site.btaMedia Review: September 4

The story of a 15-year-old boy killed on a zebra crossing in the centre of Sofia is the main topic in all morning television programmes, it is on the frontpage of Trud, the top story in Telegraph. The story appears nowhere in Duma, 24 Chassa has an article providing detailed information on the case as of Sunday evening. 

The main headlines in 24 Chassa and Trud are on bank fees and conditions. 24 Chassa warns an increase in monthly rates for keeping a bank account, as well as fees for entering a wrong PIN when using an ATM. Trud writes about “spoofing” in the field – disguising a communication from an unknown source as being from a known, trusted source, thus, misleading bank account owners to provide credentials for access to their accounts. 

BOY KILLED ON ZEBRA CROSSING 

On Saturday evening, around 9 pm, a 15-year-old boy was killed by a 37-year-old drunk driver on a zebra-crossing in central Sofia. The driver did not have any braking distance, witnesses even claim that the driver sped up before the impact.

Former head of traffic police in Sofia Tencho Tanev told the morning show of Nova TV that the drunk driver BGN 10 in 2005 after driving drunk again. "After he was caught, pre-trial proceedings were initiated at the Fifth District Police Station in Sofia. Later, for unclear reasons, it was terminated. He was fined BGN 10 because he did not have his driver's licence on him. He was not punished for driving under the influence of alcohol," Tenev explained. 

Telegraph has an interview with Petya Ivanova, who has lost her son in a car accident in 2020. She is among the organizers of a series of country wide protests of parents and relatives of children killed in traffic accidents. Protesters demand stricter punishments for drivers who cause death on the road. In her interview, Ivanova stressed that according to her death on the road should be punished by a minimum of 10 years in prison. She is also of the opinion that drivers who have claimed a life on the road should never get their driver’s license back. Ivanova noted that psychological help is absolutely necessary for the close ones of the victims, because some have gone to the extreme of attempting suicide.      

Vladimir Todorov of the Bulgarian Association of Victims in Car Accidents told the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) that the Interior Ministry has initial data on the reduction of arrests after alcohol and drug use. He posed the question what we do when we see a person from the company and the table drinking, then decides to leave with the car. Todorov said that no matter what laws are passed, no matter what bumps are put on the crosswalks, no matter how well-lit they are, it is difficult to fight the mentality of a drunk driver, so people opt to shutting up and being quiet.                   

ECONOMY

Trud has an interview with Plamen Abrovski, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture in the 47th National Assembly. “We might be the breadbasket of the European Union, but we barely provide for Bulgarian citizens”. Abrovski is criticizing a draft project of the strategic goals of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food until 2030. "We live in difficult times in which cardinal changes must be made if we want Bulgarian agriculture to develop. Because it is no longer money but ideas that can save our agriculture," Abrovski says. He reminds that agricultural policy should be made for the purpose of production and not for the purpose of absorbing money - subsidies should be a complementary element, not the main one.

POLITICS

Duma’s top story is on the formation of the Denkov-Gabriel government between GERB-UDF and Continue the Change. The headline reads that Alexey Petrov “is the architect of the government assemblage”. Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Korneliya Ninova says that “GERB leader Boyko Borissov of the underhand and the parallel state,” after he told journalists on Friday that the late Alexey Petrov, a controversial businessman, had close relations with the father of Continue the Change (CC) co-leader and former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, and that Petrov have had a role in the formation of the Denkov-Gabriel government.

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Journalists on the morning show of bTV commented on the new parliament building, which they said they recognize as "policy of silence and controlled access". 

Polina Paunova explained the importance for journalists to be in direct contact with MPs. “I have read statements of both GERB and CC-DB (Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria) MPs, who say - nowhere in the world do journalists scurry like cockroaches during parliament sittings, which is true. But nowhere in the world are political parties housing people who are suspected of having a criminal past," she said. "The National Assembly is the only place where a journalist can stop Delyan Peevski and ask him questions about his financial situation, instead of arranging an interview through his party’s press centre, where questions will be agreed on. In order to have democracy and awareness, journalists should be able to be in the parliament building," she added.

The relocation makes it difficult for journalists to do their job, even in a purely technical sense. When we don't have a technical signal to reach the air, the viewer cannot see what is happening," added journalist Kalina Vlaikova. Vlaikova recalled that the announced reason for the relocation of the Parliament to the former Party House is the renovation of the National Assembly building, which will take three years.

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Political scientist Milen Lyubenov commented for the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) on the current political affairs and the upcoming local elections in October. According to him, local elections will determine the way the current regular government will operate.

"Depending on the results [in the lections], my expectations are that there will be a reconfiguration. In case of a GERB victory and a strong result in the regional cities of the country, they will insist on having more weight within the Council of Ministers in the rotation of the Prime Minister."

He also commented on the acrimonious back-and-forth between leaders in the ruling coalition – Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and GERB leader Boyko Borissov. 

"The reason for this tension is the elections and the tightening of party ranks. This coalition [GERB-UDF and CC-DB] is unpopular among voters of both leading formations. A tone like this, which has been exacerbated too much in recent days, is aimed at mobilising voters,” he said. Lyubenov noted that he does not expect early parliamentary elections any time soon.

"(President) Rumen Radev has long been on the political party front. His goal is long-term - to stay in politics and have an influence on the political processes in Bulgaria. He seeks confrontation deliberately,” he added, commenting on the heated discussions between Denkov and Radev during the weekend. 

According to Lyubenov, no surprising election results are to be expected. 

"There are no major players who could threaten the current status quo. Radev, during his caretaker governments, has shown that he cannot offer something that would be a serious alternative. We have seen that the caretaker governments also got bogged down in corruption quagmire," Lyubenov said. 

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Trud and 24 Chassa have headlines on their front pages about a possible referendum for the keeping of March 3 as Bulgaria’s national holiday. 

CULTURE

A BNT reporter interviewed International Booker Prize winner Georgi Gospodinov who is doing a three-day masterclass as a part of the Apollonia Arts Festival. The classes they have together mostly involve sharing experiences, but the most important thing in writing is to keep your sensitivity, naivety and innocence, the writer explained.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

Mediapool.bg has a detailed piece on the selection, job specifications and biography of the new European Commissioner Iliana Ivanova who is to substitute Mariya Gabriel in the field of innovations, research, culture, education, and youth. Gabriel vacated the position in May to be a candidate for a Prime Minister in Bulgaria, nominated by GERB-UDF. She later became a Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in Nikolay Denkov’s cabinet, with whom she has agreed on rotational heading of the Council of Ministers for 9 months. Thus, Gabriel is to become Prime Minister in the spring of 2024. Mediapool.bg writes that if there was any intrigue around the choice of the future Bulgarian EU commissioner it was internal. GERB leader Boyko Borissov bet on "a woman well known in Brussels and competent", while Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria preferred “a man with no experience in EU institutions - former innovation minister Daniel Lorer.” The government sent both candidates, leaving it to EC President Ursula von der Leyen to decide the dilemma - him or her. Von der Leyen chose Iliana Ivanova because of her considerable experience in the European institutions and because she is a woman, in order to maintain gender parity in the Commission. On Tuesday, September 5, Ivanova will be heard by the European Parliament's industry, research and energy and culture and education committees. She has already responded in writing to questions and the expectation is that the procedure for her selection will go smoothly and without any disruption.