site.btaMedia Review: October 16

In Bulgaria, October 16 marks Aviation and Air Force Day. In 2024, it will not be fully celebrated because of the crash of a Bulgarian Air Force L-39ZA combat trainer at the Graf Ignatievo Air Base on September 13 in which its two pilots, Petko Dimitrov and Ventsislav Dunkin, were killed.  

L-39ZA COMBAT TRAINER CRASH

The Plovdiv Military District Prosecution Office criticized the conclusion that the main cause of the crash of the L-39ZA combat trainer was the taking of an unjustifiably high risk when performing complex aerial aerobatics. The conclusion was made public Tuesday at a Defence Ministry press conference by Colonel Petko Vassilev, expert at the Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation Unit of the Military Police Department. It is unacceptable and incorrect to draw conclusions in the public domain about who is responsible for the tragic accident and to attribute blame to the victims, the Plovdiv Military District Prosecution Office’s statement reads, as quoted by the Dnevnik.bg online news outlet and Nova TV.

Attending a traditional wreath-laying ritual at the Monument to the Pilot in Sofia on the occasion of the Aviation and Air Force Day, President Rumen Radev, who is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and a former Air Force commander, declined to comment on theories about the crash before all the facts were known. He said that attempts to name people responsible for the crash, political interference, and calls for resignations are unethical and immoral. Radev’s statement was made while speaking to reporters and was covered by all media.

Commenting on the crash in a Bulgarian National Radio interview, aviation journalist Dimitar Stavrev said that, in the last 20 years, the Bulgarian Air Force has been defeated not by a foreign enemy, but by Bulgaria itself. Stavrev is adamant that the military aviation should be sufficiently funded and the money spent effectively in order to function properly. "There are a lot of financial interests in the defence sector," he hinted, underscoring that the army is needed not only in times of war, but in times of peace, as well. Commenting on the Military Police Department’s information that the two pilots who died had flown some 50 hours a year each, Stavrev recalled that, according to NATO standards, pilots must fly some 120 to 180 hours a year.

PROCEDURE FOR ELECTION OF NEW PROSECUTOR GENERAL

Most media cover the protest rally against the Supreme Judicial Council’s (SJC) procedure for the election of acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov as Prosecutor General, which took place in front of the Parliament's building on Sofia's Independence Square on Tuesday evening. The demonstration was organized by the Justice for All Initiative. For a while, hundreds of citizens blocked the traffic on the Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard between the Bulgarian National Bank and the so-called "triangle of power", where the administration buildings of the Presidency, the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly are located. The protesters were also collecting signatures in a petition to stop Sarafov’s election procedure. Sarafov is the only candidate for the position. Many expect of the Constitutional Court to interpret the Constitution and determine if a SJC with an expired term of office - which is the case with the current SJC, is qualified to nominate a new prosecutor general or president of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court. Borislav Sarafov is currently the acting Prosecutor General after the term of office of his predecessor Ivan Geshev was terminated early on June 15, 2023.

On October 16, the Bulgarian Judges Association opposed the election of Sarafov as Prosecutor General. Segabg.com, Eurocom TV, the Lex.bg law portal, the Bulgarian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, among other online media outlets covered the news.

Commenting on the topic on Bulgarian National Radio, former caretaker justice minister and interior minister Ivan Demerzhiev said that Bulgarian citizens are not satisfied with the work of the prosecuting magistracy, and change is not possible if having an election procedure like the previous one – with only one candidate, without a debate, with a candidate who has been at the top of prosecuting magistracy for over 10 years as a deputy to former prosecutors general Sotir Tsatsarov and Ivan Geshev. "The justice deficit in our society is getting larger and larger, and there is a very strong tension growing, which, if not extinguished, will have very serious consequences," Demerdzhiev believes. "Bulgarian citizens are not satisfied with the work of the prosecuting magistracy. For years it has worked only when it has to serve a particular order or political interest," he added.

