site.btaMedia Review: August 15

HIGHLIGHTS

Duma has a front-page story about what it calls "a collapse in the state railways". The story quotes Transport Minister Georgi Gvozdeikov as saying that reforms in the sector are 70 years overdue. The story is based on the Minister's remarks about the dire straits in the railway sector. He is also quoted as saying that all projects for improving the railway infrastructure are due to be completed by the end of 2026. The improved infrastructure will allow trains to go at 160 kmph, meaning that a ride between Sofia and Plovdiv will take no more than an hour and between Sofia and Burgas some 3.5 hours. The Minister blamed the situation in the sector on inadequate management, using that to justify the shakeup in the company management. 

The reshuffle at the BDZ state-owned railway operator was among the topics in the morning show of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on Tuesday. 

24 Chasa reports on its front page that the National Service for Protection (NSP) has assigned security detail to three co-leaders in the Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria coalition: Kiril Petkov, Hristo Ivanov and Atanas Atanassov, after threats against them. NSP, however, would not say who threatens them. 

Another front-page story in this paper says that the dwindling population has forced cuts in the size of municipal councils across the country.

Telegraph leads with a story about the shortage of forensic medics. There are only 73 of them across the country, according to Health Ministry statistics. Only 32 hospitals in Bulgaria have pathoanatomy wards. The number of pathoanatomy experts is far from enough to do all the post mortems and help in the training of future specialists. The government is providing financing for the training of 71 specialists in pathoanatomy.  

The standards in forensic medicine was among the topics of the Tuesday morning show on BNT.

Trud leads with a story about widespread stomach flu during the summer months. It says that bacterial infections have doubled from this time last year but it is not clear in the story the exact period for which this statistics applies. The figures are taken from the register of the National Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases.

ECONOMY

The Tuesday news media cover extensively a news briefing of Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev after a meeting of the advisory board on the pork industry on Monday, where government officials, industry representatives and researchers looked into the upward price trend and the future of the sector. Telegraph quotes the Minister as saying that pork prices are expected to come down in the autumn. Trud highlights his remark that the biggest concern remains the closure of animal farms as they become unviable. This happens in other sectors in agriculture – not just pig breeding, and farmers leave the country to work abroad. Vatev said that the government should make utmost efforts to make agriculture and food production a priority and end the exodus of farmers.

24 Chasa reports that the anti-trust watchdog is expanding a probe into possible cartel pricing of cheese and chicken. It also says that the National Revenue Agency and the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency are looking into the pricing of all agricultural goods – but not pork and chicken.

Telegraph reports that the minimum wage will go up by 20% next year, reaching BGN 930. The minimum wage was calculated by experts after the National Statistical Institute announced what the average gross pay was in the second quarter. One of the latest amendments of the Labour Code in February 2023 changed the way the minimum wage is set. Before that, it was determined administratively but in February the legislators made it a function of the average pay. It will be set annually by September 1 and will be 50% of the average wage for 12 months back. According to the trade unions, over 456,000 Bulgarians work for a minimum wage.

All papers have this story.

Dnevnik.bg reports that the reinstatement of the CEO of the state-owned company Port Infrastructure, Angel Zaburtov, survived only a few hours on Monday. The story quotes unnamed sources as saying that Transport Minister Georgi Gvozdeikov signed the order for Zaburtov's reinstatement Monday morning, but just a few hours later it was cancelled. The reason for these actions remains unknown, and the top office at Port Infrastructure remains vacant for now.

Mediapool.bg reports the reshuffle at Port Infrastructure as well.

Duma has a full-page story about the owner of a goat, sheep and horse farm breeding indigenous breeds who is being forced to move out after the local authorities decided that the animals are "too dirty and smelly". It took Sider Sedefchev and his brother Atila 23 years to expand their herd to its present size. The two brothers and Sider's wife are three of the six residents in the southern village of Vlahi, where they have their farm. The other three are the ones who started the campaign against the animals, leading to their expulsion from the village. Among them is the mayoral lieutenant. By the decision of the local authorities, the Sedefechev brothers have until September 10 to move the farm. "The Agriculture Minister took the Sedefchevs' side in an angry Facebook post but what happens in reality is that the entire state machine is working against the animals, sending inspection after inspection at the farm. There was one even on the day of the interview," the story says. Duma reproduces the story from Bgnes.

