site.btaMedia Review: September 13

A proposed reform of the security services which would result in a single intelligence service is one of the main topics in Wednesday's media, along with a possible lifting of the ban on Ukrainian grain imports from mid-September.

PLANS FOR REFORM OF THE SPECIAL SERVICES

Mediapool.bg discusses at length an idea that a single intelligence service should be set up by merging the civilian and defence intelligence services - the way the National Security Service and the military counterintelligence merged to form the State Agency for National Security (SANS) 15 years ago. Proposed by Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), the reform has received support in principle from GERB and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). The webzine quotes CC-DB co-floor leader Atanas Atanasov as saying on Nova TV Tuesday that the proposal was approved by the leaders and a bill of amendments was drawn up. The draft legislation is not public yet. Two weeks ago, CC co-leader Kiril Petkov asked GERB leader Boyko Borissov if he was on the side of the President or if he would back the revisions. Mediapool.bg has learned that GERB has reservations about the merger of civilian and defence intelligence. The proposed reform would also involve having the special services' heads appointed by Parliament instead of by the President as now. Delyan Peevski MP of the MRF said on Tuesday the proposal was not meant to disempower the President but was in line with revisions of the Constitution, which have already been introduced in Parliament and concern the President's powers and caretaker governments.

On September 8, Parliament refused to adopt the annual reports of SANS and the State Intelligence Agency (SIA) on the votes of CC-DB, GERB-UDF and the MRF. CC-DB has had reservations about the leadership of those agencies for months. President Rumen Radev, however, has made it clear that he is not ready to change their heads, who were appointed by him and Stefan Yanev's caretaker government in 2021.

Talking on bTV, Daniel Lorer MP of CC-DB said that since the services must protect security, and security falls within the cabinet's remit, they must work for the elected government. These services, led by the SANS and the SIA, are intelligence services, which are supposed to gather information, not make political assessments. Parliament's refusal to adopt the reports of the two services is a sign that it does not accept the quality of their work and their politicization, Lorer said, adding that at the latest hearing in Parliament the SANS chairman took the liberty of giving political assessments. Commenting on the President's powers, Lorer said they broadened in the last two years due to the political vacuum and should return to the representative and unifying functions enshrined in the Constitution.

Politician and sociologist Alexander Marinov commented on bTV that everybody is appalled at the proposed changes in the security services. There are few countries with a single intelligence service, and it is very specific in those few.

UKRAINIAN GRAIN IMPORT

24 Chasa reports that the Parliamentary Economic Committee Tuesday decided the temporary ban on Ukrainian grain import should be lifted from September 15 when this EU-approved restriction for Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia expires. The proposal met with opposition even from MPs of the groups which made it - CC-DB, GERB and the MRF. Daniel Lorer said the opinions of both grain producers and processing companies should be taken into account, and the Commission on Protection of Competition should be asked if Ukrainian import had caused price dumping. For his part, Socialist MP Petar Kanev said the decision should be made by the Council of Ministers and called on the Foreign Ministry to give details on the position of the other four countries.

The issue was discussed on Nova TV by economist Vladimir Sirkarov and Ilia Prodanov of the National Grain Producers Association. Sirkarov said the Agriculture Ministry is the main player behind the political drive to lift the ban on grain imports. This is how politicians show they support Ukraine; the case, however, is quite complicated. Prodanov commented it is a pity that the issue has become the subject of a political discussion.

On bTV, Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev said the lifting of the ban had not been discussed with him and the proposal is yet to be debated in plenary. This year is bad enough - both with or without the ban - due to drought, floods and the collapse of the grain market; besides, nothing has been the same since the war against Ukraine began. Solidarity with Ukraine is a fact and solidarity corridors run through Bulgaria, Vatev said, yet "we have our own producers whom we must protect". He said he had not seen an analysis of how lifting this ban would affect local farmers. In his view, they stand no chance to be competitive with Ukrainian goods.

Segabg.com reported that at the start of Parliament's work on Wednesday, BSP leader Korneliya Ninova was indignant that MPs from the ruling majority and the government do not talk to each other and hold diametrically opposed views. She urged the Agriculture minister to resign in protest. Ninova asked that Kiril Vatev appear in Parliament to comment on the rift and give his views on Ukrainian grain imports.

The Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) reported that farmers have set September 15 as the deadline for discussions of their demands with the ministers of agriculture and finance and with the Prime Minister. Ilia Prodanov said farmers were shocked to find that the text approved by the Parliamentary Economic Committee was not based on an analysis, and that it was considered by that committee in the first place.

