site.btaMedia Review: December 13

SOVIET ARMY MONUMENT

The process of dismantling the Soviet Army Monument in downtown Sofia began on Tuesday amid protests and tightened security, and led to an MP's injury, 24 Chasa reports. The decision to take down the monument was made by the former Sofia Municipal Council before the October 29 local elections, the daily recalls, adding that Regional Governor Vyara Todeva started the process after a cultural property restoration expert ascertained that the structure was unsafe for passers-by. A fence was put up around the monument in late August.

Interviewed on Wednesday's morning talk show of BNT1, the main channel of Bulgarian National Television, Governor Todeva predicted that the dismantling of the figures of the monument may be completed by Christmas. The official timeframe is 59 days, but it may be cut short, weather permitting, she said.

Todeva went on to tell BNT1 that the dismantling of the monument will cost at least BGN 260,000, and the annual safekeeping costs for the sculptures will be around BGN 70,000. The estimates do not include the expenses for restoring the figures before they are moved to another place. According to Todeva, the figures may be kept at the Museum of Socialist Art or some other state-owned site. Before that, the parts will be left for safekeeping in a guarded state-run facility. An assessment shows that the whole monument, including its foundation, costs about BGN 20 million, the governor said.

An analysis published on SegaBG.com describes the start of the monument's removal as "epic news". It notes that the structure, which has stood in the centre of the Bulgarian capital since 1954, is being taken down 32 years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The last three decades have seen many attempts to remove the memorial, and emotions ran high again on Tuesday. The issue has provided a battlefield for policies, rhetorical outbursts, subjectivity, culture and urban planning. It is hard to make an impartial judgment, but it is worth trying, the author Diyan Bozhidarov says.

After analyzing various aspects of the matter, Bozhidarov concludes: "Without the Soviet monuments, our stomachs will not get any fuller. We will not become less corrupt and will not live better than now. With them, it will be the same. What matters is the ideological meaning." Recalling the troubled, less-than-smooth demolition of Bulgarian communist leader Georgi Dimitrov's mausoleum in downtown Sofia in 1999, the author concludes: "A month after the demolition, no one felt any need for the mausoleum. With the lapse of time, the only emotion left is amusement. The same will happen with the emotions of today."

"Socialists Stand Up for Soviet Army Monument," runs the leading headline in Duma. The daily reports that protesters gathered around the monument on Tuesday to express their disapproval of the structure's removal. BSP for Bulgaria Deputy Floor Leader Georgi Svilenski was injured in a clash and received medical aid. Protesting MPs, municipal councillors and BSP members briefly blocked the landmark Eagles Bridge to traffic. The Socialists said they have alerted the competent courts and prosecution offices. According to Svilenski, the plan is to cut the monument to pieces and destroy it by Friday, which is different from the earlier idea of dismantling it.

The BSP will not accept that, Duma goes on to say. MPs asked to meet with Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov to urge him to stop "the destruction" of the monument. Denkov declined the invitation. Speaking at a meeting in the National Assembly, Socialist leader Kornelia Ninova said: "Every monument [in Bulgaria] is a piece of Bulgarian history. By destroying monuments, you destroy Bulgarian history."

MediaPool.bg quotes writer Alexander Shpatov as commenting on Facebook that the removal of the sculptures from the 37 m tall monument does not necessarily mean that someone plans to remove the base of the structure and the whole complex, which occupies an area of 6,000 sq m. What Shpatov proposes is "not just dismantling but deconstruction". His idea is that the figure of the Bulgarian mother should be separated from the Soviet soldier, and the Bulgarian children should be separated from the cheering general crowd, to be used in a new "monument of the Bulgarian mother and Bulgarian children in the former royal kindergarten".

ECONOMY

Since August, Bulgaria has been importing Russian oil at prices much higher than the established cap of USD 60 per barrel, Martin Vladimirov, an energy expert at the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), said on the morning talk show of bTV. According to Vladimirov, the price of crude oil processed by the Lukoil Neftochim refinery in the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Burgas varied over the period, peaking at USD 85 per barrel. The refinery thus poured USD 490 million into Russia's budget.

