site.btaMedia Review: October 5

POLITICS

All TV channels and the Bulgarian National Radio report on the Vazrazhdane-sponsored no-confidence motion against the government. The motion will also be supported by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and There Is Such a People (TISP).

AGREEMENT BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND PROTESTING ENERGY WORKERS, MINERS

All print media report on the agreement signed between the government and protesting miners and energy workers, as well as the reactions of ministers and politicians after the fact.

Kalina Androlova wrote for Trud that the agreement is just eyewash meant to deceive the protesters and lull them into thinking that the coal plants will not be closed, while in fact this is not the case. Duma seems to agree with this conclusion, quoting BSP floor leader Korneliya Nonova, who said that the agreement was "the death penalty for the Bulgarian energy sector". She proceeded to blame GERB leader Boyko Borissov for the status quo, as he was the one who committed to closing the Bulgarian coal fired power plants before the European Council on December 10, 2020. Former BSP MP Aleksandar Simov wrote for Duma accusing Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov of being a puppet. Simov alleges that the actual person in control of the government is Delyan Peevski, MP of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms.

24 Chasa quotes Borissov and Peevski who both protested Energy Minister Rumen Radev's words that the agreement is "difficult to implement".

Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) President Plamen Dimitrov told Nova TV that attacks from Vazrazhdane and TISP against CITUB are baseless and aim to spread the false narrative that there is disagreement between the two biggest trade unions in Bulgaria - CITUB and the Podkrepa Labour Confederation. Dimitrov proceeded to say: "This agreement is based entirely on the six demands of the protesters. Only the liberalization of the household electricity market was not reflected".

ECONOMY

Trud's frontpage reports that electricity prices for households are likely to spike by 85% in 2025 compared to the current price. The prognosis is based on Bulgaria's Climate Neutrality Roadmap tabled in Parliament, which says that the average cost of producing electricity in 2025 will reach EUR 140/MWh. By 2030, the cost is expected to drop to under EUR 100/MWh.

24 Chasa specifies that the state will pay compensations to households in order to avoid price shock. The daily reports that electricity produced from renewable energy sources has significantly increased in 2023, however, that electricity has accounted for about 24% of the domestic consumption in the country over the first nine months of the year.

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Trud published an in-depth interview with energy expert and former MP of the BSP, Tasko Ermenkov, who stated that closing the coal powered plants in Bulgaria would have a negative impact not just on the country but also on the Balkan region. According to Ermenkov, some 40% of the electricity here is produced by such plants, and 10 to 15% is exported to neighbouring countries. The expert said: "The only reason given for their closure is the so-called 'Green Deal' and the need to avoid paying the high cost of carbon emissions. But has anyone, anywhere, managed to calculate the cost of these emissions, or are they essentially used against one of the safest and cheapest sources of energy, and a domestic one at that?".

UPCOMING MAYORAL ELECTIONS

Trud and Duma quote Central Election Commission (CEC) Chair Kamelia Neykova, who commented the matter of having a Bulgarian entity create the code that runs the voting machines for the October 29 local elections. Neykova that the matter has been raised multiple times before several different cabinets with no result. The current software has been produced Smartmatic, which cost the Bulgarian state some BGN 2 million. New voting machines will not be purchased, as the CEC's total of 12,837 is expected to suffice. The October elections are expected to cost approximately as much as the ones in April or about BGN 8 million.

MIGRATION

Trud reports that a joint operation between the Ministry of Interior, the prosecution service and Europol led to the arrest of five people on Tuesday, who allegedly would charge illegal migrants between EUR 1,000 and 3,000 to transport them from the Turkiye - Bulgaria to the Bulgaria - Serbia border. Allegedly, the group had been operating for two years.

24 Chasa specifies that the group leader, who was among the five people arrested, was a 30-year-old woman from Sofia. The daily quotes head of the General Directorate Border Police, Anton Zlatanov, who reported that 2023 saw a record high number of thwarted attempts to enter Bulgaria illegally. He said: "This year, we have a record-high migrant pressure. During the summer, we reached 1,500 people denied entry per day. More recently, there have been about 500 [per day] thanks to tightened measures and good coordination with our Turkish colleagues".