CULTURE

Trud reports that Indian culture and performers will be touring Bulgaria from August 15 to 24. There will be shows in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas and Veliko Tarnovo. Some of India's best known traditional dancers are expected in Bulgaria for the programme.

The morning pogramme on bTV had a report about the upcoming festival of traditional dress in the south-central mountain town of Zheravna. It is a major event that lasts several days and where participants are required to wear traditional clothes: jeans and tees, even those with traditional embroidery, are off-limits. Also, they are required to leave behind all trappings of modern civilization such as cell phones and cameras.

JUSTICE

On Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), constitutional law professor Natalia Kisselova comments the problem of violence in the Bulgarian society, whose most shocking manifestations, to use her words, are road rage and traffic violations, and domestic violence. She said that a high-profile recent case of domestic violence in Stara Zagora and a murder in the southern village of Tsalapitsa "show the lack of empathy and irresponsibility of people whose job it is to deal with such cases". She also speaks of two "very negative phenomena in Bulgarian society": justice under street pressure and law-making under street pressure, and argues that punishments should be scaled so that not all offences get the most severe punishment.

Also on BNR, Judge Galya Valkova of Sofia City Court comments what she sees as failures in recent amendments in the legislation concerning domestic violence. She says that commonsense in justice is being replaced by over-regulation. "I am not sure this will be working in practice. The proposed changes in the Criminal Code [for domestic violence] will make the punishments more severe but I doubt that they will have a deterring effect and how beneficial they will for the victims," she said.

In its morning show, bTV told the story of a young woman who was splashed with acid two years ago and the perpetrator was sent to prison for eight years but she says that the person who commissioned the attack is still at large and continues to threaten her. The woman fears for her life and bTV did not show her face.

In a BNR interview, Canada-based cybersecurity and activist Krassimir Gadjokov says that the approach to punishments for traffic offences is "too flexible". "There are too many ways and practices to avoid punishments: through having cases drag on for too long, demanding expert assessments 15 times or other such techniques. When the established procedures involve people, there will always be corruption. The question is how to minimize it. In Canada, I have never heard of anyone thinking of offering a bribe to a police officer. It is a different culture [in Canada] and we have to try to create the same culture in Bulgaria." He believes that at the moment the Bulgarian society does not want to be firm against offenders.

24 Chassa carries a two-page interview with former MP and diplomat, and an outstanding public figure Edvin Sougarev, where he comments contemplated changes in the Bulgarian Constitution, among other questions. The headline quotes him as saying that "the flaws in the current Constitution were visible even when it was adopted: the relations in the judiciary remind of those in a mafia clan". Sougarev believes that the government cannot be topped by "the pro-Kremlin opposition including Vazrazhdane, the Socialist party and President Rumen Radev" but it can come down if those who put it together start to fight – but that would be utterly irresponsible in the present circumstances. Sugarev speaks at length about relations with Serbia: he is a former Bularian Consul in Nis and his book about Bulgarians in what Bulgaria calls "the Western Outlands" in Eastern Serbia was recently seized by the Serbian authorities at the border with Bulgaria. He says that the special services in Serbia treat Bulgaria as their No1 enemy and make efforts to debulgarize the border municipalities, more specifically Bosilegrad and Dimitrovgrad.

SOCIETY

On Nova TV, Health Minister Hristo Hinkov took questions about the shortage of some medicines and unlawful medicine re-export, the shocking disparities in medics' pay and how the government intends to address these problems. He explained that medics' incomes can be regulated in medical establishments managed by his Ministry. He doubts that "any finance minister will have the courage to propose an increase of health insurance contributions". He also argues that the doctors' profession is not a market and cannot be fully regulated.

