site.btaMedia Review: September 5

POLITICS

Capital weekly writes that the two camps in the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) - the supporters of honorary chairman Ahmed Dogan, and those of chairman Delyan Peevski - have decided to participate in the elections through coalitions, which, however, both include the MRF party. According to the Election Code, this is impossible because a formation can only participate in one coalition. Thus, the questions about MRF, Dogan and Peevski remain.

The coalition Dogan is joining for the elections is titled “Democracy, Rights and Freedoms” which still abbreviates as MRF in Bulgarian. Peevski is calling his coalition “Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning” which includes the full name of the party. Capital explains that under the Election Code, the entity that can run in the elections must register with both the full name of the party, and its abbreviation. Thus, either Dogan will have to give up the letters “MRF”, or Peevski will have to call his coalition just “New Beginning”.

The electorate is more accustomed to the abbreviation MRF rather than the full title, the article says. That is why it is important for Peevski to keep the brand, hoping to steal confused minority voters who would otherwise support the honorary leader.

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"It became clear from the Central Election Commission (CEC) meeting that instructions were given to the Movement for Rights and Freedoms to come out as a party from the coalitions, as the same party cannot participate in different coalitions," former CEC chairman Alexander Andreev told Nova TV.

Election expert Stoil Stoilov believes that "the CEC reacted like Pontius Pilate and slid" the case to the Supreme Court.

Stoil Tsitselkov, a member of the CEC's Public Council, is of the opinion that both factions will run in the elections, but only one will bear the name of the MRF. He added that most likely the dispute will be brought to the Supreme Administrative Court.

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The national radio reports that the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and over twenty leftist formations will sign Thursday a coalition agreement for joint participation in the early elections on October 27. In June, the BSP embarked on a course of unification within the party and rapprochement with all formations in the left political space.

"The left unity is based on our common vision of how to solve the problems in the country, not on a mechanical collection of parties," said BSP floor leader Borislav Gutsanov.

Asked who will register the BSP lists, he pointed out that there is a clear decision of the National Council of the party on this issue and this is the one who was elected as acting chairman - Atanas Zafirov.

BSP for Bulgaria MP Georgi Svilenski, who on Sunday was expelled from the party by the National Council of the BSP, along with resigned leader Korneliya Ninova, Ivan Chenchev and Krum Donchev, commented that according to the judiciary, the state and the laws, the legitimate chairperson of the BSP at the moment is Korneliya Ninova. The court decision is expected on September 9.

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It is unlikely that the BSP's new leadership will be documented in time to register the party for the elections by the deadline September 11, Capital writes.

Because of the scandals in the left, it is very likely that the party will not be able to run in the elections as the BSP and there is even a risk that it will not enter Parliament.

Korneliya Ninova's opponents accuse her of having left the party in an extremely difficult financial situation: nearly BGN three million in debts, including unpaid employee insurance.

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The National Assembly will discuss a draft decision related to the sale of Belene NPP equipment to Ukraine, BNR reports. The MPs will also discuss at first reading amendments to the law on civil registration, which aim to put an end to the so-called "electoral tourism".

The draft decision on the Belene NPP was submitted by GERB and MRF. It instructs the Energy Minister to hold negotiations with the Ukrainian Energy Minister about selling the equipment intended for the nuclear power plant project at the Belene site. The project requires an update of the market valuation of the long-life equipment owned by the National Electricity Company prepared in August of 2023.

Changes to the Civil Registration Act introduced by Vazrazhdane envisage the creation of a commission to carry out address verification to determine whether there is abuse of fictitious registrations.

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Trud runs an article titled “Despite the Poodlegate mega scandal, MPs consider Rashkov for head of Committee for Control of Security Services”. 

The MPs will discuss and vote on a draft decision on the election of chairperson of the committee for control over the security services, the application and use of special intelligence means and access to data under the Electronic Communications Act, submitted by Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB). They propose that their colleague and former interior minister Boyko Rashkov should head the committee, although his name has been involved in a number of scandals in recent months. In the public space, curious personal photos of Rashkov appeared side by side with Stefan and Marin Dimitrov, accused of running an organised crime group. Some of the photos and videos clearly show a small poodle breed dog delivering wads of banknotes. The little four-legged is cuddled both by the former chief secretary of the Interior Ministry Kotsev and by then interior minister Boyko Rashkov. In view of all this, Rashkov was unashamedly proposed as the head of the committee, the article says.