DEFENCE

24 Chasa reports that the Ministry of Defence has drafted a new defence strategy that aims to prepare the Bulgarian armed forces for modern threats, including a possible new world war and nuclear strikes. The Ministry argues that the current defence strategy expired in 2020 and can no longer respond adequately to the current threats. The new strategy, planned to be operable until 2033, argues that Russia is the biggest threat for Bulgaria and the region, considering the Russian aggression that rages on in Ukraine.

EDUCATION

Telegraph's frontpage is dedicated to teachers. The article reports that the lack of enough workforce here means that some teachers have to work 6-7 years past the retirement age. The Bulgarian teachers' average age is between 49 and 52 years, which Yanka Takeva, head of the Bulgarian Union of Teachers, declared an exceptionally good age range, as it suggests that the teachers are experienced, knowledgeable and responsible. Takeva pointed out that about 10% of the workforce is comprised of young professionals, who started working over the last five years. She listed some factors that contributed to this trend, including establishing a teacher's salary that is at least 125% of the average gross salary for the country. According to Takeva, one of the problems facing schools today is finding the balance between teaching humanitarian subjects and digital competencies.

CLIMATE

Trud quotes Prof. Nikolay Petkov of Climateka, a popular science platform, who reported that Bulgaria is among the countries in Europe with the highest increase in extreme weather. Over the last few decades, and especially since 2000, unusually warm weather has become more frequent and, simultaneously, most of the country is experiencing an increased frequency of intense precipitation. The summer of 2023 in the Northern Hemisphere was the warmest on record, while that of 2022 was the warmest in Europe. Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average, according to the World Meteorological Organisation. In recent decades, the average annual temperature in the country has risen by more than 1C, with 2019 and 2020 being the two warmest years since 1930, ranking first and second respectively, with average annual temperatures of 12.5C and 12.4C, according to the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology.

HEALTHCARE

Duma quotes infectious disease specialist Dr Trifon Valkov who warned of a possible measles epidemic, as only 85% of the public has been vaccinated. According to Valkov, the rate should be at least 95% to avoid the risk. The expert added that complications from the disease are far from mild, while the mortality rate is about 25%. The disease impacts mostly children. The last measles epidemic here was from 2009 to 2011, when the country registered nearly 25,000 cases of the infection.

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In an interview for the Bulgarian National Television (BNT), former Minister of Education and Science Daniel Valchev reported on an analysis conducted by the Health Barometer initiative, according to which the Bulgarian people have a relatively short "healthy life", meaning that they live to be 61 or 62, before they start suffering from numerous illnesses and conditions. For reference, Swedish people's health life expectancy is on average 10 years longer. Valchev points out that Bulgarians consume the most alcohol and tobacco products in the EU and exercise the least. He also said: "Our healthcare system is visibly oriented towards diagnosing people who are already sick. The system is poorly oriented. Prophylaxis, which is the main factor to prevent serious illnesses, is extremely neglected in our country". Valchev, who heads the Health Barometer project, also pointed at the obstetricians and nurses' wages being lower than the country's average wage as a problem.

ENVIRONMENT

bTV reports that residents of Ruse, on the Danube, are preparing to stage protests against several plants in the region that have been polluting the atmosphere. Locals complain that their city gets gassed daily, while the local politicians turn a blind eye to the problem. Some residents are also demanding resignations in the Ruse Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water. They claim that the inspectors do not report air pollution, although anyone in the city can smell the pollutants, especially at night.

HOME AFFAIRS

BNT and Nova TV report that the General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime dismantled a three-person criminal group that allegedly recruited blood donors against payment on the territory of Ruse. The operation was carried out under the guidance of the prosecution service. The investigation alleges that the participants in the scheme resided daily on the premises of a Ruse hospital in order to offer blood donations to the relatives of patients there. If the relatives agreed, they would have to pay BGN 300 to 600, after which the group would hire a person, usually one under financial stress or with a low social status, to make the donation. The police found lists of past donors that included their names, contact details, personal numbers, blood groups and dates of the last blood donations. A person here cannot donate more than once within three months.