site.btaMedia Review: November 27

The topic of the upcoming sixth attempt to elect National Assembly chair and potential new early elections dominate Wednesday's news media.

POLITICS

Trud's writes on its front page that snap elections are becoming increasingly inevitable, according to political experts. Politicians have been practicing two scenarios for a government in recent days, but the optimism of the participants in the elections has already reached a freezing point, say political analysts who closely follow the processes. The first and theoretically most possible scenario is for a cabinet of GERB-UDF and Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), which together have 106 MPs. The other scenario, which is less likely to happen, is for all formations except GERB-UDF and MRF-New Beginning to form a majority of 134 MPs. Wednesday's vote for National Assembly chair will be an indicator whether some agreement between the parties has been reached through backstage deals, but according to MPs and party leaders, this sixth time is unlikely to result in a regular government. The rumours that the new Parliament chair is the future caretaker prime minister make the choice even more difficult.

In an interview for Trud, political psychologist Rossen Yordanov comments on the political situation in Bulgaria. In his words, GERB leader Boyko Borissov made a very strong move and put all the parties in a checkmate when on Tuesday he withdrew his proposal to become prime minister-designate, thus transferring the responsibility for electing both a National Assembly chair and a prime minister to the other parliamentary forces. If they elect the candidate for National Assembly chair of There Is Such a People, Silvi Kirilov, that would lead to extremely complex constitutional and political situations. Judging from his observations of other political entities, the expert thinks they do not really want to be held accountable. Even if they have some idea of their own capacity, these parties don't really have the capacity, they killed it by expelling capable members, Yordanov commented. In his words, the political situation reflects the social collapse in Bulgaria.

An analysis at Capital.bg reads that new elections are on the horizon, and the past ones have shown that the most important question related to them is who will organise them. "If it is again Glavchev's cabinet, installed with last year's changes in the Constitution with the idea that no one should be held responsible for his actions, we can expect a repetition of the perversions with the electoral process on an even larger scale," the analysis reads. Without a chance for a regular government, the only obstacle would be a new caretaker cabinet outside  the control of MRF-New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski. "This could at least vaporise the brazen use of public funds to finance mayors in exchange for the supply of votes," the article reads. The picture would also be changed by a different attitude of the Interior Ministry to vote-buying from the current one, and by restraining the security services from engaging in criminal actions against political opponents. Under the current circumstances, the key to such an outcome lies with the National Assembly and the President. Parliament - with the election of a new chairperson so that Rumen Radev can appoint them, in the absence of other options, and the President - if in the meantime the Constitutional Court returns to him the powers concerning caretaker cabinet, taken away from him through the constitutional amendments.

Duma quotes BSP-United Left leader Atanas Zafirov as saying on Tuesday that his formation does not share the approach of seeking an ad hoc solution. "We cannot give support that is not asked for. For Silvi Kirilov, no one has asked us for support," he noted at a meeting with Vazrazhdane and MECh. He stressed that currently the election of a National Assembly chair is confused with that of a caretaker prime minister. The Socialist recalled that There Is Such a People had refused to declare that Kirilov would not occupy this post. "If he is going to become prime minister, it should be clear what policies he stands behind, which parties and which circles stand behind him," Zafirov underscored. He was adamant that everyone should have come to the same table and these issues should have been resolved. "Have we heard from him that judicial reform or social policies will be a priority? This is very important for us. We want to know this chairperson, whoever they are, whether they will fulfil their duties or serve other interests," he said. "We are ready to discuss other options, let everything be clear and decided at the table. Let us discuss the merits of the candidates.  If we are responsible parliamentarians to our constituents, we must put an end to the vicious circle we have entered," the Socialist added. 

In an interview on Bulgarian National Radio, Stanislav Balabanov MP of There Is Such a People (TISP) commented on their candidate for National Assembly chair, Silvi Kirilov, refuting the claims of other parliamentary formations that Kirilov is being secretly prepared for caretaker prime minister. Balabanov described these claims as “complete nonsense”, just like the claims that a ruling majority has been formed behind the scenes. In his words, TISP has proposed a clear exit from the political situation, and it has nothing to do with forming a majority. Kirilov’s nomination is a move to get Parliament working and unblock the legislative process, Balabanov explained. This is evidenced by the fact that TISP withdrew their regular nomination for National Assembly chair, Assoc. Nikoleta Kouzmanova, to nominate Kirilov as the oldest MP in Parliament. If Kirilov gets elected and a majority is formed for a regular government, Kirilov will be the first person to resign, Balabanov said.