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Lora Georgieva, legal expert at the Anti-Corruption Fund, talked on Nova TV’s morning show about carriers being forced to stop in private parking lots at the Bulgarian border. The situation may cause international transport companies travelling in Greece and Turkiye to look for an alternative transport corridor to bypass Bulgaria. 

"The problem with these parking lots on the border with Turkiye has existed for decades. This model has already been transferred to the border with Romania," Georgieva said.

She said the State is inactive because it lets these practices happen in front of the police. "It's not just about the parking fee. Foreign carriers are forced to pay a fee three times higher than Bulgarian ones. VAT is not paid into the budget. We took pictures of the receipts with a hidden camera. The Ministry of Interior is also responsible - there are policemen there and they are cooperating," she explained.

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Caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev is convening an urgent meeting in the Council of Ministers in connection with the problem with the parking lots at the borders, Dnevnik and other media report.

Glavchev expects to be briefed on the issue by the ministries of regional development and public works, transport and communications, interior and finance, as well as by the SANS and the NRA. Glavchev will order the ministries to carry out further in-depth checks and follow-up action.

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Former foreign minister Nadezhda Neynsky told BNT’s morning show that Bulgaria's credibility in the EU is not very high, and that the ongoing political crisis here does have an impact abroad.

"It is important in these difficult times to have a strong European Commission. The conversation about portfolios should not be public. Negotiations should be quiet. I hope that our two candidates were convincing to Ursula von der Leyen," she said.

"It is normal for women to have representation in the Commission. Whoever is elected, it is important that we are united in supporting them... Regardless of what our internal problems are, it is important that Bulgaria's signals support the authority of our EC candidate", Neysnky added.

According to her, Bulgarian foreign policy is in disarray and many institutions need to be reformed, but this can only happen with a stable government and a stable Euro-Atlantic majority.

ECONOMY

Talking to BNR about Bulgaria’s budget deficit, economist Mihail Krastev says the data is alarming because it does not reflect the real picture of the deficit in the treasury. 

“In the spring of 2024, the national bank made a contribution to the budget that it was not obliged to make and that we cannot expect to happen annually. If we add this more than BGN 600 million, the deficit goes to more than BGN 2 billion. According to the Ministry of Finance, more than BGN 1 billion of the available budget is money for municipalities. Effectively, the budget deficit amounts to over BGN 3 billion,” he said.

"All this is not the prerogative of politicians in this political crisis we are in. They are not talking about finance, economy, social policies. They are only talking about their internal party interest," Krastev commented.

According to him, the crisis in public finances can be solved either by generating new debt or by increasing the tax burden on businesses and households, which is happening gradually anyway, even though politicians claim there is no such thing. In his words, this is happening by increasing the maximum social security income and the minimum wage.

“We are getting closer and closer to the economic nonsense of the minimum wage approaching or equalling the average wage in some places in the country,” Krastev stressed, adding that the statistics on the average wage are distorted because of Sofia. He predicted that closing the gap between minimum and average pay could lead to "cataclysms".

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More than half of the unemployed in this country have no professional qualifications, according to data from the Employment Agency, Nova TV reports. Their number has increased by 8% compared to the first six months of last year.

There are over 152,000 unemployed in Bulgaria and over 87,000 of them are not professionally qualified. "The reasons for unemployment are complex. First of all, of course, the economic situation in the country has an impact," said Gabriela Dimcheva, deputy director of the Employment Agency. "Other processes that influence unemployment are regional differences and sometimes the mismatch between the skills that those registered in the labour offices have and the need of businesses for certain skills," Dimcheva added.

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Capital runs an article titled “More VAT or More Red Tape in the Field?”

Since the middle of 2023, about 430 food products have been subject to prior declaration to the National Revenue Agency under strictly defined rules, and those who do not comply with them owe high fines. Whether the new regime has worked is unclear, but for fruit and vegetable producers it has proved virtually inefficient. The problem lies in the type and volume of information that traders and growers have to submit to the NRA online, as soon as the goods leave the field. The rules are there to combat the grey sector. The NRA advises temporarily bypassing them by using smaller trucks. Meanwhile, the Finance Minister has promised legislative changes.