site.btaMedia Review: June 27

POLITICS

Dnevnik, Mediapool, Trud and other media write that wealthy IT entrepreneur Vasil Terziev will be the candidate of Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) for mayor of Sofia in the regional elections in autumn. Trud daily writes that Terziev is one of the major sponsors of CC-DB’s last election campaign. He is the co-founder and CEO of Telerik company. After it was acquired by the US Progress company in 2014 for the record amount of USD 262.5 million, Terziev took the position of Director of Innovations.

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In an interview for Trud, Rumen Petkov, leader of left-wing political party ABV, accused Defence Minister Todor Tagarev of “being an employee of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence”. He states that he has information that Tagarev has been receiving money from there from 2009 to 2014 and that this goes on at the moment. Petkov thinks that the government will not resign until it has carried out everything it has been told to by foreign forces.

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24 Chasa daily writes that the talks between CC-DB and GERB-UDF could potentially lead to the change of several ministers from the Denkov cabinet. This could be needed for the government to continue its work. A meeting of the party leaders is necessary, but there are no details yet of when exactly it will take place.

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In an interview for the Bulgarian National Television (BNT), Bozhidar Bozhanov of CC-DB said that there is no trust for the creation of a coalition with GERB-UDF, so that’s why they insist on other formulae. According to him, a coalition agreement would be useful only if the two parties were in a typical coalition.

“What we have now is a particular form [of governance]. It is not a coalition although it has the outward signs of one. We have a government elected by some kind of parliamentary majority. There are a few political faces on both sides - Mariya Gabriel [Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister] on the side of GERB-UDF, and Denkov, Vassilev [Finance Minister Assen Vassilev]on the side of CC-DB.” He said that a coalition implies a level of trust that is now absent, and that is why we insist on finding other formulae.

"We are in such a complex political situation that we are looking for all sorts of workarounds, alternative formulas for governing decisions and the seven-point proposal some may say is a coalition, but internally, essentially it is not," he added.

Speaking of a seven-point proposal, Bozhanov was referring to CC-DB’s declaration for responsible governance of Bulgaria which proposes seven safeguards for its implementation.

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Journalist Ruzha Raicheva, political analyst Tsvetanka Andreeva and publicist Radoslav Bimbalov commented on bTV on the political situation and tensions between CC-DB and GERB-UDF. 

"If there are new elections, and as it is - there will be early ones, we should vote so that we can be responsible and satisfied with the result. There is confusion in society. The use of an assembly, the obvious distrust between GERB-CDF and CC-DB cannot give us the feeling of stability," Raicheva commented.

"According to Borissov, a rotating government is one that twists around his finger. He is so used to it, for the last 12 years this is how the government has been going on and while the whole country was twisting around his finger, he was taking advantage of European funds and the Russian oligarchs. This cannot continue," said Bimbalov.

"There will be a solution. I sincerely hope it will be to strengthen this construction. There must be a strong construction. Somehow this coalition remains misunderstood by the public," Andreeva said. In her words, it is blackmail to threaten that the government will fail.

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The explosion at Emilian Gebrev's ordnance plant is another case of the last decade. What is common is that the public never knows who is behind them, said for BNT Boyko Noev, former defence minister and diplomat.

“There are two interests driving these events in the defence industry and in energy. On the one hand, these are the interests of organised crime and the mafia, or the backstage, as we call it in Bulgaria, and on the other hand, these are the interests of those who are carrying out the aggression against Ukraine. In the arms sector, these two interests have been traced very clearly since, I would say, 2009-2010," Noev noted.

He pointed out that these two interests have not come into conflict, but as a rule run parallel.

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Defence Minister Tagarev said on NovaTV that the list of military aid that Bulgaria sends to Ukraine is confidential, but includes shells, ammunition, and some systems. "We are talking about old things, which will soon expire anyway, and at the moment they are very necessary for the Ukrainian army. They are fit, some of them will pass certain checks to verify that they are fit. There are also various mechanisms, both through the EU and other allies, to be compensated financially for sending this aid," Tagarev added.

