site.btaMedia Review: August 3

ECONOMY

Sega.bg writes that UBB is now the largest bank in Bulgaria. It has replaced previous leader DSK, which remains in second place, and in third is the long-time leader in terms of assets UniCredit Bulbank.The central bank data show the situation as of June 30. At the end of last year, DSK Bank was the biggest in the country, but in the meantime a major deal was finalized that sent a new financial giant to the top. In the spring, UBB merged with KBC Bank, the successor to Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria. After this merger, UBB's assets reached BGN 31.372 billion. The acquisition of Raiffeisen bank's business in Bulgaria was one of the biggest deals in the country in recent years - the price was EUR 1.015 billion. Now DSK Bank is second with assets of BGN 30.569 billion, and UniCredit Bulbank is third with BGN 29.944 billion. Next in the ranking is Postbank, whose assets are BGN 17.776 billion. It acquired BNP Paribas, but this transaction is relatively recent and has not yet been accounted for in the central bank rating as of mid-year.

The top five is completed by First Investment Bank (FIB), which has assets of BGN 13.055 billion.

POLITICS

Duma.bg writes that since the beginning of its tenure, the 49th National Assembly has adopted 30 laws, 141 resolutions and a declaration in support of Ukraine's NATO membership. From April 12 to July 31, the legislature held 47 plenary sittings, four of which were extraordinary. Some 146 bills were submitted, 86 of them by MPs. During the first session, 180 draft resolutions were tabled in Parliament, 166 of which were tabled by MPs, as well as six draft declarations. At the same time, 1,345 questions 34 enquiries were submitted. Some 72 hours and 16 minutes were spent on Question Time to oversee the executive.

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Trud.news reports that a petition in support of the completion of the Struma motorway through the Kresna Gorge, signed by over 6,000 people from the region, was sent on 25 July to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Local people support the approved route of the Struma motorway, which foresees that in the direction of Sofia a new route will be built outside the gorge and in the direction of Greece the existing road E-79 will be used after its rehabilitation, including of all the facilities, some of which have not been repaired for more than 20 years.

They also recall that in the last 15 years 74 people have died and over 400 have been seriously injured in the unfinished part of the Struma motorway between Kresna and Simitli.

ENERGY

Capital Daily warns that Bulgaria may remain the only EU country without a coal transition plan. By doing that it risks losing the EU funds for a fair transition and will have to pay for it itself

Bulgaria has until September to submit its territorial just transition plans for the Stara Zagora, Pernik and Kyustendil regions in order for the European Commission to review and approve them. Otherwise, the country will lose most of the Just Transition Fund - about BGN 1.6 billion. This has been known since the beginning of the year, but under the caretaker government there were no concrete actions and commitments.

The risk of losing funding for the three coal regions looks increasingly real under the new government. In an interview with Capital (which will be available on the website in the next few days), Environment Minister Julian Popov says that "the details" of the just transition plans for the three coal regions are "still being discussed" but "should be ready by the end of the year". The European Commission needs about four months to approve them.

And if that doesn't happen by the end of 2023, the money is irretrievably lost. Unlike the other operational programmes, there is no possibility of transferring it or deferring it to a later period.

The government of Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria and GERB is now focused on the renegotiation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and until it is completed is unlikely to start work on the territorial plans for a just transition. Although these are two separate EU instruments, in the energy sector it makes sense for projects to be coordinated. However, this does not correspond at all to the deadlines set by the European Commission in advance. Bulgaria is now the only country in the EU without just transition plans and without a specific date for the closure of coal plants. The country is losing funds not only under the Just Transition Fund, but also under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Both instruments were partly financed by the first EU common loan, in which Bulgaria also participated.

Thus, it is very likely that the country will have to finance the energy reforms on its own, while paying for the whole transition with its contributions to the EU budget (which tend to increase).

NORTH MACEDONIA - BULGARIA AFFAIRS

Trud.news interviews Atanas Velichkov, editor-in-chief of the pro-Bulgarian Tribuna.mk website in Skopje.

Velichkov says that website came into being five and a half years ago. The idea belonged to him and Petar Kolev. For two years now they have been working on projects with the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and for this to happen the main credit goes to the team of the Bulgarian Embassy in Skopje.

Velichkov says that currently there are several pro-Bulgarian media outlets in North Macedonia but no serious Bulgarian media presence. Investing in media to defend the Bulgarian interest in North Macedonia by Bulgarian business is not a priority, according to Velichkov. Any initiative doesn’t need to be sanctioned by the secret services, politicians or anyone else, as it is a question of desire and priorities.

Of the question of hate speech against Bulgaria, Velichov says that politicians are the ones who set the tone, but along with them are a certain circle of academics, publicists and fellow journalists. To be recognized as a great Macedonian patriot, you have to speak and write against Bulgaria. Anyone who comes out of this matrix risks incurring the resentment of certain circles. The Bulgarian public should know that hate speech against Bulgaria and Bulgarians has more than one face. “I think that the hate speech against Bulgaria will diminish when all the outstanding issues between the two countries are resolved. Then when speaking against everything Bulgarian will not carry political points. Whether that will happen at all, I do not know,” says Velichkov.

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Sega.bg writes that a resolution celebrating Macedonian language, culture and history has been submitted in the US Senate. Republican Senator Mike Braun introduced the resolution to designate September as Macedonian-American Heritage Month and celebrate the language, history and culture of Macedonian.

United Macedonian Diaspora President Metodija Koloski told Alpha TV that the purpose of the resolution is to highlight the many contributions of Macedonian Americans in the United States in various fields, from culture and art to politics, business, medicine, science and sports.

"The purpose of this resolution is to ask the President of the United States to recognize September as Macedonian-American Heritage Month and the role that the Macedonian community has played in the United States, in the betterment of the United States over the past 150 years since Macedonians began to settle in greater numbers. For the moment, we assume that there are about half a million Americans of Macedonian origin who have done a lot for the socio-economic life in the United States," said Koloski. He added that the resolution will recognize the Macedonian language, culture and history of the Macedonian community in the United States.

The resolution, which was initiated by the United Macedonian Diaspora (UDM), must now be approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and then voted on by the Senate.

DRAFT CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

Speaking on the morning show of bTV Lena Borislavova, a former MP and head of Kiril Petkov's cabinet while he was prime minister, expressed hope that " Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria will be able to convince GERB and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms to support their initial for constitutional changes. She stressed that a one-month public discussion of the proposals submitted to the parliament is to take place. It is in this period that she sees a chance for talks between the political forces to come to the best option for changing the basic law.

On July 23, CC - DB presented their ideas for constitutional changes, drafted together with the Justice for Everyone Initiative. The coalition said that they had the necessary support to push them through. Two days later a meeting of the parliamentary legal committee was held. On July 28, CC-DB, together with GERB and MRF, submitted a draft for constitutional amendments with corrections to the original ideas.

This led to a strong reaction from Justice for Everyone. The NGO described the texts as a "clear retreat" from those previously agreed, especially those related to the powers of the Prosecutor General.

Borislavova did not say who proposed for the prosecutor general to have the right to two terms, instead of one, as it was in the original version or that the prosecutor-general should chair the meetings of the Supreme Judicial Council instead of the Justice Minister.