POLITICS

24 Chasa’s front-page article reads that some 2,000 people gave up fighting to enter the 51st National Assembly because of the 'election circus' during the last two years. According to the story, a total of 4,858 MP candidates will participate in the upcoming October 27 snap parliamentary elections, which is 1,766 candidates less, compared to the elections on October 2, 2022. The number of people wishing to become MPs will decrease further as the Central Election Commission (CEC) has already reported that it keep receiving letters from people who want to be deleted from the MP candidate lists, 24 Chasa's article further reads. A total of twenty-two parties and nine coalitions have been registered for the October 27 elections by CEC, according to its register.

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A Trud’s frontpage story reads that senior officials at the state-owned National Company Industrial Zones (NCIZ) enterprise have spent state funds on personal expenses, including jewellery, clothing, accommodation and fuel. The article is based on information from a report of the Public Financial Inspection Agency (PFIA) on the company’s representation expenses. Between June 1, 2019 and July 31, 2023, BGN 14,109.49 of NCIZ’s budget was spent on clothing, footwear, food warmers, a swing, a lounger, a coffee machine, a painting, among others, which do not meet the requirements of representation expenses, according to PFIA. During this period, one of the NCIZ’s executive directors has spent BGN 48,298.90 on clothes, shoes, jewellery, gold products, perfumes, cosmetics, dioptric sunglasses, household goods and utensils, vouchers, among others. Following the start of the financial inspection, the director voluntarily reimbursed the amount. One of the members of NCIZ’s board of directors has spent BGN 5,259.54 on fuel, which again does not qualify as a representation expense. A total of BGN 3,970.78 was also spent on overnight accommodation during the period audited, but some of the money was not reported as spent on business trips. There were other directors who also spent public money on personal needs, Trud’s article further says. According to the story, PFIA has deleted all the names in the report that was published. The state-owned NCIZ specializes in industrial park development, management of industrial zones and innovation centres, provision of additional services to investors.

The topic was also covered by journalist Tanya Petrova of Segabg.com, who gave an interview on it in the morning talk show of Nova News.

BALKANS

An analysis on the geopolitical situation in the Balkans, published by Trud, argues that the government of the Republic of North Macedonia yet again openly serves anti-European interests. According to the story, the new cabinet in North Macedonia has made it clear that the transport connection with Thessaloniki (Greece), and especially Belgrade (Serbia), is preferable to the one with Albania and Bulgaria. This statement comes as a response to Aleksandar Nikoloski, Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, who outlined that his country’s priorities lie "with a special focus on the construction of a high-speed railway along Corridor 10 (connecting Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia and Hungary with Greece), while the construction of Corridor 8 (linking Italy, Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria), should also be completed, but a new project is needed because the current one is "expensive and unfeasible".North Macedonia’s desire to become a member of the European Union is paradoxical, given the fact that Hristijan Mickoski openly opposes and goes against European interests, Trud’s story reads. "A few days ago, the Serbian authorities boasted that they have stopped the construction of Corridor 8 between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, there can hardly be any doubt that the new government in the Republic of North Macedonia is under the direct rule of our western neighbour [Serbia]", the article says.

FUEL PRICES IN BULGARIA

Fuel prices in Bulgaria are on the rise, the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported. The price for a litre of gasoline or diesel is about to reach BGN 2.50, with the price difference between the two types of fuel being minimal. Fuel prices in Bulgaria have risen over the past month but are significantly lower compared to the same period in 2023.

In a BNT interview, Dimitar Hadzhidimitrov, Chair of the Association of Bulgarian Fuel Traders, Producers, Importers and Carriers, which represents small and medium-sized companies in the sector, said that the fuel market is dynamic one. He believes that the fuel prices will drop until end-October. These are normal trends which depend on the demand of fuel, he stressed, adding that changes in fuel prices are not only determined by ongoing wars around the world. Hadzhidimitrov also admitted that in various places across Bulgaria there are unfair agreements between local fuel traders to keep certain prices a bit higher.

GAMBLING

bTV reports that since the beginning of 2024, the National Revenue Agency (NRA) has blocked over 2,500 gambling websites who had not been licensed to operate and organizes gambling games under Bulgaria’s Gambling Act. Once the decision to block a site is published on the NRA's website, the unlicensed gambling website must cease activity within three days.