned that the justice system is suffering from a severe crisis. Demerdzhiev sees the problem as a political rather than a judicial one and believes that the steps necessary to fix it include new parliamentary elections and new members of the Supreme Judicial Council. Stankov warned that Bulgarians do not have guaranteed rights as citizens of this country.

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In an interview for the BNR, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria and former justice minister Atanas Slavov that the situation with Borislav Sarafov keeping the post of acting Prosecutor General poses a risk to the rule of law. After the Supreme Court of Cassation refused to initiate proceedings on requests filed bySarafov, thus challenging his legitimacy as prosecutor general, Slavov said: "Borislav Sarafov is a former acting prosecutor general. This is a political-prosecutorial attempt to overthrow the judiciary. It is unacceptable in a state governed by the rule of law for the prosecution to give any instructions to the court. The current situation is indicative of all the problems we have been discussing over the past few years. It is also the result of last year's unfortunate decision by the Constitutional Court, which declared the key changes in the judiciary, supported by expert communities and our European partners, to be invalid and unconstitutional. Had the changes remained in the Constitution, this situation would not have existed. We would have elected new bodies, and the prosecutor general would have reduced powers." The former minister of justice suggested that a possible solution to the situation at hand would be to have the current Justice Minister convene a meeting of the Supreme Judicial Council to put this issue up for discussion.

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24 Chasa writes that a strong European presence marks the Fourth Forum of Prosecutors General of the Balkan States, hosted by Bulgaria for the second time. According to the article, what is different this time is the construction of a kind of bridge between the countries of the Western Balkans.

DEFENCE

An article in Mediapool.bg entitled "Is there a 'hole' in Bulgarian airspace? NATO steps up measures against Russian drones" is dedicated to NATO's efforts to boost its defence. The text reads:

"The threat of Russian drones and fighter jets entering NATO airspace has forced member states to make serious investments in air defence and military aviation and to consider difficult decisions on how to respond. NATO has significantly strengthened its capabilities in the Black Sea region, but the response to foreign drone incursions remains a serious challenge. They are difficult to detect, relatively inexpensive, and countering them is disproportionately expensive.

"The construction of a European wall against drones, which should protect the entire continent, not just the countries on the eastern flank, is under discussion, however, the project is still in its early stages.

"Member states are at different stages of readiness to respond, with Bulgaria lagging seriously behind in modernizing its army and continuing to rely on Soviet equipment and weapons to protect its airspace. The difference with Romania is particularly striking, but our country is already preparing some key projects that will strengthen our capabilities. To this end, the European SAFE mechanism for preferential loans in the field of defence will also be used."

Aviation expert Dimitar Stavrev told Mediapool that the Air Force has a special command, control, and surveillance base, which, at least on paper, has six multifunctional 3D radars, which are supposed to cover Bulgarian airspace above 3,000 meters, however, these radars are very old. The Ministry of Defence has been planning to purchase new 3D radars for years, but it is not yet clear when the deal will be completed. The plan is to purchase them from the French company Thales with a loan from SAFE.