site.btaMedia Review: July 31

MIDDLE EAST CRISIS

Approached for comment by 24 Chasa, former Bulgarian deputy foreign minister Milen Keremedchiev points out that Turkiye will try to maximize its benefits from the tensions arising between the Muslim world and Israel. It is guided by a years-old desire to spearhead Muslim resistance against Israel and to pool the anger of the Muslim world. The analyst, though, does not expect a further souring of relations despite the exchange of verbal fire. He assumes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants the operation against Hamas in Gaza, which is drawing to an end, to be carried on against Hezbollah in Lebanon. "The longer the hostilities continue, the longer Netanyahu will stay in power because his cabinet is entirely on a war mood," the analyst notes. "If Israel crosses the red line and launches a full-scale military operation in Lebanon, this will lead to an exceedingly dangerous escalation of tensions and an embroilment of many more countries in this conflict," Keremedchiev warns. In his opinion, the regional conflict between Israel and Hamas may escalate into a regional war involving a number of global players: the US and Jordan on the side of Israel and Iran, and Turkey and Russia on the side of Hezbollah.

Commenting on Turkish President Erdogan's threat to attack Israel, Yuri Mihalkov writes in Duma that Turkiye has long been demonstrating aspirations not only as a leading regional power but also as a spiritual leader of Muslimhood and, why not, a global player as well. "Indeed, his drive for emancipation from the West and the US is met with certain sympathy, but Erdogan also increases Turkiye's influence in neighbouring and nearer countries, he intervenes even militarily in some of them, and develops own armaments and an advanced defence industry with a capacity exceeding the protection of Turkish borders and the national territory. It should not be surprising if at some point we will hear the breaking news that Turkiye has also embarked on the road of acquiring nuclear weapons," the comment reads. "The US may soon drive home to Erdogan that Israel is not Karabakh or Libya, and the Jewish lobby worldwide will hardly sit on their hands in case of a Turkish invasion of Israel," Mihalkov points out. 

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Interviewed in Telegraph, counter-terrorism expert Hristo Smolenov says that while according to the leading theory the person who fired shots at Donald Trump was a loner driven by personal emotional motives, the assassination should be treated as a terrorist act proper.

CABINET FORMATION NEGOTIATIONS

Lyudmil Iliev writes in an analysis in www.segabg.com that the cabinet-forming task facing There Is Such a People (TISP) is difficult and intricate, it requires a thorough preparation and political skills. TISP, however, jumped directly into meetings and talks without any preparation whatsoever about what they propose and what they expect. This will only lead to a waste of time and an almost inevitable failure. TISP may be expert in denigrating their opponents but cannot cope with big politics. All other parliamentary powers are firmly set on election course. GERB have written off this parliament. Vazrazhdane is rushing for the snap ballot so as to take advantage of the break-up of its rival Velichie. In the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), Delyan Peevski, too, is pushing in this direction, assuming that this can help him take control of the Movement. Even the Socialists keep talking about the need of a government while urgently putting together a "united front" of just about anybody they can pick and even kowtowing to President Radev.

Interviewed on Bulgarian National Radio Wednesday morning, sociologist Kolyo Kolev of the Mediana Agency said that the third cabinet-forming mandate will be delayed long enough so as to schedule the elections for October 13. "This is the name of the game," Kolev pointed out. In the negotiations, all parties will showcase national responsibility, commitment to principles and concern for public interest but, essentially, this will be part of the election campaign, he explained. "We are heading towards a total collapse of the political system after the new elections this coming autumn," he warns, blaming the "geopolitical processes that are shaking the world." He expects an even lower voter turnout, given the huge demand for a political alternative, as 17% of the votes in the latest elections went to parties that did not make it to the legislature. "Now is the time for the President to enter the political stage," the interviewee said. In his opinion, Continue the Change are on a downward spiral and may even break up. "The MRF will suffer a drastic decline, as it seems impossible that Peevski will take over that party. He is in a hurry, politics is a short-distance run for him. Things are slightly better for the Left as the unification gives them a sense of strength."

Political scientist Tsvetanka Andreeva said on the morning show of bTV Wednesday that the third cabinet-forming mandate is a game of politicians, whereas society has an entirely different agenda. In her words, TISP, which was handed the third mandate, is unofficially a pro-president party, like Continue the Change and Vazrazhdande before them. "The party now is playing the role of a bridge of dialogue, abandoning its far more radical positions," the expert said, adding that "President Radev is benefiting from the crisis and is deepening it instead of solving it." In the same show, Slavi Vassilev denied that TISP is a pro-president party and said that he must set up such a party in the critical political situation. "Radev is the only key to a way out of the crisis," he argued.

On Nova TV, vlogger Asen Genov said that TISP clearly take the side of the President. "Whether he takes theirs is a question that has yet to be answered." "The start is very funny, they are starting the negotiations not with some of the leading forces but with the debris of the Velichie Party that prematurely ended its existence in Parliament," Genov commented.

JUDICIAL REFORM

In an analysis contributed to www.dnevnik.bg, Adela Kachaunova writes that the two decisions that the Constitutional Court issued on July 26 invite the conclusion that the prosecutor general is part of the governance of the State and that confidence in the Constitutional Court is completely eroded, whereas the mechanism for investigation of the prosecutor general can be revoked. The analyst regrets to find that the Constitutional Court decision rejecting a substantial part of the latest amendments to the Constitution "is yet another example of strongly retrograde thinking and reluctance to make serious use of legal arguments instead of other arguments, even religious ones, as evident in other decisions, or essentially political ones, as is the case now." "Our only chance to fight state capture is the pursuit of long-term objectives: education, morality and ethics, which would block the reproduction of further monsters in our political (or prosecutorial) life. Judicial reform will long be off limits, and further political platforms will not be trusted for this purpose. The Constitutional Court made this pointless." "Everything possible is being done to prevent a change of Bulgaria. This is in the interest of a handful of people, but it harms the entire society which, in turn, is a definition of an oligarchic state," Kachaunova argues in conclusion.

