site.btaMedia Review: February 2

The topic of Martin “The Notary” Bozhanov getting shot dead in Sofia on Wednesday evening dominates Friday’s news media.

HOME AFFAIRS

24 Chasa and Telegraf both cover the news on their front page. 24 Chasa describes Martin “The Notary” Bozhanov as a large-scale fixer of the rich’s problems. He had the gift of putting in his clients’ head the idea that hardships are coming in the business and in court that he can prevent, the article reads. Telegraf specifies that he was killed with a single shot to the head from 15 m. 

Mediapool.bg writes that Bozhanov’s wife works for the Directorate General for Combating Organized Crime (DGCOC), as confirmed by Interior Ministry Secretary General Zhivko Kotsev. She was fired in 2021, just three months after being appointed, at the request of then DGCOC head and current Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov, over lack of authorization to access classified information (authorization can be denied if the security services deem the candidate a risk). That decision was later reversed by the court, and she returned to the Interior Ministry as an intern. She is currently on maternity leave. According to witnesses, she was with her husband and two children when he was shot dead.

Duma quotes Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Korneliya Ninova as commenting that Bozhanov’s killing – yet another public one in the last several months – shows Bulgaria is headed back to the somewhat forgotten times of thugs. In her words, by returning the model of GERB leader Boyko Borissov to power, Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria restored the thug style of governance. “The data are worrisome: this person has a system of connections with prosecutors, judges. That should be checked. There is talk of bribes, pressure, racketeering, and threats,” Ninova noted. She asked about the judicial reform, which Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria used to wave like a flag but was actually focused solely on taking control of the Constitutional Court, the Counter-corruption Commission, the Supreme Judicial Council, and the Inspectorate. Bozhanov’s killing is yet another proof that the judicial reform has completely failed, that there is no State – the mafia is running amok, Ninova argued.

Bulgarian National Television’s (BNT) morning show focused on the possible motives for Bozhanov’s killing.

On bTV’s morning show, Anti-corruption Fund senior legal expert and former deputy justice and interior minister Andrey Yankulov commented that Bozhanov, who had influence in the judicial system and on magistrates, is believed to have led a group solving troubles with justice for people of means. One of the people the group have called is former Miss Bulgaria Ivaila Balakova, whose friend Veselin Denkov had been detained for suspected participation in a crime group for money-lending. Yankulov said Bakalova had given him recordings of those calls, which show that Bozhanov had inside information from the specialized justice. 

Bakalova commented for bTV that Bozhanov had contacted her through common acquaintances and had demanded “at least EUR 100,000” to get her friend Denkov out. In Bakalova’s words, Denkov was arrested for political reasons without any evidence whatsoever, because he had taken part in the anti-government protests of 2020. Bozhanov called her and said Denkov, guilty or not, would remain under arrest unless strings are pulled. 

On Nova TV’s morning show, journalist Kiril Borisov, lawyer and former interior minister Emanuil Yordanov, and Tihomir Bezlov of the Center for the Study of Democracy commented on the possible reasons for Bozhanov’s killing. According to Borisov, Bozhanov had real influence in the justice system. Yordanov thinks the killing may have to do not with Bozhanov’s influence on the court but with fraud. 

POLITICS

On BNT’s morning show, Rumen Milanov, former director of the DGCOC and the National Service for Protection, said that the whole battle between the ruling majority and the President is actually for control over the security services. “Everybody is talking about a reform in the services, but I see no reform. The system is not being changed. The reform should start from the personnel’s preparation and quality,” he argued. The President, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, cannot be indifferent to national security; he as well as the Legislature and the Executive has a responsibility to national security. Parliament should know its place, which is to propose laws, not appoint X and Y, Milanov argued.

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Trud writes on its front page that the hastily drafted amendments to the Higher Education Act that waive the tuition fees for undergraduate and PhD students in state universities enrolled in state-subsidized places, will breed chaos. The idea, put forward by the Prime Minister at the start of this week and supported by the Finance Minister, is not based on a financial analysis, and the 2024 state budget lacks resources for its implementation. The money from these fees amounts to BGN 150 million a year on average. Academicians and professors were seriously surprised by the idea, after four months of working with the Education Ministry on completely different draft amendments. Lecturers, trade unionists, and experts with many years of experience in higher education commented for the daily that the tension is rising and there will be a wave of protests over the draft revisions in the middle of the academic year. 