Trud has a full-page story about some lifestyle patterns among young people in Bulgaria. The headline says that young Bulgarians are poor but don’t work: Bulgaria is the country with the lowest share of working youths. Some other highlights: Bulgarian youths rarely exercise (61.6% of those aged 18 to 29 spend no time at all for physical activity outside their work, according to Eurostat) and smoke quite a lot (over 20% smoke daily) but still feel well. They move out of their parent's home at the age of 30. Women do that earlier but men tend to stay with mom and dad until they are 32.

Telegraph has an interview with Krassimir Pargov, a former inspector in the Automobile Administration Agency and a member of the Association of auto-technical experts on road safety, who says (in the headline) that the government is unable to crack down on corruption in driving tests. He also says that up to 5% of the vehicles should be ordered to go through a second technical inspection to verify the quality of the first one, but this is not done; that the authorities frequently stop overloaded trucks and then allow them to drive on; that the training of young drivers in the driving schools is inadequate.

Duma writes that lawcourts now can order the authorities to seize the vehicles of drivers caught driving under the influence but it turns out that they have no parking lots for confiscated vehicles.

Duma has a story based on National Statistical Institute figures showing that 63.5% of persons on high and mid-level managerial positions in Bulgaria are men. That share is even higher when it comes to the top positions in the country. The largest number of women on managerial positions is in the judiciary. Women are best represented on the deputy-manager level (41.1%).

24 Chasa also has this story ("Men Run State-owned Companies and Parliament, Women Rule in Judiciary"). It points out that only four out of 19 Bulgarian government ministers are women.

THE WORLD

Duma has on its front page a photo of pensioners protesting in Skopje against the low wages.

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A commentary in Trud says that last week David Weiss, the US prosecutor overseeing the investigation into Hunter Biden, was appointed special counsel, giving him expanded powers to continue a probe against the President's son for tax offences and illegal gun possession – but the news was "concealed" by the media in the West and in Bulgaria and sat very low in the list of news items. The author argues that the Bidens are getting a preferential treatment by the press: "Had it been about the Trumps, the media outlets would have been shouting about it for weeks."

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Trud also carries an abridged version of a story in Deutsche Welle about the benefits for all of Sweden joining NATO. The subheading says that the future membership will enhance military control in the Baltic Sea, among other things. Also, Sweden has a well-trained armed force and state-of-the-art submarines.

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24 Chasa and Dnevnik.bg report that Russia is suspending the supply of spares and is revoking the repair licences for "unfriendly countries" which are supplying arms to Ukraine. That was announced by the Interfax news agency which quoted Dmitry Shugayev, the Director of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation. More specifically, Moscow is revoking the licences for repair of Russian/Soviet military equipment, including the licences of a number of companies in Bulgaria and Czechia for repair of Mi helicopters.

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Dnevnik.bg reproduces a New York Times story about Serhiy Pashinski, a former MP who had overseen military spending for years and who was brought back to politics by the administration of President Zelenskyy. The story says that “a former member of the power holders in Ukraine who fell out of favour, worked with contacts in the most important supplierof Soviet-caliber munition, Bulgaria, to procure ammo, formally via Poland”. His networks in this and other countries highlight the difficulties Kyiv faces in procuring weapons in the early days of the Russian invasion. Pashinski’s contacts in Bulgaria are only a piece of the puzzle in Kyiv’s efforts to secure arms quickly at the cost of rolling back rules against shady practices from the past, the story says.

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The New York Times is also quoted in a Duma story saying in the headline that the losses of the Ukrainian armed forces since the start of the Russian invasion now total "150,00 killed and injured". On the backdrop of these losses come reports of corruption among officials in charge of conscription. It has been established that conscription chiefs charged between USD 2,000 and 10,000 per head to allow "unfit" men to avoid being enlisted in the army and leave the country. The Duma story is apparently based on the New York Times story headlined "Ukraine Fires Top Military Enlistment Officers After Bribery Scandal". Duma has chosen to leave out the New York Times parallel between the magnitude of the draft evasion problem in Ukraine and Russia, and between the losses of personnel for Ukraine and Russia.