According to him, the approved military-technical assistance package is larger in volume in comparison with the previous one. "If we are talking about its value - calculations are a bit difficult, and it has to be re-evaluated - we are talking about things bought at other prices and other economic situation," the minister said.

"There is no danger that we will be left without the ammunition we need. Everything we send is the result of an analysis by the military leadership, and the main consideration in that analysis is that the shipment matches Ukraine's stated needs, and our capabilities. The shipment does not violate our stockpile norms for certain items, and we have the ability to provide combat training for the Bulgarian army," Tagarev added.

ECONOMICS

Trud daily has an overview on the expected price increase of civil liability car insurance. Union for Private Economic Enterprise warns that if the Parliament adopts the amendments to the Insurance Code, proposed by the Ministry of Finance, this will result in a steep price increase for over three million Bulgarian citizens. The main issue is the financial coverage of incidents with Bulgarian cars abroad, which are often used as scam.

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Telegraph daily informs that the highest consumer prices in Bulgaria are in Sofia and Pernik. The lowest prices are in Dobrich. According to Eurostat data, prices in Bulgaria have reached 55% of EU ones. Italy (98%) and Spain (101%) are on the average level, while Bulgaria and Romania (52%) have the lowest prices in the EU. 

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24 Chasa daily publishes an overview of the various transport methods for Bulgarians to reach the Black Sea coast in the summer. The cheapest one for a family trip is by car, being even cheaper than by train. Short-distance trains rides are cheap and romantic, but it takes 9 hours to reach Varna from Sofia by train, which in the summer heat is a real challenge, the daily writes. 

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Dnevnik publishes an article on inflation in Bulgaria, calling it “a silent killer”. Inflation has already entered the single-digit dimensions, if you look at the harmonised index, and has fallen by about 2 points in each of the last months, says Petar Ganev of the Institute for Market Economics. According to this index for May, it was 8.6% compared to the same month of the 2022. "Increasingly we are looking at the harmonised index partly because of the debate that is coming about the eurozone," he explains. The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices is a comparable measure of inflation for EU countries. It shows a different value than the one used by the National Statistical Institute because the weights of the goods and services included in it are different. The expectation is that inflation will continue to fall, whether monthly sustained deflation will be as in May is debatable, the economist said.

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BNT informed that the number of cargo ships in Bulgarian Danube ports is decreasing. The main reason for this is the war in Ukraine and the ban on imports of Ukrainian grain, while the ports in Bulgaria are reporting losses. The River Surveillance Directorate reported a drop of nearly 9% in the number of ships visiting the eastern Danube ports in the first six months compared to the same period last year.

"From 3,300 that visited last year to 2,800 so far. The conditions under which these ships have sailed from a navigational point of view are favourable," said Ivan Zhekov, Director of the River Surveillance Directorate at the Maritime Administration Executive Agency.

At the ports of Ruse, Silistra and Svishtov the cargoes are mostly coal.

"70% of the cargo turnover of these three ports is due to coal. This shows how much the main cargo handled in the ports has decreased," Zhekov said.

The good news is that unlike cargo ships, cruise ships visiting the Danube ports have increased by 10%.

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NovaTV informs that the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency has begun inspections in connection with the summer tourist season on the Black Sea coast. "The main focus of the inspections is compliance with the hygiene conditions in the supply of food, expiry dates, storage conditions," said Dr. Daniela Kopekova from BFSA-Burgas. 

The inspections will continue until September 15. In case of more gross violations, acts will be issued, starting from BGN 2 to BGN 4,000.

SOCIETY

Duma daily writes that 20% of teens aged 15-16 have at least once taken drugs. The information is from psychologist Rositsa Stanulova, interviewed by BTA. There are even reported cases of children aged 10-11 who have done this for the first time in their lives. One of the risk factors among the pupils of the 8th grade is the fact that they are put in a new environment and they have a natural need to be accepted by their peers, who in their eyes become the main authority.

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bTV informs that the hospital in Lovech closed two wards, one of them is the maternity one. The reason is an acute staff shortage, the hospital director appealed to doctors from the country. For childbirth, physiotherapy and eye problems, patients will have to go to medical facilities in other cities. The director of the hospital appealed to all obstetricians who were able and willing to contact the hospital for possible employment.