site.btaMedia Review: May 31

The news of former US president Donald Trump's historic conviction on all counts in the criminal trial for the hush-money scandal dominate the media on Friday.

TRUMP VERDICT

Early on Friday morning, the Mediapool e-zine and Dnevnik.bg lead with a story about Trump's conviction. Trump becomes America's first felon president, reads the Dnevnik headline. The story also says that there will be months of appeals all the way to the New York State Supreme Court. If jailed, Trump could campaign from his prison cell, could still become president and - depending on state law - could vote for himself.

Trump called the verdict "a disgrace" and the Biden reelection campaign said that the verdict would not change the course of the campaign, Mediapool writes.

In another story, Mediapool reports that five Bulgarians, who siphoned off more than 53 million pounds in welfare benefits in the UK, were sentenced on Thursday by a British court to a total of 25 years and five months in prison. The story quotes media outlets in the UK as saying that this is believed to be the biggest welfare fraud and money laundering in the history of England and Wales. Defendants Gunesh Ali (34), Galina Nikolova (39), Stoyan Stoyanov (28), Tsvetka Todorova (53) and Patrisia Paneva (27) pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges. They could be deported after serving their sentences.

SREBRENICA RESOLUTION

Dnevnik turns the limelight on Lachezara Stoeva, the Bulgarian permanent representative to the UN, after leaked documents showed that she defied last-minute instructions from caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev to abstain in a vote on a UN resolution designating July 11 as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica. Media outlets allege that reversal in the government's position - for Bulgaria had co-authored the resolution - came after communication between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and ex-Bulgarian prime minister and GERB leader Boyko Borissov. The government said that the leaked documents were only part of the communication between the government and Ambassador Stoeva, and GERB denied to have tried to influence the caretaker Prime Minister (who was a ranking GERB member before becoming head of the National Audit Office and then caretaker Prime Minister and Foreign Minister). Defying Glavchev's instructions to abstain in the vote on the resolution, Stoeva wrote that "the instructions do not contain information on who drafted them, they were not coordinated with any of the competent [seven] Foreign Ministry directorates and the relevant deputy ministers, which shows that their opinion had not been asked", says Dnevnik. The story quotes diplomats who have worked with Stoeva as describing her as "a highly effective Bulgarian diplomat with in-depth knowledge, very energetic and with an outstanding track record".

Mediapool, among other media outlets, reports that Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria have moved for holding an extraordinary sitting of Parliament next week to hear Glavchev on the Srebrenica resolution case.

POLITICS

In an interview with Telegraph, sociologist Evelina Slavkova said that Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) will not be seen as a major political force in the upcoming elections and will not be able to achieve a result close to that of GERB-UDF. She predicted a gap of about 10% between the current two leading coalitions, attributing it not to mobilization by GERB-UDF but to the weak performance of CC-DB. The race for second place between CC-DB, Vazrazhdane and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms will be the most interesting highlight of the June 9 elections. If CC-DB achieve the second best results, GERB-UDF will face difficulties to isolate them from the government-forming talks, while if Eurosceptic party Vazrazhdane finish second, it will be much easier to argue for a Euro-Atlantic cabinet between the current two leading political forces, Slavkova argued. 

ECONOMY

On Bulgarian National Television's morning show, Podkrepa Confederation of Labour Chief Economist Atanas Katsarchev and Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice-President Krasimir Dachev discussed what this week's agreement to attract Indian workers means for the Bulgarian labour market. Katsarchev recalled that Bulgaria is still the poorest country in the EU in terms of income and it is normal for Bulgarians to migrate if incomes are not growing. "It is also normal for workers from countries with lower wages to come to work in our country," he noted. Katsarchev predicted that this system of solving the labour problem will bring negative effects in the future. Katsarchev noted that the country has reached a situation where there are not enough workers, there is work for double the amount and this leads to hiring lower skilled workers.