On Nova TV's morning show, political analyst Tsvetanka Andreeva and journalist Emilia Milcheva commented on whether it is still possible to form a regular government or new elections are inevitable, and on the reasons behind Borissov withdrawing his proposal to become prime minister-designate. According to Andreeva, Borissov knew from the very beginning that his proposal would blow up the negotiations for a regular government; it was a purposeful sabotage of the opportunity for a coalition between GERB-UDF and CC-DB. According to Milcheva, if there is a new caretaker government, there should also be a new caretaker minister of the interior who will be responsible for the transparency and fairness of the next elections.

On Bulgarian National Television's morning show, the same topic was discussed by sociologist Elena Darieva, political analysts Slavi Vassilev, Kristiyan Skvarek and Stoycho Stoychev, and journalists Rouzha Raycheva and Valeriya Veleva. Darieva commented that all parliamentary formations seem to be hardening their positions and refusing to make compromises, and a balancing player is nowhere to be found. Vassilev said that Borissov's era is obviously coming to an end, a process which is not new but is now nearing its conclusion. Skvarek commented that the parliamentary forces apparently do not wish to work and govern the country, and the caretaker government will hardly show initiative to do much given it might no longer exist in a couple of months. Stoychev said that there are only a small number of options for a regular government to be formed, and neither of them are very probable; the political logic dictates that new snap elections are inevitable, but Bulgarian politics are not always following normal logic, so surprises are always possible. Raycheva and Veleva both agreed that Borissov is in a perfect position now and has played his cards well.

On bTV's morning show, Lena Borislavova MP of CC-DB commented: "What Borissov does not want is to dissociate himself from Peevski and in any way to commit that Peevski and MRF-New Beginning will not have power and political leverage and positions. For one month Borissov stood under the table of Peevski, then made a proposal that Borissov be prime minister and tried to trade positions, as if the portions in this country are distributed." She explained that CC-DB has repeatedly spoken out against these actions. "What CC-DB has said that it will do is that when the responsibility comes to us with the second mandate to offer a way out of the political crisis, we will propose that we look for a candidate who is equidistant from the political parties, a public figure, she or he, who will be a bridge to work on getting out of the crisis," she said.

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24 Chasa's and Telegraf's front-page stories are dedicated to Bulgaria's upcoming entry in Schengen by land. 24 Chasa writes that as of January 1, 2025, cars will no longer have to stop at the Greek border control checkpoints; they will only have to slow down to 30 km/h or 50 km/h, depending on the infrastructure. The CCTV and the buildings at the checkpoints will remain, but the speed bumps will be removed. There will still be border control, simply different. For example, there might be traffic police checks in the 30 km zone leading to the border. Telegraf writes that the queues at the border control checkpoints with Greece and Romania will shrink three-fold.

Bulgarian National Television's morning show approached Bulgarian MEPs for a comment on the upcoming entry in Schengen, which everyone sees as good news and a big success for Bulgaria.

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24 Chasa has the first-ever interview with the son-in-law of King Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Kitin Muñoz. Talking about his life in Bulgaria, the husband of Princess Kalina says that his favourite Bulgarian word is that for family, "semeystvo".

ECONOMY

24 Chasa has an interview with economist Nikolay Vassilev, who proposes that should a person be an abiding tax payer for one or several years, their past tax actions should not be checked for regularity. According to him, that idea is better than the caretaker Finance Minister's proposal for one-time amnesty for unpaid taxes as a way to get some BGN 4 billion in the budget out of the BGN 12 billion necessary. Vassilev, former minister of economy and transport in the government of Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, argues that due to the frequent snap general elections, the situation in Bulgaria's economy is not good: foreign and Bulgarian investments are moving towards the zero, the economic growth is at around 2% when Argentina's exceeds 8%, the financial industry is facing collapse, and there is no demographic policy. A regular and stable government is needed, but that requires well-natured leaders, mutual respect and tolerance; instead, the parliamentary forces are experiencing hopeless impotence. Vassilev described the state budgets in the last four years as insane, with debts, deficits, and social spending at the maximum and no reforms in any sectors, pushing the budget down the slide. There has been no reason for budget deficits since 2019; Bulgaria has been spending unreasonably without there being a single crisis, so what will happen if several hit the country at the same time, Vassilev asked. To have a budget without a deficit, the economist proposes a reduction in the number of ministries, concessions on motorways and other infrastructural sites to increase investment by private investors, reduction of ineffective subsidies, financial support only for the needy, and reforms in the entire public sector.

