site.btaMedia Review: December 11

PRESIDENT'S CONSULTATIONS WITH PARLIAMENTARY GROUPS

Sega, Trud, 24 Chasa, Mediapool reported on the beginning of President Rumen Radev's consultations with the parliamentary parties prior to handing a government-forming mandate. On Tuesday, Radev met with GERB-UDF, followed by CC-DB. Both stated that the budget was their most important priority. GERB leader Boyko Borissov promised that talks with the other parties would begin this week, and that they will do everything in their power to convince their colleagues to form a government. CC-DB confirmed that only Democratic Bulgaria would talk to GERB if Borissov did not sign their declaration on the sanitary cordon around Delyan Peevski and MRF-New Beginning. Peevski later commented that his party would go to the consultations at the presidency, but that he himself would not attend. 

Trud, 24 Chasa and Mediapool quote CC-DB's Nadejda Iordanova, who said that Democratic Bulgaria will talk with GERB to explain the measures they want to impose against MRF-New Beginning and insist that the first political force provide a guarantee for their implementation. Kiril Petkov commented that he respects his coalition partners' approach but does not trust Borissov or GERB.

Trud, Telegraph, 24 Chasa, Mediapool and Sega added that after the consultations, Borissov told the journalists that the future government could only be strong if he was prime minister. At the end of November, amid the turmoil in parliament over the election of the National Assembly Chair, Borissov had stated that he did not want to deal with "this broken country" and briefly gave up the prime ministerial claim. He added that if there is no government with the first mandate, majorities can be formed with other parties with the second and third mandates, but outside GERB. "BSP proved that we can partner with them. Our formula included CC-DB, TISP, BSP. That seemed possible to me," Borisov said. He once again recalled that GERB will not negotiate with Vazrazhdane, the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms and MRF-New Beginning.

Trud, 24 Chasa, Telegraph, Sega, Mediapool also reported that President Rumen Radev will not hold consultations on forming a government with MRF-New Beginning. He still has to meet with Vazrazhdane, BSP - United Left, Democracy, Rights and Freedoms - MRF (the parliamentary group of the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms) , There Is Such a People (TISP) and MECh.

Telegraph and Mediapool quote MRF-New Beginning MEP Elena Yoncheva, who condemned President's Radev's decision not to send the party an invitation for consultations. She argued that not allowing a parliamentary represented party to the consultations on forming a government is an unprecedented decision and a step towards the destruction of statehood and undermining the rule of law. 

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Bulgarian National Television (BNT), bTV and Nova all focused on the President's decision not to invite MRF-New Beginning to consultations. Legal expert Orlin Kolev explained on BNT that the Constitution states that the President must hold consultations with "the parliamentary groups", and tough the word "all" is not present, it is implied. So far, every president has held consultations with all parliamentary groups. Kolev added that the Constitution also outlines the integrating and unifying function of the president, as opposed to parliament which is a forum of the individual groups that implement certain political views. Kolev argued that there is indeed a violation of the Constitution in this case. 

BNT also featured Anton Kutev, former caretaker government spokesperson, who said that the President not meeting with MRF-New Beginning is a "political gesture", which he does not see a problem with. "The president's gesture is very well thought out and shows his attitude towards certain ways of doing politics. This is not an attitude towards the people who voted for Delyan Peevski," Kutev added.

Political scientist Prof. Rumyana Kolarova said on the air of bTV that since the beginning of his mandate, the President has shown political bias, including leading protests against the current government, so the current situation fits his style of politics. She pointed out that according to constitutional experts, the text of the Constitution clearly states that the president must meet with all parliamentary groups. She also noted that it is not natural for the head of State to exclude parliamentary groups, as they represent voters. 

POLITICS

Sega, 24 Chasa, Mediapool and Trud reported that, after weeks of squabbles, the National Assembly set up an ad hoc committee to draft the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, chaired by Hristo Gadzhev from GERB-UDF and including 16 MPs, two from each parliamentary group. Written proposals for amendments or additions to the draft rules will be submitted by Friday, December 13. It is not yet clear whether the MPs will have a holiday break. Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB called for work on Saturdays and Sundays, and during the Christmas vacation.

24 Chasa and Mediapool added that National Assembly Chair Nataliya Kiselova said in Parliament on Tuesday that once the parliamentary committees get set up, she will coordinate with their chairs to compose a timetable for the procedures for the election of bodies and members of bodies with expired or terminated mandate and of non-constituted bodies, of which there are 96 currently.

Trud reports that National Assembly Chair Nataliya Kiselova met with caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev. The two discussed the interaction between the institutions and the priorities in the work of the 51st National Assembly, including the 2025 State Budget. Kiselova stated that she will work to ensure that they begin full-fledged work on legislation and parliamentary control as soon as possible.

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Trud, 24 Chasa, Telegraph, Sega, Mediapool reported that former prime minister and CC-DB Co-chair Kiril Petkov has submitted to the registry of the 51st National Assembly a waiver of his immunity as a member of Parliament. On Monday, Acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov requested Petkov's immunity in connection with an investigation into the fact that on March 17, 2022, Prime Minister Petkov exceeded his authority and ordered the arrest of GERB leader Boyko Borissov, Vladislav Goranov and Sevdelina Arnaudova. The request came more than two and a half years after Borissov's arrest. Speaking to journalists, Borissov questioned why this is happening now, during the negotiations for forming a government. MRF - New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski called the situation "one big show".

Mediapool and Trud quote Petkov, who argued that the request for the waiving of his political immunity is happening now, because the cordon sanitaire (sanitary cordon) against Delyan Peevski and MRF-New Beginning has worked. 