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Speaking to BNR, National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria (NAMRB) Chair Silvia Georgieva, said that Bulgarian municipalities have not started implementing investments under Bulgaria's Recovery and Resilience Plan and there are widespread concerns whether they will be able to implement their projects. "There are several reasons. This is a new instrument. It is unfamiliar in terms of administration and management for both municipalities and the central administration. The municipalities were very quick in 2023 to prepare a large number of projects and submit them to the ministries. To date, the actual implementation of these investments has not yet started," Georgieva warned.

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Telegraph quotes Bulgarian National Bank data, which states that since the beginning of the year households in Bulgaria have taken out 1.825 billion new loans. The annual growth in consumer loans is 43.8% and the monthly growth is 11.8%. For home loans, the increase is even higher: 60.5% annual rise and 11% monthly. 

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In a Bulgarian National Radio interview, Vladimir Ivanov, Chair of the State Commission on Commodity Exchanges and Markets (SCCEM), commented on current prices of basic food products in Bulgaria. Ivanov noted that for a fourth month in a row there has been a steady decline in prices of fruits and vegetables due to their massive supply. Prices of basic food products remains pretty much unchanged in the last nine months, he said, adding that another product whose price is falling down steadily, is sugar. The price of flour, cereals and legumes remains unchanged. The price of meat is up about 10%, compared to 2023. Dairy prices have risen by about 4%, yoghurt by 2% and fresh milk by 6%, Ivanov summarized.

STATE RAILWAYS

Trud features an extensive interview with Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria's Railroad Workers Trade Union Chair Petar Bunev on the issues in the Bulgarian railroad transport sector. "The personnel deficit in Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) is a public secret," he said. "There are over 10% vacancies and the worst thing is that they are increasing. There are also no people willing to come and work." He attributed this to the high professional demands on BDZ's employees, the tough nature of the work and the salaries, which are lower than the national average. Bunev also commented on the reasons for frequent train breakdowns and delays. "The biggest problem is the lack of investment over the years [...] The other problem is that BDZ has a lot of outdated equipment that is defective and causes inconvenience," he said. Bunev pointed out that many trains are planned to be purchased with funding under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. "If that happens and repairs are made, we will stand at a very high level," he stressed.

SOCIETY

24 Chasa reports that the Transport Ministry is preparing measures to make the training of driver candidates more efficient. One of the main changes concerns the licence test. Currently, trainees can take the test countless times within 1 year of completing the course, while the new rules state that only four attempts will be possible within 6 months. If unsuccessful, the applicant must complete the entire driving course from the beginning. 

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On World No Smoking Day, May 31, a headline in Dnevnik says that Bulgaria has failed in its efforts to make sure it has a cigarette-free generation by 2040. "With nearly 40% of the adult population smoking and the world's highest number of 11-year-olds who have had a cigarette, Bulgaria is failing dismally in the Europe-wide effort to reduce smoking to below 5% in the EU by 2040. Lack of control and political will and weak laws are the reason why Bulgaria tops the charts in the proportion of smokers per capita, said Dr. Masha Gavrailova, chairwoman of the Bulgaria without Smoke Association. She believes that the situation is even getting worse. The national survey of health risk factors in Bulgaria, conducted in 2020, shows that 39.4% of the adult population uses nicotine products, and the proportion of men is higher than that of women, 40.5% and 38.7% respectively. This is compared to a European average of 23%," the story says.

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Mediapool has a feature about the depopulation of parts of Europe. The story is written as part of the PULSE project in collaboration with efsyn.gr of Greece, El Confidencial of Spain and Hotnews of Romania. "Depopulation is not only a Bulgarian problem. Among the top 10 cities where the population density has decreased the most, the Spanish ones prevail. The first place goes to Granada's Baza, which has reduced its density from 129 people to 27 people per square kilometre. Lalin and A Estrada, in the province of Pontevedra, also stand out. In Bulgaria, the 'winner' is Svishtov, which has lost about 13,000 inhabitants since 2010," the story says.