site.btaPress - Review

Sofia, February 8 (BTA) -

HIGHLIGHTS

"Douma": Prime Minister Kiril Petkov responded to Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev's decision to summon him for questioning by a series of counter questions about the way the prosecution service is handling some of the milestone scandals in recent years. "I gladly accept the invitation to questioning," Petkov told an extempore news briefing at the Council of Ministers. While it was in progress, prosecutors phoned a server and told him not to serve the PM with the summons for the questioning "live on TV". The Chief of the Prime Minister's Political Cabinet, Lena Borislavova, said she had been served while she was going down the stairs for the news briefing.

"24 Chassa" devotes its entire page to the Geshev-Petkov stand-off, continuing the story on two full inside pages. The coverage details the 9 questions that the PM will ask the Prosecutor General. A separate item tells about the dispute between Justice Minister Nadezhda Yordanova and the Anti-Corruption and Criminal Assets Forfeiture Commisison over whether the Commission can question Yordanova about alerts against Geshev. Another separate item reports a position issued by Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) Deputy Chairman Jordan Tzonev, who challenged Petkov to prove his allegations against MRF MP Delyan Peevski. Tzonev argued that they had approached all competent State bodies and they had said that they did not have information about any acts perpetrated by Peevski which were referred to in the reasoning for his sanctioning under the US Global Magnitsky Act.

"Monitor" leads on the Hospital Index statistics on COVID hospitalizations and lethality. The story continues on two full inside pages.

"Troud" reports an up to 15 per cent price hike of the most sought after antibiotics and COVID medicines. Manufacturers blame the appreciation on inflation and the more expensive electricity. The largest number of medicinal products with higher prices are over-the-counter ones, mostly those for cold, flu or coronavirus symptoms.

"Telegraph": Some of the largest drug planters in Bulgaria have abandoned Petrich and Sandanski and have started cultivating marijuana in Spain, shipping the produce back to Bulgaria. From there it goes to Turkey where demand by far outstrips supply, investigators said. Sofia's drug market is controlled by 3 large gangs, including one led by a criminal known as The Dumbbell. All three gangs distribute amphetamines, cannabis and cocaine. The amphetamines that have swamped the country are manufactured from entirely imported ingredients by the best chemists mainly in Sofia and Stara Zagora.

GOLDEN PASSPORTS

"24 Chassa" learnt from the Justice Ministry that, acting on its alert, the State Agency for National Security is checking 67 recipients of Bulgarian "golden passports" and that a procedure for deprivation of Bulgarian citizenship for six of them (4 Kazakhs, 1 Chinese and 1 Egyptian) is already in progress. In all likelihood, one of the first laws that the 47th National Assembly will adopt will amend the Bulgarian Citizenship Act to abolish the option of foreigners becoming Bulgarian citizens in exchange for investment. This option was proposed by the first GERB cabinet and became a fact in early 2013. The daily has learnt from one of the competent institutions that 116 people received "golden passports" between 2013 and the end of 2021, including 12 in 2017, 29 in 2018, 26 in 2019, 22 in 2020, and 9 in 2021. InvestBulgaria Agency Executive Director Stamen Yanev explains the passport granting procedure in a sidebar.

GAS SCANDAL

"Douma" reports that the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission is launching a probe into the natural gas transactions concluded by Bulgargaz on the Balkan Gas Hub between February 1 and 7. The regulator will try to find out whether, contrary to the prohibition, insider information was used and the market was manipulated. Also in this connection, Bulgargaz's former CEO Nikolay Pavlov was questioned in a witness capacity for four hours at the Sofia City Prosecution Office. The developments come in the wake of statements by Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov that Bulgargaz execs will be charged in connection with the gas crisis and by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov that "people want real arrests".

"24 Chassa" quotes Pavlov as saying after his questioning: "I left Bulgargaz in a wonderful financial situation." The daily reports that the 37,400 MWh of gas, sold by the public supplier on the exchange at the end of last week at a bargain 150 leva/MWh, were probably purchased by licensed large traders for immediate resale to Austria or Hungary. Bulgargaz explained that, contrary to ex-energy minister Roumen Ovcharov's allegations, the 18 transactions on the Balkan Gas Hub took five hours
rather than 3 seconds.

POLITICS

In a page-long analysis in "Monitor", Ivan Tropankev warns that Prime Minister Kiril Petkov's emancipation from President Rumen Radev and the rifts in the four-party government coalition are signs that the power-holders are "skating on thin ice". "The conclusion invited by the actions of those who are trying to fan up or who ignore the tensions between President and Prime Minister is that we can witness yet another political zugzwang in which neither will have the upper hand," the author writes.

Dr Lyubomir Kanov says in a two-page interview for "Troud" that Prime Minister Kiril Petkov should immediately remove Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov ("who acts arbitrarily, posing as both prosecutor and judge") and Defence Minister Stefan Yanev (who inadmissibly said that NATO soldiers will not be admitted to Bulgarian territory). As regards NATO, Petkov is trying to contain the damage inflicted by Yanev. As regards North Macedonia, Petkov's approach is Western, optimistic, and he is trying to be pragmatic, the psychiatrist says. He does not rule a second cabinet formation attempt under the present parliament, in which the President would probably wish to increase his influence.

* * *

On its back page, "Troud" runs a profile of Agnesa Rusi, North Macedonia's new ambassador to Bulgaria, under the title "Mysterious".  

INFLATION

Confederation of Independent Trade Unions Chief Economist Lyuboslav Kostov says in a page-long interview for "Douma" that inflation has "eaten up the growth of income in the first half of 2021, has eroded households' purchasing power, and has deepened poverty and social exclusion." The expert denies employers' allegation that the largest number of minimum wage earners are publicly employed, citing official figures according to which 42,000 or just 8.5 per cent of the total of such employees are in the public sector, compared to 451,000 or 91.5 per cent in the private sector.   

EMERGENCY MEDICINE

In connection with the health authorities' plans to replace doctors by paramedics in ambulance crews, "Monitor" reports that 134 paramedics are currently employed at Bulgaria's 28 emergency medical services centres, quintuple the 28 in 2020. Over 700 were trained for this occupation in 2020, but very few are practising.

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY

On two full inside pages, "24 Chassa" marks the 90th birth anniversary of Academician Blagovest Sendov (1932-2020), eminent mathematician, politician and diplomat. "Monitor" gives a page-long prominence to the story.

BTA