The disclosure is based on an analysis by the CSD and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. A month ago, the two organizations published a report implicating Lukoil in violating the EU ban on using Russian crude oil.

Vladimirov said in Wednesday's televised interview that, paradoxically, this huge loophole in the sanctions against Russia emerged more than four months ago with the knowledge and consent of Bulgarian and EU institutions. On August 4, the Bulgarian Customs Agency asked the European Commission whether Bulgaria could import Russian oil at more than USD 60 per barrel, and Brussels answered in the affirmative. The European Commission did not take account of the fact that oil is imported to Bulgaria by sea, while the exemption from the limit of USD 60 per barrel applies only to supplies by pipeline.

Lukoil continues to feed enormous profits into the Russian purse, Vladimirov summed up. The detriment to Bulgaria is yet to be calculated. The Lukoil Neftochim refinery has paid BGN 400 million in advance tax in Bulgaria but will likely get back a large portion of it, he said. Lukoil Neftochim used to be able for years to misrepresent its financial result as being in the red, and now it has the right to use its profits to make up for those past losses.

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An unemployment benefits fraud scheme known as "French unemployment" has been uncovered in Bulgaria, 24 Chasa reports in its main story. The scheme has created a community in the southwestern Blagoevgrad Region whose members are the most affluent jobless people in this country, the daily says, citing National Statistical Institute data. In September 2023, the average unemployment benefit in Blagoevgrad Region amounted to BGN 936.71 per month, compared with a national average of BGN 659.04. This is so because half of the region's jobless people receive the maximum unemployment benefit of BGN 1,800 per month.

These people are Bulgarians who have returned from abroad, typically from France, and have presented documents certifying the last wage they received in the foreign country. The wage is usually between EUR 1,700 and EUR 2,000, just about the lowest income one can earn in the wealthier part of Europe, but it is enough to secure one-year entitlement to the highest unemployment benefit in Bulgaria. Hundreds of people from the Bulgarian southwest get seasonal jobs in other EU member states, and only a month later they come back, bringing documents which show how much money they earned abroad. They register with local job centres as unemployed under EU regulations. Some of these people work abroad for just a few days but have a way of obtaining a one-month income certificate.

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Eating and drinking establishments as well as retail stores will be required to issue cash receipts to their customers, and if they fail to do so, the customers may walk out without paying, Trud says in its main story. The daily adds, though, that it is unclear how long you have to wait before leaving without paying. The rule was adopted by the National Assembly conclusively as part of amendments to the Value Added Tax Act. The VAT rate for restaurateurs remains 9% (lower than the standard 20%) until the end of 2024, the legislature resolved. VAT on tourist packages and fitness gym services remains 9% until June 30, 2024. The MPs also decided against increasing property tax assessment rates and the property tax itself.

LAW & ORDER

Three men and a woman aged between 41 and 56 were arrested in Sofia for counterfeiting euro banknotes and identity documents, Trud reports. The Directorate General Combating Organized Crime (DGCOC) and the Sofia City Prosecution Office made the arrests with Europol's assistance after fake euros made by the group reached Germany, France and other European countries. The law enforcers impounded 125,000 fake euros and counterfeit international travel passports, Bulgarian and foreign ID cards, driving licenses and car ownership and insurance documents. This is the largest-scale counterfeiting operation disrupted by the authorities in five years, Sofia City Prosecutor Iliana Kirilova said. The four suspects were taken into 72-hour custody.

DGCOC detected the criminal ring in April. The suspects preferred to print EUR 50 banknotes, which are in mass use across Europe and are easily accepted by cashiers. The group did not have a boss - each member had a specific role to play in the printing or distribution phase. The fake EUR 50 banknotes were sold at 20% of their nominal value, that is, EUR 10 for each. The fake documents may have been provided to illegal migrants.