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Trud reports that the former National Assembly Chair of the 50th National Assembly, Raya Nazaryan from GERB, is the only politician in the top 10 searches on Google in Bulgaria for 2024. Nazaryan is in ninth place in the overall ranking and in second place in the most searched personalities after Bulgarian weightlifter Karlos Nasar, according to the traditional annual review of the most used search engine.

Trud writes that Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia Daniil and the Metropolitans of the Holy Synod received Tuesday Chair of the National Assembly Nataliya Kiselova and her deputies. Kiselova expressed hope that in the future there will be fruitful cooperation between Parliament and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Daniil blessed the MPs and noted the importance of the interaction between the two institutions. 

Trud quoted the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, which published an address calling on all international organizations, political leaders and statesmen who can provide assistance and support to take swift and effective action to protect and guarantee the lives, human rights and freedom of religion of Christians in Syria and Lebanon.

HOME AFFAIRS

Sega and Mediapool report of millions worth of damages to the State due to an illegal scheme involving unpaid excise taxes through fictitious contracts for the supply of diesel fuel to the Novo Selo military training area, where units of the US army are stationed. A Bulgarian company took advantage of a defence contract with the US, which provides for exemption from excise taxes on fuel supplies. The company in question presented false documents to customs and was given the right not to pay excise taxes. The scheme was uncovered after an alert from customs officials and with cooperation and assistance from the US, it was established that these were false documents. The unpaid excise tax damages alone amount to BGN 10 million, while the National Revenue Agency is calculating how much the loss is from VAT as well. The scheme operated for five years. 

Mediapool reports that BETL, a company operating a financial scheme targeting Bulgarian investors, affected about 28,000 Bulgarians. The company was advertised as producing battery charging devices and is most likely a pyramid structure aimed at criminal activity related to fraud, said caretaker Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov.

Sega warns that after the BETL financial scheme, which promised generous dividends for anyone who invested in mobile phone charging stations in China, suddenly stopped its activities, providing no pay outs or access to its sites, another company that offers a similar scheme for dubious profits, Powerpal Bulgaria, is gaining popularity on social media.

2025 DRAFT STATE BUDGET

Sega writes that the draft 2025 state budget published by the Ministry of Finance is monstrously inflated, with and increase in expenditures of over BGN 20 billion, to a record BGN 98.908 billion (46% of GDP). For comparison, the 2024 treasury expenditures are expected to be BGN 72.242 billion. The publication goes on to note that the draft budget contains plenty of ideas for bringing in more revenue "many of which are, to put it mildly, unrealistic", increasing the revenue side of the budget by BGN 17 billion (a projected unprecedented 28% growth), against the backdrop of a rather modest economic growth set for next year and declining inflation. The Ministry of Finance predicts GDP growth of 2.8% in 2025, but according to economists, this percentage is also overestimated given the stagnation of the country's main markets. 

Mediapool quotes the Institute for Market Economics (IME), which is adamantly against the adoption of this 2025 draft state budget. According to the organization, the project is leading the country to a "fiscal catastrophe" due to the strong inflation of expenses, against which unrealistic revenues have been recorded with an unrealistic growth of 20 BGN billion on an annual basis. "The budget envisages a change in the country's financial management model and excessive state intervention in the lives of Bulgarians," warned the IME.

On the air of bTV, Nikola Yankov, a senior fellow at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, commented on the draft 2025 budget. "The mathematics used in the proposed budget are unrealistic. There are hollow revenues worth billions of BGN," he said. In the same discussion former minister Mincho Koralski said that the budget has been made according to the same template for years and there are no particular surprises.

On its morning programme, Nova hosted Fiscal Council member Lyubomir Datsov, economist Stoyan Panchev and senior researcher from the Institute for Market Economics Petar Ganev, who were all critical of the 2025 draft state budget. Ganev argued: "It seems to me that the Ministry of Finance has taken on the position of a major populist and seized the role of Parliament. In principle, MPs are populists who introduce measures, and the Finance Ministry tries to put them within some framework. And now the opposite has happened".

Trud adds that, according to the 2025 draft state budget, the amount of the state subsidy for the parliamentary political parties per vote is 8 BGN. In recent years this provision was voted on by the National Assembly without any debate. The draft state budget plan provides for BGN 19.2 million for the subsidies.

Telegraph reports that the price of alcohol will increase by about 5% if the excise tax is increased, as the caretaker government plans in the 2025 draft budget. "If you increase the price of a fast-moving commodity, the quantity sold drops by twice as much,” commented Ralica Scorcheva-Slavova, President of the spiritsBULGARIA association. She added that an increase in the excise tax on legal alcohol increases the gray sector. She also explained that the shocking 10-15% increase in excise rates for the industry are spread over four calendar years.

On the air of BNT, Union of Bulgarian Actors Chair Hristo Mutafchiev warned of a tendency for drastically cutting funds for culture. "Given the great success that we achieved in 2023 with the protests and the negotiations that we conducted, the budget should be increased," he said.

ECONOMY

Sega writes that Bulgaria is "literally crawling like a snail" in the implementation of operational programs and the absorption of European funds. Bulgaria is completing the fourth year since the beginning of the 2021-2027 programming period, and the actual amount paid under the operational programmes amounted to a modest EUR 817 million, including national co-financing. According to data from the Ministry of Finance, as of the end of October, the amount paid under all operational programmes constituted only 6.3% of the total budget. With national co-financing, this amounts to EUR 12.9 billion. A comparison with data from 2023 shows that the implementation speed over the past 10 months is very low.

Sega and Mediapool report that the transit of gas through Balkan Stream may stop if Gazprom does not indicate how it will pay transit fees in the future. Caretaker Energy Minister Vladimir Malinov explained that until now, payments have been made through the Russian Gazprombank, but after it was sanctioned by the US, alternative options must be found, and so far there are none. At the moment, all due payments have been received, but the US sanctions against Gazprombank come into effect after December 20.