site.btaMedia Review: Dec. 3

POLITICS

A new attempt to unblock the work of the National Assembly comes from BSP - United Left, who have issued an invitation for a joint meeting of the parliamentary parties without MRF - New Beginning.

The invitation for Tuesday’s meeting was sent to the six formations, but so far there has been no official response on who would accept it.

In their press release, BSP - United Left express their readiness to talk. They call on the parties to unite around the nomination of Assoc. Prof. Natalia Kiselova for chair of Parliament, and to specify the urgent legislative initiatives on which the National Assembly should start working. On Wednesday, the MPs will make a record 9th attempt to elect a chair of the National Assembly.

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The Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning will not nominate either a chair or a deputy chair of the National Assembly, according to a position of party leader Delyan Peevski distributed on the Facebook page of the political force, Dnevnik reports. Peevski argues this would set in motion the process of scheduling new early elections. 

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Trud reports that members of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee from all political groups attacked the Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia Timco Mucunski because his country does not respect the agreements with its neighbours. Among them is the good-neighbourhood agreement with Bulgaria, according to which his country must list the Bulgarians as a state-forming nation in the preamble to its Constitution. This is the condition for Bulgaria to lift its veto on North Macedonia’s negotiations for EU membership. 

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Head of State Rumen Radev will honour outstanding Bulgarian athletes with the Presidential Badge of Honour, the national radio reports. The ceremony starts at 11 am in the Coat of Arms Hall of the presidential institution. 

For outstanding merits in the development of Bulgarian sport, the Olympic movement and the development of young talents, the head of State will present the President's Badge of Honour to shooting sport athlete Nonka Matova for her participation in seven Olympic Games and for winning over 600 medals at Olympic, World and European championships; swimmer Tanya Bogomilova for her title at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul; shooting sport athlete Vesela Lecheva for her two silver medals from the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992; wrestler Armen Nazaryan for winning a gold medal for Bulgaria at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000; two-time world champion in figure skating Albena Denkova; European champion in the 100 and 200 meters sprint in 2012 and 2016 Ivet Lalova.

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Dnevnik runs an interview with Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev. He outlines the goals he has set for his team to improve the capital's sports life.

“We want the ownership of the Georgi Asparuhov stadium to show that the Municipality can create and maintain a successful public-private partnership... We continue to work towards ensuring that a football match does not block the centre of the capital... Vitosha Mountain can become more accessible in the next term if there is a willingness from all institutions,” Terziev says.

ECONOMY

The national radio reports that President Rumen Radev will participate in the inauguration ceremony of Lyubomir Karimanski as a member of the Governing Council of the Bulgarian National Bank. Vice President Iliana Iotova will also attend the event.

The head of State signed a decree appointing Karimanski in early October. He replaces Lyudmila Elkova, the current member of the Governing Council of the BNB from the President's quota, whose six-year term expired on December 2.

Lyubomir Karimanski is an economist and politician. His professional development in the Bulgarian banking sector began in 1991. He has experience in the management of several banking institutions. Karimanski was a member of TISP in several parliaments. In 2022, he was nominated for governor of BNB.

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Bulgaria would gain over BGN 1.6 billion a year if it enters Schengen by land, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences calculated, Nova TV reports. The study identifies several areas where the benefits will be felt the most: freight traffic, citizens travelling to Romania and Greece, the tourism business, the environmental effect, and the economy.

The biggest benefit will be for heavy road transport, as well as for producers and exporters of goods, whose direct costs are estimated at BGN 845 million.

The volume of harmful CO2 emissions generated as a result of the border crossings in Bulgaria and Romania amounts to 46,162 tonnes per year. There will also be direct fiscal benefits, which economists estimate at around BGN 138 million.

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Companies are planning mass layoffs, according to Nova TV. Nearly 10,000 employees in the last two years have lost their jobs. The topic is regaining traction as large foreign investors are withdrawing from Bulgaria.

Since the beginning of the year until October, employers have sent the Employment Agency 65 notifications of impending mass layoffs affecting 4,921 workers.

