site.btaMedia Review: May 26

The main topic covered by the print and digital media on Friday were the prospects for government formation, namely the possibilities for the second mandate holder - Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) coalition and their recent proposition, together with GERB-UDF designate for prime minister Mariya Gabriel, for a cabinet with a rotating prime minister. 

POLITICS

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) co-chair Atanas Atanassov said on the morning show of Nova TV that there is fierce resistance to the establishment of a regular government. "The other political forces regret very much that they did not agree past the first exploratory mandate," he said.

Atanassov stressed that the scandal surrounding the recordings allegedly made of politicians from the CC-DB does not surprise him. "I haven't heard those 4 minutes and I don't want to,” he noted. In his opinion, Radostin Vassilev is a man whose ambitions are probably not satisfied. He is a tool of those who resist the formation of a cabinet.

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GERB leader Boyko Borissov’s lawyer Menko Menkov said on the morning programme of bTV that the possibility Borissov to be charged for Barcelonagate is zero. He claimed that Borissov was summoned for questioning for someone else’s PR purposes, “because nothing can happen in Bulgaria without him [Borissov]”. 

If the prosecution office starts questioning everyone who wanted Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev to resign, it will take a long time. Borissov is the figure without whom nothing can happen, he has done the most for Bulgarians and the country, Menkov said. He noted that Borissov had been asked the same questions now as he had been years ago. Menkov reiterated that Borissov had no involvement in money laundering. The questions Borissov by the state prosecution were in connection with a report by Geshev that someone had pressured him to resign. Regarding the so-called Barcelonagate, the lawyer pointed out that the Spanish authorities had made a decision and there was a decree of the Spanish prosecution office to close the investigation. 

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Political Analyst Atanas Radev has told Trud in an interview that President Rumen Radev is deliberately delaying the exploratory mandate, waiting for someone to blow up the dialogue for a cabinet. Speaking of the draft cabinet of CC-DB, the political analyst said that there is no way GERB-UDF supports such a government only because of the participation of Mariya Gabriel as deputy prime minister and foreign minister. Atanas Radev’s main points are that Borissov aims to preserve himself rather than his party GERB, and that because of Mariya Gabriel Europe will look at Bulgaria with different eyes.

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Sociologist Boryana Dimitrova and political scientists Svetoslav Malinov commented on the morning programme of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) the complex rotational political processes and the prospects for a regular cabinet, as well as a scandal with recordings of CC-DB MPs. According to them, there is a dangerous attempt to fail government formation. Dimitrova said that the most recent developments on the political scene in Bulgaria resemble a production of a top-notch director of political theatre. "There is no greater proof of the need for a regular government and of its usefulness than this attempt to derail it at the last moment by undemocratic, non-political means", Malinov said.

ECONOMICS

Economist Georgi Angelov told the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) that Bulgaria cannot enter the second half of 2023 without a budget. Until a budget is passed, last year's budget law will have to be extended because there is no longer technical time to pass the budget by June 10. The realistic period is until July 1, the economist explained. He said that there will be no problem for pensions, since they are paid on June 7, but after that no expenses can be made if there is no decision made in Parliament. 

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Institute for Analysis and Assessment in Tourism Director Rumen Draganov said on the morning show of Bulgaria on Air that an over 40% increase of foreign tourists is expected in the summer of 2023. According to him, most tourists in Bulgaria are expected to come traditionally from Israel, the United Kingdom, and from the Middle East. "We are not worried about the summer season. For the first three months of the year, we ranked 27th as a destination in the world, we had such growth at the end of last year," Draganov said. According to him, Sofia, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, Varna and Burgas are already reporting more tourists than in 2022. Draganov cited a British study, according to which Bulgaria ranks first as the most profitable place to travel, together with the Greek resort of Marmaris. The same study pointed out that the price increase in the tourism industry in Bulgaria is 7.9%, while in Greece the prices are double compared to those in Bulgaria. According to the Institute for Tourism Analysis, 630,000 trips of Bulgarians to Greece are expected in 2023, while trips within Bulgaria are expected to be six million. 

CULTURE 

The top story in the weekly issue of Capital is novelist Georgi Gospodinov’s international literary achievement. On May 24, the Day of Bulgarian Alphabet and Culture, Gospodinov’s “Time Shelter” became the first novel originally published in Bulgarian to win the International Booker Prize. Gospodinov shares the prize with the novel's translator, Angela Rodel. Capital writes that the prize is evidence that “the miracle of language” is possible. According to the authors, the recognition Gospodinov’s work received resembles a “blow to populism”. Since its publication in the spring of 2020, the plot of Time Shelter has repeatedly generated parallels with current sociopolitical events, the daily writes. The story of the "first clinic of the past," which initially helped Alzheimer's patients and then was used as a nostalgia machine and a weapon of nationalism, is often seen as a direct commentary on the short civic memory and events of the last decade, with a dose of magical realism. With its euphoria and surreal sense of global recognition, the novel also seemed to make people feel what it was like to be in a "clinic of the future", Capital notes.