site.btaMedia Review: August 28

POLITICS

Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) Co-chair Delyan Peevski was removed from his post and expelled from the party, and eight of his aides were also made to leave the MRF, MediaPool.bg says. The news is covered by other media as well. According to the website, the decision was made on Tuesday at a meeting of the MRF Central Operative Bureau attended by the party's Honorary Chair Ahmed Dogan.

Peevski's expulsion came after two months of bitter conflict in the MRF, MediaPool.bg says. The rift occurred after the elections in June, when the MRF rose to the position of the number two political force in Bulgaria for the first time in its history. Co-chair Peevski claimed the credit and spearheaded a "new beginning" in the MRF while at the same time starting a purge of political confidants of Dogan. The Honorary Chair demanded Peevski's resignation as co-leader in June, but he resisted. In the meantime, the MRF parliamentary group split in two, the article says.

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The MRF would garner 15.4% of the vote in the October 27 early parliamentary elections if it stood united, shows a nationwide survey financed and conducted jointly by bTV and the Market Links research and consulting company, which was unveiled by the television channel on Wednesday morning. The survey indicates that GERB would again win the elections, on a score of 21.9%. The survey was conducted among 1,038 adult respondents between August 14 and 23 through face-to-face interviews and an online poll.

Sociologist Dobromir Zhivkov said on bTV: "We measure the MRF's strength as a monolithic party, the way we have done for years. If two separate entities emerge from the present MRF, we will change the question we ask. For now, we are measuring the aggregate score of the MRF. It will perhaps be different at the upcoming elections." Zhivkov noted that the party's hypothetical score in this latest survey would be one of the best election results in its history, which is probably owing to the mobilization of both factions.

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"The turf war between Delyan Peevski and Ahmed Dogan can claim lives," lawyer and human rights activist Mihail Ekimdzhiev warned, interviewed by Bulgarian National Radio. Most likely, he said, Peevski's expulsion from the MRF will be invalidated by the Supreme Administrative Court. Ekimdzhiev pointed to a "longtime unclean link and influence" on this court, "which has become an appendage of the behind-the-scenes community represented by Peevski and Borissov". Peevski's expulsion will be revoked through the agency of "an obliging judge", he predicted.

Discussing the likelihood of former interior minister Kalin Stoyanov pursuing a political career, the interviewee said: "He is headed for the incinerator for political corpses." He believes that Stoyanov's replacement as interior minister in the new caretaker government was part of "a deal to preserve the shadow influence in the Interior Ministry".

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If Dimitar Glavchev had refused to be designated as Prime Minister of the new caretaker government, Bulgaria would have plunged into a grave constitutional and political crisis, and therefore, he should be congratulated on acting sensibly, social psychologist Rosen Yordanov tells Trud in an interview. According to Yordanov, the formation of the Glavchev 2 cabinet "satisfied the ego of each of the despondent political players".

The scholar deplores what he sees as "moral decay" in the Interior Ministry, which he says started by mixing up political and professional authority. "One cannot claim that the Interior Ministry is depoliticized while it is being politicized to the utmost degree with every appointment and by picking a minister who is someone's guy. This is common practice, which ruins what little is left of the dignity, honour and ethics, and the principles which governed the system in earlier periods," he says.

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Shunning power is becoming increasingly common in democratic Bulgaria, but this attitude has been known since antiquity, 24 Chasa says. (Most recently, Dimitar Glavchev was the only potential nominee for prime minister of the new caretaker government who said he would accept the job - and was eventually approved.) The paper gives examples from ancient Rome showing that power can be daunting rather than alluring. It says that the most telling example was Emperor Claudius, whose being physically deficient and apparently unfit to rule ironically saved him from falling victim to the general strife for power. The reign of Didius Julianus, which cost him his whole wealth, lasted only about 60 days. As Emperor, he failed to push through any major political reforms. Highly unpopular for the way he rose to power, the impostor was completely unable to enjoy his supreme status, the story says.

ECONOMY

The state should temper down its generosity on pensions, and their growth should slow - which calls for reforms, 24 Chasa says in its main story. The recommendation is contained in an actuarial report by the National Social Security Institute (NSSI), the first one since 2019. This is one of the important documents for Bulgaria's financial stability as it provides forecasts about the social security system until 2070.

Based on the recommendation, the NSSI proposes two scenarios, the daily says. Under the first scenario, the social insurance contribution for pensioners born after 1959 should rise by 1 percentage point every 5 years, starting at the beginning of 2025. This means that by 2045 the contribution should reach 19.8% of the contributory income. Added to this is a 5% contribution towards a second pension, which, if not changed, will put the total social insurance contribution at 24.8% of the contributory income. With the addition of health, sickness and unemployment insurance, the overall burden will become 40% of the contributory income.

The second scenario implies altering the so-called Swiss rule, according to which pensions are adjusted annually by 50% of the previous year's inflation and 50% of the growth of the average contributory income. The NSSI proposes that pensions be adjusted only by 100% of the inflation rate. This will lead to lower percentages of adjusting work-related pensions and will reduce pension costs over the medium and long term, 24 Chasa says.

This is also the leading topic in Duma. The daily quotes the NSSI report as saying that pensioners in Bulgaria will decrease over the long term, but population aging will cause their share of the population to grow. In 2023, there were 68 pensioners for every 100 socially insured persons, and by 2070 the ratio will be 78 for 100, the NSSI predicts. It notes that the pension system will remain dependent on taxes rather than being self-supporting.

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The average income in Bulgaria is growing, but only 30% of the people manage to keep up a decent living, 70% earn lower-than-average incomes, and inequalities are reminiscent of Latin America, Dimitar Sabev of the Economic Research Institute with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences says in a 24 Chasa interview.

Sabev is asked to comment on a trade union proposal for the minimum monthly wage to be raised to BGN 1,077.65 as of January 1, 2025, in the context of a World Bank conclusion that Bulgaria has joined the rich nations' club as it has surpassed the USD 14,005 mark for annual gross national income per capita. According to the expert, it is hard to give a straightforward answer. "On the one hand, we hear comparisons being made in the public domain between the minimum wage in Bulgaria and Luxembourg or Germany, and these comparisons are not in our favour, of course. By the way, the same applies if we make comparisons with our neighbours. But I will distance myself here from this general talk by noting that the minimum wage in Bulgaria has been raised considerably and rapidly in recent years. Since Bulgaria is not Sofia, where wages are highest, BGN 1,000 per month can be quite a big sum in some regions, although we have been categorized as belonging to the rich nations' club. I personally think that the consumer income policy should use a much wider range of measures than just the minimum wage."

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Misleading discounts and other unfair commercial practices enable traders to earn quick profit ahead of the start of the school year on September 15, Trud says in its main story. Consumer organizations have warned of misleading advertising tricks. They have told the daily that a "sale" on school aids and implements often means higher prices for customers rather than actual discounts. Parents in the seaside city of Burgas whose kids are starting school for the first time in their lives have set aside at least BGN 1,000 per child for school-related purchases because they need to buy everything in one go. Backpacks, notebooks, all sorts of implements, plasticine, plastic digits, food boxes, clothes - this is really a lot, and everything is expensive, the paper says. In Bulgaria's most populous Black Sea city of Varna, uniforms are one of the biggest expense items in preparing children for school. Almost all schools in the city require students to wear uniforms. A full set costs BGN 200 on average.