Human Resources specialist Maria Stoeva believes that mass layoffs are still isolated cases and not a trend. "Unskilled staff will start to drop out of the labour market, especially where there are automation opportunities. Another factor is the high cost of labour, against which there is no growth in productivity. In that case, the most natural thing is for companies to move to cheaper countries. Unemployment is unhealthily low, 6-7% is normal for an economy,” she said.

ENVIRONMENT

The price of water in Sliven has again caused public discontent. A civil protest is planned on Tuesday in front of the building of the water and sewerage company. 

The proposed increase from January 1 by the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission was the highest in the country: by 20.95% up to BGN 4.65 per cubic metre from the current price of BGN 3.92.

Overall, the price is not one of the highest in the country, but the organizers of the protest say that the water reaches them without going through the local water treatment plant, which has been under construction for about 35 years, but does not work.

The protesters claim that total water losses due to leakage in Sliven range between 82 and 84%.

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Nova TV reports that theatre artists from Shumen are raising awareness of the water scarcity in the region with a performance and a public discussion. In addition to citizens, representatives of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission, as well as the city council, are among those invited. The initiative comes days after the proposal to raise the price of water in December, although in November it was undrinkable. The show's main storyline is actual accounts from people who have been facing the water supply problem for years.

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From a veterinary point of view, samples should not be taken for the third time. If you take them ten more times, positive samples cannot become negative, said Prof. Raiko Peshev, Chairman of the Scientific Council of Veterinary Medicine at the National Diagnostic Research Veterinary Medical Institute. He commented for the national radio on the tension that arose over the sheep farm in Velingrad, where farmers claim that the testing on their animals is being manipulated for political purposes.

According to Peshev, the results obtained so far are accurate and valid. The samples are in machines that automatically report the results, he said, calling claims that the samples could be manipulated "complete speculation".

Unless measures are taken to eliminate the sick animals, there is a danger that the disease will spread outside the country. Positive animals should be culled, the expert said.

He added that calculations have been made that the cost of culling animals is less than it would cost to vaccinate them, and in the EU, no vaccine is administered because there is no way to distinguish between vaccinated and diseased animals.

The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency has not taken any disinfection measures at the farm in Velingrad to prevent the infection spreading, said Simeon Karakolev, chairman of the National Sheep and Horse Breeders Association, in the Nova TV studio.

MALL VIOLENCE

The instigator of the recent act of aggression in a mall in Sofia was an underage boy, 13 years old, Nova TV learned from Deputy District Prosecutor of Sofia Atanas Dotsinski, who commented on the case involving three minors and an underage boy who attacked an employee of a shopping mall in Sofia.

"The pre-trial detention of the three detainees for the violence in a Sofia mall will be heard on Tuesday at the Sofia City Court. The court will decide whether to keep them in custody permanently or release them. The group had four members and it was their first offence in terms of criminal activity," said Dotsinski.

He expressed hope that the youths' detention would have a re-educating effect on them. "Not only to them, but to anyone else who would think of committing this type of act," he added.

Dotsinski also explained what sentence awaits the teens. For an adult it is up to five years imprisonment, and for minors - up to two years.

SANDANSKI INCIDENT

The fatal case in Sandanski of a newborn who died in an ambulance was commented on by medical law lawyer Maria Petrova and former health minister Mimi Vitkova on Nova TV's morning show. According to Vitkova, this incident is not a precedent. "We will find it in many places in the country. The shortage of personnel is catastrophic. The scariest thing is that I don't see any management measures to correct it. Nurses have long been below the critical minimum," she said.

"From what I have seen and heard, some people don't know what they are doing. A hospital cannot rotate its address every two weeks, this cannot be. A medical facility has to work 24 hours, seven days a week, that's why it's a hospital," Petrova said, after it became clear that the night shifts in the maternity wards in Petrich and Sandanski work on a rotational basis.

According to her, if there is a shortage of staff, the hospital should be restructured or doctors should be found. "This is not the time to edify doctors, the problem comes from bad management and non-compliance with laws," she was adamant.