site.btaMedia Review: January 8

POLITICS

Trud writes that participants in the negotiation process for forming a regular government said that the biggest surprise was the abundance of prime minister candidates. This was also the reason for the halt the talks between the teams of the four formations, GERB, Democratic Bulgaria (DB), There Is Such a People (TISP) and BSP-United Left. DB explained that they had nothing against the nomination of Rosen Zhelyazkov, but their voters could not accept a GERB party candidate, despite the fact that the cabinet would be with the mandate of this party. In unofficial talks, the names of Rumyana Bachvarova, Rosen Plevneliev, Nadezhda Neynski and Levon Hambardzumyan were circulated as possible nominees. On Tuesday, both GERB and DB refused to answer a journalist's question about whether the negotiations will be resumed and whether there is still a chance of forming a regular government. Trud learned that there will be no return to the negotiating table, that the agreements reached will be included as a legislative programme. According to political scientists, it is impossible to form a government with a second or third mandate. They expect that the President will hand the first mandate to GERB next week, and they will immediately return it.

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Trud, Sega, Mediapool, Telegraph, 24 Chasa report that a day after Democratic Bulgaria (DB) submitted unexpected draft amendments to the Election Code to Parliament, their coalition partners from Continue the Change (CC) did the same. All the proposed bills for changes to the Election Code were adopted without much debate. Raya Nazaryan from GERB requested the formation of a working group to sift through the proposals. Both the CC and DB drafts envisage that the section election commissions be exempted from the obligation to count ballots by hand. Unlike the DB, which proposed that the counting be carried out in counting centres, CC proposed that this be done with scanners. 

Sega, Trud, Mediapool write that the National Assembly Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee adopted at first reading three draft amendments to the Judiciary Act (by Vazrazhdane, CC-DB and TISP), among which there are texts that would stop the procedure for electing a prosecutor general. The procedure in question is in a very advanced phase, scheduled for next Thursday, and acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov is controversially the only candidate for the post. In order to have an effect, the changes must move on a very fast track. On Monday, President Rumen Radev commented that the current composition of the Supreme Judicial Council has repeatedly demonstrated dependencies and is subject to the current political situation, and should not elect a prosecutor general. Radev has the right to veto, but only once.

Trud, 24 Chasa quote MRF-New Beginning Floor Leader Delyan Peevski, who said that the refusal of the majority in the National Assembly Budget and Finance Committee to support the moratorium on electricity prices proposed by his party "proved once again that in this Parliament only the MRF-New Beginning is committed to the real problems of the people". MRF-New Beginning MP Yordan Tsonev presented the motives for this measure as well as the need for active actions to stop the impoverishment of Bulgarian citizens.

RELIGION

Mediapool, Sega, 24 Chasa, Trud and Telegraph report that the parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs unanimously decided that only the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC) has the right to include these words in its name. They adopted all three draft amendments to the Religious Denominations Act, aimed at opposing the registration of the Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria.

Trud adds that caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev held a meeting with Patriarch of Bulgaria and Metropolitan of Sofia Daniil and confirmed the decision regarding the registration of the Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria. The Prime Minister recalled that the Council of Ministers has repeatedly expressed this position. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, according to the Religious Denominations Act, is an exponent of the traditional religion in the Republic of Bulgaria, Eastern Orthodoxy, and it is led by the Holy Synod and represented by the Bulgarian Patriarch, who is also Metropolitan of Sofia.

Telegraph comments that the registration in the Sofia City Court of yet another Orthodox church stirred up the spirits and that the fears of the BOC bishops are that the Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria will confuse the laity and lead to a schism. Patriarch Daniil has already launched a massive campaign against the newest denomination. However, a check by the Telegraph newspaper in the Denominations Directorate showed that the Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria is by no means an exception, as chronologically it is not even the first, but the second Orthodox organization competing with the BOC brand, albeit it is one with a larger following. 

HOME AFFAIRS

Mediapool quotes a statement by the Bulgarian Judges Association (BJA), stressing that Parliament must clarify the mechanisms for influencing the judiciary before taking any action to reform the system. The BJA expressed doubt for the the ability of the judiciary to "autonomously" conduct an investigation into all scandals related to influence trading, and recalled multiple cases of serious suspicions of influence over magistrates, which have yet to be thoroughly investigated. These include the murder of Martin "the Notary" Bozhanov, and evidence of his activities as an influence broker in the judiciary, as well as scandal with former investigator Petyo "The Euro" Petrov. Although victims of his activities have long spoken publicly, the prosecution service has yet to take significant action. 

Mediapool quotes lawyer Alexander Kashumov, head of the Access to Information Programme, who described as "very dangerous trends" the legal changes proposed by the Glavchev cabinet, subsequently quietly withdrawn, which provide for the introduction of "unlimited state secrets" and terminating the powers of mayors who have not submitted applications for access to classified information or have been denied such by the State Agency for National Security. He explained that such chsnges create the possibility of establishing a lasting influence of secret institutions on people legitimately elected by citizens, as well as on elections and policies.

Trud, as well as Duma's Monday issue, focus on the first practical issues following Bulgaria's membership in Schengen, namely concerning the rules for children's travel outside the country. Trud reports that family law lawyer Yordanka Bekirska and her 16-year-old son Todor conducted an experiment in which they separately bought plane tickets to Paris, and managed to passed through independently, without any additional checks for the young man. Before entering the Schengen area, a minor citizen leaving the country had to have a notarized declaration from both parents. The document was presented to the authorities. The problem is that the current checks are ineffective, and can make "parental abduction" easier to accomplish. In her practice, Bekirska has already had six children taken out of the country by one parent without the permission of the other since Bulgaria joining Schengen by air. "We managed to return some of them, but others - not," she said. 

