site.btaPress - Review
ESD 02:08:31 09-02-2022
DS0205ES.101
101 PRESS REVIEW
Press
-
Review
Sofia, February 9 (BTA) -
HIGHLIGHTS
The topic of COVID-19 dominates the front pages of Wednesday's print dailies. Following is an overview of their front-page stories.
Trud: During the COVID-19 pandemic, abuse, violence, eating disorders, panic attacks, and fear have become an everyday occurrence for children in Bulgaria. They have become more closed-off, lonelier, more tense, more anxious, more aggressive, and have lost social and school skills, said National Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva during an online discussion on mental health and child aggression in and outside of school. She proposes, among other solutions, that a psychologist be available in every school.
Monitor: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected child support by reducing the collectability of the sums set by court rulings, the daily learned from the head of the Chamber of Private Enforcement Agents, Ivan Hadzhiivanov. "Legal cases on child support are a plus, but many people become jobless or go to work abroad, and we cannot collect the money that the court has ruled should be paid as child support. People sometimes pay and sometimes do not. When they have no incomes, there is nothing to be collected," he explained. Last year, collectability went up nearly two-fold, with private enforcement agents collecting 1 billion leva, compared to 655 million leva in 2020. This higher collectability is the result of agents not collecting debts in the course of four months in 2020, deciding themselves to do so in light of the COVID-19 situation that spring.
Telegraf: Bulgarians are treating themselves against COVID-19 with a veterinary medicinal product in the form of an injection solution for cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. The active ingredient in it is Ivermectin, which many believe to be a miracle-making product, despite the European Medicines Agency having firmly stated that it does not recommend its use for COVID-19 patients. Experts say that Ivermectin can be extremely dangerous, as it is toxic and one can easily overdose, yet people are using it based on recommendations on social networks.
24 Chasa: Defence Minister Stefan Yanev is preparing a quick deal for armoured fighting vehicles to be used by the future Bulgarian battalion combat group. The deal is planned as an in-house procedure worth 1.5 billion leva for the State-owned TEREM Holding, it transpires from replies by the Defence Ministry to the daily's questions. The Ministry also told 24 Chasa that there are statutory obstacles to the projects for the purchase of combat equipment, which is why changes are being drafted to the rules for the purchase of armament. At present, each deal exceeding 50 million leva needs the Government's approval and each deal worth over 100 million leva needs Parliament's approval.
Commenting on the topic, Capital.bg writes that even if the deal for the armoured vehicles gets magically signed within the next weeks, the first vehicles will arrive no earlier than 2 to 3 years, for which Bulgaria cannot wait in view of the current escalation of tension in Ukraine. "Today, the region is facing the biggest crisis after the Cold War, and what is happening in Ukraine directly threatens our security," Defence Minister Yanev said on Tuesday. This is a speedy evolution of his position on the topic that he presented several weeks ago: that there is no direct threat to Bulgaria's security, Capital recalls.
Duma: Shortly after the Constitutional Court on Tuesday held anonymously that the Justice Minister is competent to propose to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) the early dismissal of the Prosecutor General, Justice Minister Nadezhda Yordanova said she will table such a proposal at the SJC as soon as possible. The reasoning behind this proposal will be slightly different from that of her predecessor, caretaker justice minister Yanaki Stoilov, with the main hypothesis going to be that Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev has damaged the Judiciary's image. There is nothing political behind this proposal, Yordanova noted. Once he learned of the Constitutional Court's decision, Geshev expressed the hope that this is not part of a personal political vendetta against him.
POLITICS
24 Chasa has an interview with Derek Chollet, Counselor of the US Department of State, who takes questions about the main topics discussed with the Bulgarian authorities during his visit here Tuesday, US-Bulgaria relations, the situation at the Ukrainian-Russian border, the sanctions against Bulgarians under the Global Magnitsky Act, and the US Visa Waiver Programme. He says the US wants to strengthen the bilateral economic ties, to continue working with Bulgaria on the modernization of its Armed Forces and the strengthening of the bilateral security partnership, and to further broaden the academic and professional exchange programmes.
***
Monitor has an interview with political expert Dimitar Ganev, who talks about the relations between Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and President Rumen Radev, arguing that there is an institutional conflict between them, as observed before in democratic Bulgaria's history. Radev is distancing himself from the Cabinet in light of the negative attitudes towards the Executive that have began being observed. Conflicts within the ruling coalition can be expected as the negative attitudes continue to pile up, but that does not mean early general elections will be held for sure. The relations between the ruling majority and the opposition have been severed, Ganev argues, which is why he expects the judicial reform to fail.
***
Segabg.com presents the findings of an Eurobarometer showing that 49 per cent of Bulgarians see Bulgaria's EU membership as something good, as opposed to 13 per cent. The survey was commissioned by the European Parliament and was conducted at the end of 2021. Compared to its previous edition a year earlier, Bulgarians' support for the EU dropped by 7 per cent and their negative attitudes increased by 4 per cent.
ECONOMY
24 Chasa has 13 pages of articles under the headline "Trend Europe: It Is Time for Connected Balkans". The articles look into infrastructure projects planned to better connect the Balkan countries and the Interreg cross-border cooperation programmes in the 2021-2027 programming period. There is also an article by Regional Development and Public Works Minister Grozdan Karadjov, in which he presents his priorities in infrastructure.
***
Trud quotes data of the National Statistical Institute showing that nearly 160,000 people registered in labour offices in the last seven months. Since July 2021, each week the registered unemployed are more than those newly employed. Since the start of 2022, newly registered jobless people number over 30,000, while the newly employed total 14,500.