BULGARIA-EU

On an inside page, 24 Chasa reports that the European Parliament Tuesday approved with a compelling majority Iliana Ivanova's appointment as the next European Commissioner from Bulgaria. She talked about a EUR 100 billion deficit in the financing of innovations in Europe. Ivanova said in Strasbourg that as Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, she would visit Bulgaria late in September because this country is trailing the EU's Innovation Scoreboard as one of the Emerging Innovators, the bottom rung after the Leaders, Strong Innovators and Moderate Innovators.

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Talking to BNR, Stoyan Panchev of the Expert Club for Economics and Politics said that in 2024, the government would find it even more difficult to maintain a 3% budget deficit as required for entry in the euro area. Bulgaria is very likely to meet the 3% target this year due to non-implementation of the capital expenditures programme, but things will be much more difficult next year, partly due to the increase in public sector wages and in pensions.

JUSTICE

Interviewed by 24 Chasa, Prosecutor Desislava Petrova from the Sofia City Prosecution Office commented on ex-oligarch Vassil Bojokv's claim on Saturday that he is a protected witness. The prosecution service explained later that day that he had only been provided with physical security. Petrova said that since there is no legal definition of the term "protected witness," it is used freely. The legal term is "protected person" under the Act on Protection of Persons Threatened in Connection with Criminal Proceedings. Since Bojkov is a witness, and a witness can, in principle, be a protected person under this law, this has led to a confusion of the terms "protected person" and "witness". He is not afforded protection under the special law and in that sense he is not a protected witness. Vassil Bojkov, his wife and his son, have been provided with physical protection by officers of the Justice Ministry's Protection Bureau at his express request under the Criminal Procedure Code.

SOFIA-SKOPJE RELATIONS

In a Trud interview, Prof Denko Maleski, the first foreign minister of then Republic of Macedonia (1991-1993), and ambassador to the United Nations (1993-1997), says that Skopje and Sofia will need foreign intervention until they show they can break through the barriers in their minds "created by fear, hatred, intolerance and a desire for superiority". For a quarter of a century, the Republic of Macedonia was unable to solve the name dispute with Greece, and it would not have been solved for much longer if America's interest against the Russian threat had not coincided with Skopje's interest to guarantee its security through NATO membership, he said. A repeat of this decade-long saga with Bulgaria was on the cards. As in the Greek case, Bulgaria imposed conditions for the start of EU accession talks with North Macedonia that its society was not prepared to accept. Once again, the interest of the major Western powers in strengthening the EU's internal security through enlargement to Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans led to the French proposal, which bought time for both sides. Bulgaria was pressured to lift the veto and North Macedonia must include Bulgarians in its Constitution. At the moment, history is relegated to the background and historical issues are left to be sorted out in the course of the accession negotiations. Maleski said the decision is political and, as in the case of Greece, it will be unpopular with the citizens of both countries. Politicians in a democracy win votes by being popular - through claims in North Macedonia that it does not have a common history with Bulgaria, and claims in Bulgaria that "we are not a 'real' nation and the Macedonian language is just a dialect of Bulgarian".

OCTOBER 29 LOCAL ELECTIONS

Trud and 24 Chasa report that local chapters of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) are discontent with a decision of the party's National Council on Sunday to override local nominations for mayors and municipal councillors. As a result, Socialists in many towns will nominate candidates through other parties and nomination committees, while the party's national leadership will register separate candidate lists.

24 Chasa leads with the news that the waste charge will be based on the amount of waste thrown away, and will not be calculated as a percentage of the property's tax valuation as now. After a long delay, this approach is finally being introduced in Bulgaria from January 2024. One of the first tasks of the new mayors and municipal councils after the October 29 local elections is to calculate the amount due. The EC has already threatened Bulgaria with sanctions in the order of millions of euro and legal action for its failure to introduce a fair waste charge model.

Interviewed on Bulgarian National Television, Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov said the party would nominate local people whose views dovetail with its own, and will not be guided by the presence or absence of a local chapter of the party. Vazrazhdane will seek to have its mayoral nominees elected because a majority in the municipal council does not mean this majority can control the mayor. The party's message is "elect an efficient mayor".

ELECTRIC METERS

Duma and Telegraph report that the electricity distribution companies will replace the old electric meters with smart ones for which customers will pay. A proposal to this effect is part of Energy Act revisions introduced in Parliament.