Mediapool also quotes a French volunteer who participated in the rescue operation for the three dead illegal migrants in Strandzha. He told BNT that on the night of December 27, he and three other students from France and Italy tried to save the distressed migrants, but were prevented by the police.The man spoke about aggressive treatment by border police officers. He claimed that he and his colleagues were stuffed into a trunk and prevented from providing timely assistance to the still agonizing migrants. BNT clarified that in the TV report they changed the French man's name and blurred his face because of concerns for his safety. 

Sega, Telegraph report that nearly BGN 400,000 of the over BGN 2 million siphoned off from the theaters in Razgrad and Smolyan through fictitious employees have already been handed over to the prosecution service. In early October of this year, authorities discovered that about BGN 2 million had been siphoned off from the state subsidy for the theatres in Razgrad and Smolyan fictitious employment contracts. This led to the arrests of the directors of the theaters in Smolyan and Razgrad, Rumen Bechev and Levon Manukyan, and to inspections of cultural institutions throughout the country.

ECONOMY

Telegraph, Trud, 24 Chasa quote caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lyudmila Petkova, who, during a hearing within the parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee, said that the draft budget for 2025 reflects everything that has been done or not done in the last few years in the conditions of political instability. She noted that this is neither a budget of despair, of invented or made-up figures, but an attempt by the caretaker government to achieve a deficit within 3% of GDP without raising basic taxes.

Former caretaker deputy prime minister for the management of European funds Atanas Pekanov said on the air of Bulgarian National Television (BNT), that Bulgaria is not moving at the speed it should and seems to have given up on the funds under the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The budget is overstretched and in its current form it is most likely unacceptable. I don't know if it was right for the MPs to rewrite it or completely delay or reject it, as happened. There are things that I have supported over the years, there should be income policies, but not in this way, witch such drastic impact. We cannot make up for the ten years that were lost between 2010 and 2020, without a targeted income policy, in two or three years," he commented, noting that some concessions will have to be made, especially by the political parties that promised a lot during the elections.

On the air of BNT, Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria Plamen Dimitrov said that the state must have a budget as soon as possible. The currently adopted extension does not solve the main issues that people are waiting for. Dimitrov  was adamant that the minimum wage will not be adequately financed.

Trud quotes Bulgarian Industrial Association Chair Dobri Mitrev, who said during the parliamentary budget committee meeting that if there is no compensation for businesses for high electricity prices, everything will become more expensive. The price of electricity for businesses in December 2023 was EUR 83 per megawatt-hour, and in December 2024 it was over EUR 160, he explained. Without compensation, sales volumes will shrink, there is a risk that some companies will cease operations and workers will lose their jobs.

Telegraph reports that MPs in the parliamentary budget committee voted against reducing the VAT rate for bread for another year. The proposal was submitted by the BSP - United Left and supported by the other parties. The Ministry of Finance spoke out against such a measure, recalling that it was temporary and was supposed to act as an anti-COVID measure to support businesses. It currently costs the treasury BGN 94 million in lost revenue per year.  Immediately after the VAT was increased, bread producers increased the price of bread.

Sega, Trud report that tax violations are abundant in winter resorts. In the first three days of 2025, National Revenue Agency inspectors caught 28 attempts to evade turnover and taxes in establishments, shops and hotels in the skiers' and snowboarders' favorite resorts of Bansko, Razlog, Dobrinishte, Banya, Borovets, Smolyan and Pamporovo. Given that tax inspectors checked 92 retail outlets in their first raid of the year, the violators are almost 30%. Some of the inspected establishments had not yet realized that from the New Year, VAT for restaurants was reestablished to 20% (from 9%), and others had more significant violations. 

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Trud quoted Bloomberg reports that Kazakhstan's state oil company KazMunayGas is interested in buying Lukoil's refinery in Burgas. Sources of the agency note that the main shareholder of Lukoil Neftohim, Litasco, has already received several offers from potential buyers. According to the information, KazMunayGas is negotiating with Vitol, one of the major traders of raw materials, to secure financing for the deal. Lukoil has been looking for a buyer for its refinery in this country since a decision by Parliament stopped Bulgaria from buying Russian oil, even though it had the opportunity to continue with a derogation from Brussels.

HEALTHCARE

Trud and Mediapool quote Stanimir Mihaylov, manager of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), who said that the NHIF funds are being siphoned and that is the reason that the money for healthcare is never enough. The NHIF has refused pay outs and has demanded that hospitals refund amounts they illegally received from it totaling BGN 24,965,000 for last year. The amount requested back by the NHIF, based on hospital inspections, is insignificant against the background of the overspending of BGN 500 million for hospital care in 2024. Last year, after the Constitutional Court canceled the limits of the hospitals, they began to report sudden activity and as a result "absorbed" half a billion BGN above their planned budget of BGN 3.5 billion. The execution of the NHIF budget was on the verge until recently and the fund used all its buffers to be able to pay off the hospitals, with BGN 146 million being transferred to be paid in 2025, but there are also no funds planned in the 2025 draft budget.

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Trud reports that over 2.5 million adult Bulgarians did not attend preventive medical examinations, according to NHIF data for 2024.

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Telegraph writes that two superbugs that have become resistant to antibiotics are claiming the most lives in Bulgaria compared to countries across Europe., E.coli and K. pneumoniae. On average, 7.29 per 100,000 people in this country die due to the fact that the E.coli bacteria is resistant to any antibiotic, and 4.59 per 100,000 people lose their lives due to resistant K. pneumoniae, indicates data from The Lancet scientific journal from 2022, which examines the problem of resistant bacteria across Europe.  Amid the globally growing resistance to bacteria, Bulgaria still does not have an active National Antimicrobial Resistance Programme, which was drafted in 2019, but has not yet been adopted.