/DS/
/ДЛ/
DS0205ES.101
101 PRESS REVIEW
Press
-
Review
Sofia, February 9 (BTA) -
HIGHLIGHTS
The topic of COVID-19 dominates the front pages of Wednesday's print dailies. Following is an overview of their front-page stories.
Trud: During the COVID-19 pandemic, abuse, violence, eating disorders, panic attacks, and fear have become an everyday occurrence for children in Bulgaria. They have become more closed-off, lonelier, more tense, more anxious, more aggressive, and have lost social and school skills, said National Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva during an online discussion on mental health and child aggression in and outside of school. She proposes, among other solutions, that a psychologist be available in every school.
Monitor: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected child support by reducing the collectability of the sums set by court rulings, the daily learned from the head of the Chamber of Private Enforcement Agents, Ivan Hadzhiivanov. "Legal cases on child support are a plus, but many people become jobless or go to work abroad, and we cannot collect the money that the court has ruled should be paid as child support. People sometimes pay and sometimes do not. When they have no incomes, there is nothing to be collected," he explained. Last year, collectability went up nearly two-fold, with private enforcement agents collecting 1 billion leva, compared to 655 million leva in 2020. This higher collectability is the result of agents not collecting debts in the course of four months in 2020, deciding themselves to do so in light of the COVID-19 situation that spring.
Telegraf: Bulgarians are treating themselves against COVID-19 with a veterinary medicinal product in the form of an injection solution for cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. The active ingredient in it is Ivermectin, which many believe to be a miracle-making product, despite the European Medicines Agency having firmly stated that it does not recommend its use for COVID-19 patients. Experts say that Ivermectin can be extremely dangerous, as it is toxic and one can easily overdose, yet people are using it based on recommendations on social networks.
24 Chasa: Defence Minister Stefan Yanev is preparing a quick deal for armoured fighting vehicles to be used by the future Bulgarian battalion combat group. The deal is planned as an in-house procedure worth 1.5 billion leva for the State-owned TEREM Holding, it transpires from replies by the Defence Ministry to the daily's questions. The Ministry also told 24 Chasa that there are statutory obstacles to the projects for the purchase of combat equipment, which is why changes are being drafted to the rules for the purchase of armament. At present, each deal exceeding 50 million leva needs the Government's approval and each deal worth over 100 million leva needs Parliament's approval.
Commenting on the topic, Capital.bg writes that even if the deal for the armoured vehicles gets magically signed within the next weeks, the first vehicles will arrive no earlier than 2 to 3 years, for which Bulgaria cannot wait in view of the current escalation of tension in Ukraine. "Today, the region is facing the biggest crisis after the Cold War, and what is happening in Ukraine directly threatens our security," Defence Minister Yanev said on Tuesday. This is a speedy evolution of his position on the topic that he presented several weeks ago: that there is no direct threat to Bulgaria's security, Capital recalls.
Duma: Shortly after the Constitutional Court on Tuesday held anonymously that the Justice Minister is competent to propose to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) the early dismissal of the Prosecutor General, Justice Minister Nadezhda Yordanova said she will table such a proposal at the SJC as soon as possible. The reasoning behind this proposal will be slightly different from that of her predecessor, caretaker justice minister Yanaki Stoilov, with the main hypothesis going to be that Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev has damaged the Judiciary's image. There is nothing political behind this proposal, Yordanova noted. Once he learned of the Constitutional Court's decision, Geshev expressed the hope that this is not part of a personal political vendetta against him.
POLITICS
24 Chasa has an interview with Derek Chollet, Counselor of the US Department of State, who takes questions about the main topics discussed with the Bulgarian authorities during his visit here Tuesday, US-Bulgaria relations, the situation at the Ukrainian-Russian border, the sanctions against Bulgarians under the Global Magnitsky Act, and the US Visa Waiver Programme. He says the US wants to strengthen the bilateral economic ties, to continue working with Bulgaria on the modernization of its Armed Forces and the strengthening of the bilateral security partnership, and to further broaden the academic and professional exchange programmes.
***
Monitor has an interview with political expert Dimitar Ganev, who talks about the relations between Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and President Rumen Radev, arguing that there is an institutional conflict between them, as observed before in democratic Bulgaria's history. Radev is distancing himself from the Cabinet in light of the negative attitudes towards the Executive that have began being observed. Conflicts within the ruling coalition can be expected as the negative attitudes continue to pile up, but that does not mean early general elections will be held for sure. The relations between the ruling majority and the opposition have been severed, Ganev argues, which is why he expects the judicial reform to fail.
***
Segabg.com presents the findings of an Eurobarometer showing that 49 per cent of Bulgarians see Bulgaria's EU membership as something good, as opposed to 13 per cent. The survey was commissioned by the European Parliament and was conducted at the end of 2021. Compared to its previous edition a year earlier, Bulgarians' support for the EU dropped by 7 per cent and their negative attitudes increased by 4 per cent.
ECONOMY
24 Chasa has 13 pages of articles under the headline "Trend Europe: It Is Time for Connected Balkans". The articles look into infrastructure projects planned to better connect the Balkan countries and the Interreg cross-border cooperation programmes in the 2021-2027 programming period. There is also an article by Regional Development and Public Works Minister Grozdan Karadjov, in which he presents his priorities in infrastructure.
***
Trud quotes data of the National Statistical Institute showing that nearly 160,000 people registered in labour offices in the last seven months. Since July 2021, each week the registered unemployed are more than those newly employed. Since the start of 2022, newly registered jobless people number over 30,000, while the newly employed total 14,500.
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/ДЛ/
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