On Bulgarian National Television's morning show, economist Vladimir Sirakov and financial expert Lyubomir Datsov commented on the risks for next year's state budget. Sirakov said that the current data and the outlook for 2025 are currently relatively good in the context of a slower performance of Europe as a whole. "Unfortunately, from a fiscal point of view we have serious challenges. In terms of basic parameters such as GDP forecasts and inflation, we are standing solidly, which shows that the private sector manages to generate added value and to develop, despite everything around it and especially the political crisis, which has been harassing the overall condition and expectations of all of us and of business for quite a long time," he explained. At the moment it cannot be said that we are in crisis or there are serious problems, but the projections into the future show that we not only need to be careful with the management of public finances, but that we are late in doing so. Datsov, a former deputy finance minister, stressed that 2025 is very uncertain and unclear from an economic point of view, and expressed his personal opinion: "We have two scenarios at the moment, and they are relatively opposite. One is for a reduction in growth relative to this year - a GDP growth of 2.2 to 2.4% for 2024  and of 1.7 to 1.8% for 2025. The other scenario is a very small increase in growth for next year between 2.5 and 2.6%." According to him, the negative growth scenario of 1.7 to 1.8% is more realistic.

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Segabg.com reports that the Maritsa 3 thermal power plant is a major source of sulphur dioxide air pollution in Dimitrovgrad (Southern Bulgaria). When the plant is operating, the average concentration of this pollutant is almost twice as high as when the plant is off-line, said Greenpeace on the occasion of a new scientific report prepared by the research laboratories of the environmental organization at the University of Exeter, UK. The analysis is based on official 2023 air quality data from the Rakovski measuring station in the centre of Dimitrovgrad, as well as data on the strength and direction of winds. The Maritsa 3 thermal power plant operated sporadically in 2023, with significant differences in sulphur dioxide concentrations in ambient air depending on whether the plant was operating or not.  During operation of the plant, 90% of the 50 highest hourly sulphur dioxide concentrations and 83% of the 100 highest values were recorded. "The analysis confirmed what the residents of the town have known for years: the Maritsa 3 thermal power plant associated with businessman Hristo Kovachki is poisoning the air of Dimitrovgrad. The data shatters to dust the plant's claim that someone else is to blame for the toxic air. A number of institutions have proved powerless to prevent the ongoing pollution, despite solid evidence that the plant cannot operate without breaking the law. How long will the profits of a chronic polluter be more important than people's health and compliance with the law?", said Desislava Mikova, coordinator of the Climate and Energy Campaign at Greenpeace Bulgaria, as quoted by Sega.

Nova TV's morning show reported that an illegal waste dump next to the building of the Traffic Police in Plovdiv's Sheker Mahala neighbourhood systematically pollutes the air in the city. Locals told Nova that cases of waste burning have been increasing in the last month, and clouds of black smoke are billowing. On weekends, they rise so high that they are visible from the Trakia motorway and the road to Pazardzhik.Citizens call the dump "the eternal flame". Fire brigades have come 11 times in a month to put out burning plastic raw materials, tires and household waste.  Tsvetomir Tsvetkov, Deputy Mayor of the affected district, told Nova: "We have repeatedly turned to the law enforcers asking for more frequent rounds of this place. Practice has shown that this yields results. We have repeatedly sent reports with measures and solutions that would lead to an improvement in the situation. We are doing everything in our power to solve the problem. We are not an enforcement agent and we have no law enforcement or security functions." Desislava Georgieva, head of the Chistota municipal company responsible for keeping Plovdiv clean, said that since the beginning of September, over 20 violation tickets have been issued; the fines amount to between BGN 300 and 800. 

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Bulgaria is preparing to get back on the map of space food producers, as Bulgarian space food will reappear on the Bulgarian market in early 2025. The innovation is that these products will also be consumable here on Earth, for example during military missions or in extreme weather conditions. The topic is also very topical in Europe, as this year the Lithuanian company Super Garden won the European Space Agency competition and became the first supplier of freeze-dried snacks in Europe. The new launch comes after a Bulgarian company and the Institute of Cryobiology and Food Technologies with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences joined forces to revive Bulgarian space food production. During socialism, Bulgaria was the third biggest space food producer in the world, after the USA and the USSR, the e-zine recalls.  

HOME AFFAIRS

Wednesday's news media all discuss a recent attack by teenagers on a security guard at a mall in Sofia. Various experts look at the potential reasons for the rising number of cases of aggression by children in Bulgaria.

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Telegraf has an interview with prosecutor Hristiana Keranova, who talks about recent cases of violence against women.