site.btaMedia Review: October 23

HEADLINES

The main topics on Monday’s print and online media are the upcoming local elections on October 29, the introduction of compulsory electronic prescriptions for certain medicines, and the possible withdrawal of Lukoil’s exemption from the EU ban on supplies and processing of Russian oil.   

The morning shows of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT), bTV, and Nova TV, hosted local election candidates of parliamentary parties in the last week of the election campaign. Another dominant topic was the conflict in the Middle East.

Duma and 24 Chasa have front page headlines on pensioners’ Christmas bonuses which are not envisaged to be paid this season.

Trud’s frontpage main headline reads that electronic prescriptions are to be discussed by Parliament. The daily summarizes the events and announces the upcoming extraordinary meeting of the parliamentary committee on health on Monday.

Telegraph’s main story is on how the National Revenue Agency is checking for fictional labour contracts.

Most front-page headlines in Duma are election oriented.

CONFLICT IN GAZA

bTV had two journalists who were reporting live two kilometres away from Gaza in the Be’eri kibbutz in southern Israel.

BNT’s morning programme hosted former Bulgarian Ambassador to Israel Rumyana Bachvarova. Commenting on the conflict between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas, he expressed the hope that diplomacy has not lost its power to prevent extreme events, but in this case, it is very difficult to bring about a positive impact because it is one of the deepest global conflicts that affects all other countries, she said.

Nova TV streamed live a video call with Miroslav Zafirov, a UN diplomat who was involved in the Israel-Palestine negotiations. Zafirov recalled that the humanitarian operation is ongoing, and hopes are that it will continue for a few more days. "It is the result of negotiations between our team and partners on site. It is certainly not enough, but it is the beginning of a process that we hope will continue," Zafirov said.

COMPULSORY ELECTRONIC PRESCRIPTIONS, HEALTHCARE

BNT’s morning programme had two live news reports from Veliko Tarnovo and Plovdiv on the situation with the introduction of compulsory electronic prescriptions for antibiotics and medicines for diabetics. The media hosted Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union (BPhU) President Dimitar Marinov who said that digitalization allows for better control on medicine prescription and dispensing. According to him, everybody who is against digitalization of the healthcare sector is against transparency in the field.  

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Plamen Taushanov, of the Bulgarian Association for Patients' Defence, says in an interview for Trud that the National Health Insurance Fund has to pay for biomarker diagnostics of cancer patients. Since 2008, Bulgaria has ranked last in the EU in terms of protection of patients' rights. Since 2002, eight attempts have been made to adopt such a law, but this has not happened. The aim of a Patients' Rights Act is to ensure through it the right to individual treatment, the right to innovation, the right to complaints, the right to compensation, he said. According to him, Bulgaria is also an exception among other EU countries in that the health insurance fund, which is financed with public funds, does not pay for biomarker diagnostics for cancer patients, and thus they are deprived of modern treatment.

ENERGY

Nova TV’s morning programme hosted financial expert Evgenii Kanev, who commented on GERB-UDF’s proposal for withdrawing Lukoil's derogation from the EU ban on supplies and processing of Russian oil. According to Kanev, the derogation withdrawal poses the risk of increasing fuel prices. He said that Lukoil currently fills about 60% of Bulgaria’s entire market, or about 3 million tonnes out of a total consumption of 4.5 million tonnes of fuel per year. Kanev asked: "How will these 3 million tonnes of Russian oil be replaced with 3 million tonnes of non-Russian oil when the whole of Europe is being loaded with non-Russian oil because of the embargo? He was adamant that before the derogation stops, there must be a plan on how to replace the 3 million tonnes of oil, otherwise prices will undergo a significant increase.  

The Bulgarian National Radio has an interview with Bulgarian Petroleum and Gas Association Chair Zhivodar Terziev. According to him, prices are not bound to rise with the proposed derogation withdrawal. The international oil prices are stable at the moment amid all the developments in the Middle East and Ukraine, he said. "For more than a year we have not been doing business with fuels, but someone is doing politics on the back of fuels. I am talking in geopolitical and international terms. Despite the extremes in Israel and Gaza, the intervention by Saudi Arabia and the US intervention in the international market led to a sharp drop last week from USD 93 to USD 88-89 per barrel. Prices today are around USD 90-91 trending down within the day. This means prices are stable," Terziev explained. According to him, the intention to store 100% of fuel in the country is not a solution at the moment, but rather creates problems. State interference in any private structure is a problem and sends bad signals, he was adamant. According to him, there should be predictability for years to come and not day-to-day solutions. " Thus, we will not see a new foreign investor in the coming years in our sector and in the energy sector as a whole," he said.

Mediapool.bg has an article following the events around Lukoil’s possible derogation withdrawal, to be proposed by GERB-UDF and backed by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). On Saturday, GERB MPs Desislava Atanasova and Delyan Dobrev, during election campaign tours, again raised the issue of the derogation for the import of Russian crude oil for "Neftohim", a day later party leader Boyko Borissov announced that on Monday there will be a meeting of parliamentary groups on the case with Lukoil.

All is happening days before the local elections and less than a month after Parliament decided the derogation to fall on October 1, 2024, with specific deadlines for a phased transition to non-Russian oil, Mediapool writes. GERB's proposal at the time was for the ban on Russian oil imports to apply from November 1, 2023, but after an analysis that such a replacement in such a short timeframe was not possible and would lead to market disruption, MPs accepted the postponed replacement. Continue the Change co-leader Kiril Petkov said that his party would participate in the meeting and "if Borissov gives guarantees that fuel prices will not rise and the refinery's work will not stop, we are ready to listen to their arguments, as long as it is not about election campaigns." Finance Minister Assen Vassilev told BNR that if there is such a meeting, he will participate in it remotely because he is not in Sofia and is on leave on Monday. He pointed out that from an analysis made by the relevant authorities some time ago, it was understood that the refinery in Burgas could currently store oil for 10 days, and if oil had to be delivered via the Bosphorus, it would lead to a delay of 25 days. "Hence the main risk of switching to non-Russian oil before additional buffer vessels are built," he explained. He said the question was whether the refinery could build such additional vessels within a month, and he did not think parliamentary committee on energy head Delyan Dobrev was in a position to judge that either. Dobrev commented later that there were two reports. One claims that Neftohim can process 90% of the oil produced in the world and there is no problem for Lukoil to switch to non-Russian suppliers the very next day. Two days later, the second - from a secret agency - appeared, claiming that "there are some risks".

Duma has an article quoting finance expert Lyubomir Datsov in an interview for Nova TV, where he says that Europe must rely on Russia for fuel. According to him if escalation sin the east continue, Europe will have no choice but include Russian oil in its energy mix.

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BNT had a live interview with Petko Angelov on energy and the upcoming heating season. Asked whether people are “queuing” for firewood, Angelov said that in contrast with the previous heating season, this year resources seem to be enough, there are no reported shortages. He noted that firewood is preferred the most in southwestern Bulgaria.

ECONOMY

24 Chasa writes that for the first time in nine years pensioners will not get Christmas pension bonuses. The daily quotes Finance Minister Assen Vassilev saying that it is better to raise pensions permanently rather than provide occasional bonuses.

Duma also quotes Vassilev on the topic, writing that according to him the budget adoption for next year will be delayed.

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Trud has an article on the first steps of the euro changeover in Bulgaria. The daily writes about the digital euro and the headline reads that “We [Bulgarians] are made dependent on digital money”. The subheading says that online payments in euro are free.