site.btaMedia Review: December 19

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

The proposed amendments to the Constitution dominate print and online media on Tuesday while Parliament is holding a sitting, and is expected to adopt them conclusively. At its sittings on Saturday and Sunday, the parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs adopted on second reading the bill to amend and supplement the Constitution and now the whole of Parliament has the final word. The proposed amendments include: complete division of the Supreme Judicial Council into two separate councils; reduction of the Prosecutor General's term of office to 5 years; limitation of the powers of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria; allowing Bulgarian citizens with dual citizenship to be elected as MPs, among others.

In a Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) interview, Stefan Manov, member of the Public Council with the Central Election Commission, expressed scepticism that the constitutional amendment allowing dual citizens to become MPs and ministers would not be adopted by parliament because its sponsors have bad conscience about their own proposal and thus, they cannot defend it properly in plenary. "There is no queue of dual citizenship candidates sitting at the border control checkpoints, waiting for [Bulgaria’s accession to] Schengen to flood the National Assembly with foreign interests. Disloyalty to a country can be shown even with only one citizenship," Manov said. According to him, Bulgaria is the only member state of the Council of Europe that does not restrict dual citizenship, but at the same time restricts people with dual citizenship from running for MPs or ministers.

***

On Bulgarian National Television's morning programme, Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) MP and former justice minister Nadezhda Yordanova said that the focus of the constitutional reform is to lay the foundations of a truly independent court. In order for Bulgaria to have a truly independent court, the majority of the members of the body that decides on the appointments and dismissals of judges should be elected by judges. "This is the big goal we have set ourselves and in fact no one criticises this particular proposal," Yordanova said. She commented on the proposed reforms to the prosecuting magistracy, as well. "It is not a coincidence that we are reforming the current structure of the prosecuting magistracy - the prosecutor general will not be so omnipotent and will not be able to order every prosecutor what to do. It is important to ensure the efficiency of the prosecuting magistracy," Yordanova explained.

***

Nova TV quotes Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) MP Atanas Zafirov, according to whom the amendments to the Constitution will be adopted "stubbornly" despite a serious public response. Commenting on the proposal that allows Bulgarian citizens with dual citizenship to be elected as MPs, Zafirov said that adopting such an amendment would be equal to renouncing sovereignty.

***

Interviewed on Tuesday's morning talk show of Nova TV, CC-DB MP Venko Sabrutev accused the MPs of Vazrazhdane, the BSP and There Is Such a People (TISP) of fighting for Russian President Vladimir Putin instead of the interests of Bulgarian citizens. Sabrutev’s comment came as a response to the attempt by some MPs to obstruct the extraordinary sitting of the National Assembly on Monday. "Vazrazhdane, TISP and BSP MPs have become monuments to stupidity. [...] We were voting on the reform proposed by CC-DB to stop the corruption in the purchase of medicines for cancer patients – BGN 100 million sink every year. I asked the MPs to embrace this cause. Instead of sitting on the barricade - to go to their seats and press the button. However, they chose to fight for Putin and not for Bulgarian citizens", Sabrutev stressed.

***

Speaking to Nova TV, CC-DB MP Vassil Pandov added that he and his colleagues believe that after Monday’s tension in Parliament, the work of the National Assembly on Tuesday will proceed normally, as what happened a day earlier is a result of the lack of constructive debate among the MPs. According to Pandov, the changes to the Constitution are not premature, as some members of the opposition claim, as all the necessary debates were held and many of the proposals made were in line with the objections.

SOFIA MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

In a Nova TV debate, political scientist Milena Stefanova, expert in electoral systems Vanya Nusheva and former Central Election Committee chairperson Aleksander Andreev commented on the stalemate at the Sofia Municipal Council. On Monday, the Council failed to elect a chair for the fifth time.

Stefanova stressed that new elections for municipal councillors in Sofia are unlikely. In her words, the legislation states that if the Sofia Municipal Council holds no meetings for a period of three months, then the Sofia City Municipal Election Commission has the power to terminate the Council’s mandate early, leading to new elections, but there no procedure to notify the Municipal Election Commission exists, she explained.

Andreev pointed out that the Council is currently holding meetings but cannot elect a chairperson. However, the Central Election Commission has no powers to intervene in the situation, he added.

Nusheva agreed that the citizens of Sofia are witnessing a political blockage, but in her words the Council should be given more time to elect a chair in order to start functioning properly.

ENERGY

In a spread interview for the Trud daily, Lyubomir Denchev, energy expert and former head of state-owned Bulgarian gas supplier Bulgargaz, says that the problems in Bulgaria’s energy sector have critically deepened since 2007. Since then, he believes, governments have systematically used the state energy sector as a financial donor for their own survival. In his words, the recently presented strategy of the Energy Ministry is laudable as an initiative, but pathetic as an implementation. According to Denchev, the government's rush to shut down Bulgaria's coal-fired power plants would lead to disastrous results on several fronts and to a high risk of collapse of the electricity system.

ECONOMY

Segabg.com publishes an article, focused on the biggest obstacles for businesses in Bulgaria in 2023. The publication is based on the data of an annual survey of the Bulgarian Industrial Association on business climate. According to it, the biggest enemy of entrepreneurs is the state. A total of 62% of the respondents (heads of companies) complain about excessive regulations and administrative burden. Frequent regulatory changes plague 61% of businesses, while 59% are unhappy with corruption. These numbers show a sharp deterioration of the business climate, as two years ago the share of companies suffering from corruption pressure was lower - 47%. Some 41% of the respondents have no trust in the judiciary system in Bulgaria, while 43% find the quality of administrative services low and the number of electronic services small. A total of 15% say they are not satisfied with the infrastructure in Bulgaria.

HEALTH

A lead story in the 24 Chasa daily reads that the first medical helicopter in Bulgaria will be available in February 2024. The helicopters will be used not only to transport sick and injured people, but also in donor situations. For a period of one year, the helicopters will fly only during daylight hours - 30 minutes after dawn and 30 minutes before dusk. The reason for this is a European requirement for newly registered air operators. After that they will fly at night, if necessary, 24 Chasa quotes Deputy Health Minister Ilko Getov.

***

Speaking to BNT, Deputy Health Minister Mihail Okoliyski said that no more hospitals ae needed in Bulgaria as hospital bed utilization is only around 50% and resources are spent inefficiently. With the adoption of the National Health Insurance Fund budget on second reading on Monday, a decision was taken to lift the moratorium on the financing of new hospitals and medical activities in 2024. "This is an extremely inconsistent decision because it was agreed beforehand with our main political partners and then not voted in favour in plenary. This is one of the ways in which this record budget can be spent in the best way, rather than opening up new and new hospitals", he explained.

EXPERT REPORT ON MAY 1 BLAST NEAR IVAN GESHEV’S MOTORCADE READY

Sofia City Prosecution Office Spokesperson Hristo Krastev told BNR that the expert report on the May 1 blast near the motorcade of then prosecutor general Ivan Geshev has been prepared. "On December 8, a complex chemical and explosive technical examination was prepared. It has been prepared by six experts. Experimental blasts were carried out, numerous tests were performed. The conclusion was that the explosive was a briquetted explosive, nitropenta, which was put in an improvised explosive device prepared to be triggered electrically," Krastev explained. Given the dimensions of the blast epicentre and the striking action of its projectiles, the experts established that the mass of the explosive was most probably about 2.5 kilograms, he added.