site.btaMedia Review: April 22

ECONOMY – EUROZONE 

Dnevnik quotes Politico as writing that Bulgaria doesn't know what's going on with its eurozone entry. Bulgaria was preparing to join the euro area in January 2025, but currently is currently unaware what is happening with this objective. According to author Kathryn Carlson, this (Bulgaria's eurozone entry) will almost certainly not happen on that date because of political disarray, stubborn inflation and "sluggish public support due in part to Russian influence".

Another Brussels-based publication, Euractiv, also described late last week BNB Governor Dimitar Radev's assessment in his interview with BTA that Bulgaria is more likely to adopt the euro at the end, not the beginning, of next year. In the interview, he criticised the lack of anti-inflationary measures and "effective management and control of spending" in the 2024 state budget.

In another article, Dnenvik once again quotes Politico as running a story headlined “Bulgaria can’t join the eurozone in January. Here’s why.”

January 2026 “at the earliest” would be more realistic given the technical challenges involved in switching a national currency over, according to Cinzia Alcidi, a senior research fellow at the Brussels-based think tank CEPS. The high inflation and hesitant public support, partly due to Russia’s disinformation, mean that Bulgaria will almost surely miss its goal of joining the eurozone in 2025.

POLITICS 

The proposed changes to Dimitar Glavchev’s caretaker cabinet, and especially the post of foreign minister, are covered by the media on Monday. 

Bulgarian Natgional TV reported that caretaker PM Glavchev has proposed himself to take the post of foreign minister. According to the Government information service, Dimitar Glavchev proposes a change in the composition of the caretaker cabinet and according to the proposal sent to President Rumen Radev, Stefan Dimitrov should be dismissed from the post of caretaker Foreign Minister and Prime Minister Glavchev should take over.

If the President accepts the proposal, he should issue a decree appointing the caretaker Prime Minister as minister of foreign affairs and Georgi Tahov as minister of agriculture in place of Kiril Vatev.

NOVA TV contributes by quoting the Government information service as saying that there will be no meeting between President Radev and caretaker Prime Minister Glavchev.

Bulgarian National Radio recalls that last week Glavchev demanded that the ministers of foreign affairs and of agriculture be replaced because they allegedly did not perform well.

bTV quotes former president Georgi Parvanov (2002-2012) as saying in an interview that “with all due respect, Dimitar Glavchev was not prepared to be foreign minister”. According to Parvanov, the fight for the Foreign Ministry started even before the coalition between Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria and GERB fell apart. “I cannot explain what is behind this struggle based on my previous experience. It seems that the current parties want to have an additional lever so they can prove themselves in front of their Western partners. I have no other explanation. Maybe the wish to cover up some trace,” he said.

Parvanov also said that he would not return to active politics. “This is not my political era. The political means being used now are not the ones that were used in my time,” Parvanov said, giving as an example his relationship with former prime minister Ivan Kostov, with whom they held opposing views (Kostov is right-wing, while Parvanov is a socialist), but nevertheless had legitimate relations. “Now there is no order, so I am out,” Parvanov said.

Mediapool writes that President Radev has ultimately issued a decree, appointing Glavchev to the post of caretaker Foreign Minister, replacing Stefan Dimitrov. The President also decreed the replacement of Kiril Vatev as Agriculture Minister by Georgi Tahov, who was head of State Fund Agriculture.

On Saturday, Radev described Glavchev’s idea to take the helm of the Foreign Ministry as “avantgarde”, but nevertheless said he would not interfere in the caretaker Prime Minister’s work.

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Duma quotes Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Korneliya Ninova as saying that on Sunday, the delegates of the Socialists' Sofia city conference elected the entirely new leadership of the BSP-Sofia. Diana Tonova was elected as city council chair with 82 votes against 63 for the other candidate.

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24 Chasa quotes Vanya Grigorova, a municipal councilor from BSP for Bulgaria, as saying that she will run in the early parliamentary elections. Grigorova ran for Sofia mayor in the last local elections on BSP’s ticket and was narrowly defeated by Vassil Terziev, who was nominated by Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria and Save Sofia.

Trud republishes Grigorova’s Facebook post: "This is the turning point when working Bulgarians must defend their rights and interests. They should stop being passive observers and only suffer the consequences of management decisions to their detriment, without taking their own destiny in their hands. That is why I have decided to enter the battle for the early parliamentary elections."

Other media outlets also report on Grigorova’s decision to run for Parliament, which she announced on social media, without clarifying which party’s ticket she will run on, if at all.

PERTUSSIS – NEW CASES

A total of 175 new cases of pertussis have been confirmed. Last week's analysis is not ready yet, but cases are expected to exceed 280. "This means that we have an epidemic situation, but it is too early to talk about an epidemic," BNR quotes the head of the National Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Prof. Iva Hristova. 

"This means that we have quite many patients who transmit the infection without even knowing, i.e. they are either asymptomatic or have few symptoms that are are atypical. We expect the incidence to rise in the coming weeks," she stressed, explaining that outbreaks are currently occurring in certain groups. According to her, most cases are currently in Sofia city. There are also cases of pertussis in Stara Zagora, Kyustendil, Varna, Burgas, she listed and summarized that more than half of the regions in the country have reported cases.

 The vaccination coverage among newborns that are up to a few months old is 91-92%, when the first vaccination is given. After that it decreases. At 12 years of age, it's already just under 90%, she said, explaining that vaccinations have been ramped up among the unvaccinated.

The specialist explained that vaccination is the only reliable prevention and urged people not to reject vaccination because it can cost severe complications in children. She said that a vaccinated person can also get pertussis but will have mild symptoms and the immunity from the vaccine is at least 10 years.

Vaccination offers protection. If a vaccinated person becomes infected, they will have a milder manifestation of the symptoms. Vaccinated people are also less likely to transmit the disease, she said, adding that newborns are at the highest risk of complications and death. 

According to Hristova, there are enough vaccines available and they are being administered. 

Other media also quote Hristova's BNR interview.