Trud has an interview with Academician Lachezar Traykov, Chairman of the Council of Rectors of Higher Education Establishments in Bulgaria, who comments on the draft legislative changes. According to him, the State’s subsidies for universities should be tied not to the student but to the researcher. “An overall change of the funding model is needed, because salaries, tuition fees, capital expenditures and everything linked to a university’s revenues and expenditures are linked to each other. You cannot change separate elements in this model without taking its effect on the other elements into account. Every financial expert would give you a similar answer. That is why we once again call on the ministries of Education and of Finance as well as on the MPs to begin this conversation immediately, because it is urgent,” Traykov says.

Segabg.com writes that the idea of waiving tuition fees in state universities cannot but have made over 180,000 undergraduate and PhD students happy, but for many rectors it came out of the blue. This is an idea so fundamental that it could change the higher education system entirely. Its scale in no way corresponded to the 10-minute news briefing during which the Prime Minister presented the idea without many details, as if there was something else under the surface. Though good in itself, the measure is hardly among the most pressing steps to solve the system’s big problems, and its last-minute announcement served only to create confusion in the academic community. This yet another piecemeal decision may be after purely political goals, the article reads. 

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24 Chasa has an interview with Minister of Environment and Water Julian Popov, who talks about the problems in his sector. On the topic of waste management and recycling, he argues that it is time Bulgaria turned waste into goods and found a new market for them. However, that is a complex process because no one seeks just waste, as valuable as it may prove to be sometimes. The Environment Ministry will play a somewhat regulator role on this market. A change in the manner of calculating residents’ annual waste tax is underway; it introduces the polluter pays principle. The process of building a waste deposit system in Bulgaria has been at an early stage for a long time now, the Minister says. The process should be sped up; the main principles should be adopted as soon as possible, so that in two to three years after the adoption of the deposit system scheme, more than 90% of the waste could be collected through the system.

ECONOMY

Capital Weekly’s main topic is “Bug in IT Sector”. Bulgaria’s software sector employs over 58,000 people; its revenues grew from just under BGN 1 billion in 2011 to over BGN 8 billion in 2023, growing by over 20% almost every year and generating nearly 5% of Bulgaria’s GDP. However, for the first time in 15 years of constant high growth, this sector is entering a crisis. There have not been mass layoffs yet, but the demand for new personnel has dropped in half. There will still be an increase in revenue in 2024, but the mix of lower growth, layoffs in some companies and no new jobs in others, end to the cheep funding, and reconsideration of the policy of constant pay rises will be felt as a recession in the industry. This is the result of problems in Western economies (over 224,000 IT specialists were laid off in 2023 alone, and 153,000 between January 1 and 23, 2024), the service offered by Bulgarian IT specialists appreciating, and the options offered by AI. The big risk is Bulgaria becoming both expensive and non-competitive on the global tech market. Positively speaking, the current problems in the IT sector are short-term ones and the overall situation remains positive: the global demand for technical solutions continues to grow, and Bulgaria has an already developed IT sector with deep connections and a fat CV; some over 14,000 employees are forecast to be appointed by 2025. The current situation is a hangover before the next party, and that always has a good teaching effect, the article concludes.

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Telegraf quotes data showing that banks in Bulgaria generated a profit of BGN 3.4 billion in 2023, up by 6.4% from 2022. At the end of 2023, the average return on equity (ROE) reached 18.2% and the assets (ROA), 2.1%. Out of the 17 banks and 7 branches of foreign institutions in Bulgaria, only the recently unveiled branch of Estonia’s BigBank registered a minimum loss. DSK Bank registered a profit of just over BGN 1 billion, something unseen in Bulgaria’s banking sector. 

Telegraf has an interview with economist Mika Zaykova about the economic situation in Bulgaria. In her words, the people is nearing its boiling point. 

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On Bulgarian National Radio, Engineer Mariyan Bonovski, an expert from the international medical air rescue system, commented it is good that Bulgaria now has its first air ambulance for the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS), but there is no air rescue system here. Three helipads near hospitals do not make a system, he argued. Also, there is lack of trained personnel to operate the medical helicopters. Out of the 6 pilots sent to train in Italy, 4 are aged over 60, while EU law stipulates that pilots aged between 60 and 65 can only work as assistant pilots. One of the remaining two pilots in training has 600 flight hours under their belt, when the rules require at least 1,000 flight hours, meaning that person cannot work in HEMS. Even if crew are found for one helicopter, you need at least 4 teams to cover all shifts, not to mention crew for the other helicopters will also be needed, the expert said.