WAGES, WORKING TIME, FOOD PRICES, VACATION

The top frontpage story in Trud quotes Eurostat figures showing that the minimum monthly wage in Bulgaria (EUR 477) is by more than EUR 200 lower than the lowest pay in the Eurozone (EUR 700 in Latvia). The minimum wage in Bulgaria is less than half of the wage in Poland (EUR 998) (where foods are cheaper) and less than a quarter of the wage in Germany (EUR 2,054). Within a year, in ten EU Member States, the minimum wage was increased by a higher percentage than in Bulgaria, which practically widens the gap. Non-member states also have higher minimum wages than Bulgaria: EUR 568 in Turkiye, EUR 544 in Serbia and EUR 532 in Montenegro. In terms of price levels and purchasing power, Luxembourg's minimum wage is 2.4-fold higher than Bulgaria's, and Germany's is 2.3-fold higher.

Continuing the story on two full inside pages, the daily reports that Bulgarians' working time is longer than in almost all other EU Member States, and food prices in this country are higher than in Poland and Romania. Milk, cheese and eggs in Bulgaria are more expensive than in Luxembourg, Austria, France and Germany.

Duma quotes an analysis of the European Trade Union Institute, according to which Bulgaria is among the countries with the largest increase of people who cannot afford a vacation: in 2022, as many as 957,000 working Bulgarians were unable to pay for a week-long rest, up by 2%-plus from the previous year. At the same time, the National Statistical Institute said that the 347,900 Bulgarians who travelled abroad for recreation in June 2024 were 13% more than the 255,046 in June 2023. The commonest destinations for such trips are Turkiye, Greece and Romania. 

SCHOOL EDUCATION

In a two-page interview for Trud, Diyan Stamatov, Chairperson of the Union of Managers in the Public Education System, discusses this year's secondary school admission campaign, national external evaluation exams for seventh and tenth graders, competitions for school principals, new national programme for mentor principals, and the huge shortage of teachers of mathematics and physics. 

LGBT+

Trud reports that Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov will alert the prosecution service about a national survey conducted by the Single Step Foundation in Bulgarian schools, intended to explore the life of pupils aged 14 to 19 with different sexual orientation and raise awareness of the current situation of LGBTI+ and young people. "This is a perversion that I will take care to have it liquidated in embryo," Kostadinov said in a Facebook post.

In the same daily, Viktor Blaskov comments that the Single Step survey is seemingly innocent but in reality is far more sinister. Blaskov argues that the findings will be manipulated to provide arguments for demanding an LGBT programme in schools, classes in sexuality/transgenders in history, and employment of LGBT individuals in school staffs or as consultants.

24 Chasa also covers the story. It quotes the Ministry of Science and Education as denying any interaction with the foundation and as explaining that the survey is conducted online and not through the educational system or with any school.

OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY CONTROVERSY

Trud covers the position of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church sharply criticizing the imagery used there as conflicting with Christian morality.

Interviewed on Bulgarian National Television Wednesday morning, Archimandrite Meletii Spasov, Rector of the Sofia Theological Seminary, commented that "humans are free but must take into account the consequences of their creative decisions for other people." "We must be responsible for everything we do, including in the sphere of art." The archimandrite sees the Holy Synod's message as "the voice of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in purely institutional terms but also the voice of all Christians who feel tempted, provoked and aggrieved." He argued it an "inadmissible logic" that people should not be held responsible for their actions because they are arts, sports, etc.

24 Chasa quotes Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov as describing the performance as "semi-pagan, semi-satanist, semi-insane spectacle, one of the worst perversions I have ever seen the degenerating end of western civilization."

www.dnevnik.bg quotes Svetlana Bozhilova as writing on Facebook that "there was nothing religious in the festivity. There was a new reading of mythologems with a brilliant reader of the mythologies: Roland Barthes. [...] No subjects are taboo in European democracy, there are no bans and scholastics, and freedom and tolerance of others is a paramount value. I am a Christian but have never equated religion, religious values and religious institutions. Christianity is man-loving and all-forgiving," the commentator writes, adding that she finds inexplicable the reactions of the leaders of Christian churches.

RELIGION

24 Chasa writes in a two-page story headlined "Patriarch Daniil: the New Facebook Hero" that newly elected Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil is gaining popularity on social media day by day. The Facebook page of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has over 26,000 followers, and this number is expected to grow. Theologian Angel Karadakov, who is in charge of the Church's social media, told the daily that the official Facebook page was launched in 2017 and now the posts there reach hundreds of thousands of people daily. A video of the Patriarch's sermon on St Elijah's Day logged more than 130,000 views. Replying to a question, Karadakov says that, as a bishop and above all a monk, it is quite inappropriate for the Patriarch to build an image and seek popularity or develop marketing and PR strategies. "However, he encourages and approves the active work that can help more people hear about Christ, believe, find a safe haven in their life, and above all save their souls," Karadakov explains.

HIGH SOCIETY

24 Chasa carries a four-page interview with Bulgarian royal Kyril Saxe-Coburg on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Replying to a question, the interviewee says that he has learnt discipline, hard work, honesty and altruism from his father, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The Prince of Preslav shares his impressions of his contacts with celebrities including Princess Diana, Gwyneth Paltrow and Roger Penrose.