site.btaMedia Review: January 5

BULGARIA'S SCHENGEN ACCESSION 

Trud, Telegraph report that the decision of the Council of the EU from 30 December 2023 on the admission of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen by air and water from March 31, 2024 has been published in the Official Journal of the EU. This means that it officially goes into effect. The decision states that, for technical and operational reasons, it is appropriate to first remove internal air and sea border controls as soon as possible in 2024. The Council of the EU should take a further unanimous decision to determine an appropriate date for the abolition of internal land border controls, taking into account the relevant technical and operational arrangements along these borders and the current state of mutual cooperation. Member States and the Commission should work to enable the Council to take such a decision.

Trud quotes Border Police General Directorate head Commissioner Anton Zlatanov, who stressed that there has been no denial for Bulgaria's entry into Schengen by land, and its current partial acceptance in Schengen is a step forward, a significant success. He added that organization has already begun at the airports in connection with the change of the status of Bulgaria, and operations along the land borders are intensifying. To date, migrant pressure is low, he added. 

Sega writes that, as expected, the opposition began attacking the success with Schengen that the government had boasted about. Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Korneliya Ninova held a briefing where she accused the authorities of agreeing to accept back migrants to Bulgarian territory in exchange for the concession. Speculation about an impending wave of migrants has been rife for several days. The government adamantly denied that anything has changed. The Vazrazhdane party has been voicing similar concerns that the country is about to be flooded with migrants. The daily notes that it is almost certain that socialists and nationalists will join forces on the subject, as they have often done in Parliament for quite some time. 

Trud and 24 Chasa add that the BSP has requested a hearing of Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel in Parliament regarding the matter.

In Friday's morning TV programmes, several discussed Bulgaria's Schengen accession by air and water, but not by land, as well as possible issues with migrants, including MEP and former prime minister Sergey Stanishev on Bulgarian National Television (BNT); Dimo Gyaurov, former director of the National Intelligence Service on bTV; and former deputy prime minister for the management of EU funds Atanas Pekanov on bTV. 

POLITICS

The cover story in Capital Weekly has 20 forecasts for Bulgaria and the world by the Capital authors. Here are all 20: 

1. The government will live long; 2. The compositions of the regulators will change; 3. Bulgaria has a chance to join the eurozone in 2025; 4. There will be no economic crisis in Bulgaria in 2024; 5. Inflation will go down; 6. Interest rates in Bulgaria will go up; 7. Electricity and natgas prizes won’t go up; 8. Bulgaria will have a new Prosecutor General; 9. A new and truly independent Supreme Judicial Council will be elected; 10. There will be no real corruption investigations in Bulgaria; 11. Russia’s war in Ukraine will continue; 12. Donald Trump will have a chance to win the elections; 13. The Israel – Hamas war will end; 14. A new conflict of global significance is likely; 15. It will become clear that AI is not a joke; 16. Lukoil will sell its Bulgaria business; 17. The nationalists will fail in changing European politics; 18. RES won’t become bigger than coal in electricity production; 19. Delyan Peevski will remain a major factor in government; 20. The Bulgarian National Television won’t have a new Director General.

Trud reports that nearly 70 key state positions, whose members' mandates have expired, will be negotiated after the holidays by MPs from the ruling majority. Some of the positions would require support from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) in addition to that of GERB-UDF and Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), such as members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and the Supreme Prosecutor's Council, members of the SJC Inspectorate, as well as the members of the Anti-Corruption Commission. It is still not clear how the rulers will distribute the key appointments in the regulators, but one of the ideas is to make nomination committees and sift out the applications.

In bTV's morning programme, Dimo Gyaurov, former director of the National Intelligence Service, said that a reform of the security services will not happen in the foreseeable future. He argued that so far, there is no unified opinion on the essence of the reform. Gyaurov explained that the National Assembly is too busy with new laws, \and with key state regulator positions that need to be filled. "The judiciary is decapitated because we don't have the SJC and its plenary body to make decisions and represent it, we have two separate councils. All this needs work," he said.

***

24 Chasa, Trud, Mediapool write that Sofia municipal councilors from Blue Sofia, Prof. Vili Lilkov, Ivaylo Yonkov and Ivan Sotirov and Carlos Contrera from VMRO developed a proposal for the temporary election of a Municipal Council Chair and the formation of permanent committees pending consideration of the budget of the Sofia Municipality for 2024, which is to be submitted by January 15 by Mayor Vassil Terziev. Carlos Contrera recalled on Facebook that for almost two months, the Sofia Municipal Council has been in a de facto deadlock, which has turned into a political crisis. 

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24 Chasa writes that there are two months left until the rotation of Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel. The daily explains the rotation procedure, which requites three parliamentary votes, one for the resignation of the current cabinet, the second is for the election of a prime minister, and the third for the structure and composition of a new government. The resignation of the government will be followed by consultations with the President with the parliamentary groups. BTV reported information that Economy Minister Bogdan Bogdanov, Health Minister Hristo Hinkov, Sports Minister Dimitar Iliev and Tourism Minister Zaritsa Dinkova will leave their posts during the rotation. Other sources claim that the ministers leaving would be Justice Minister Kalin Stoyanov, Culture Minister Krastyu Krastev, Electronic Governance Minister Alexander Yolovski.

In a BNT interview, Minister Dimitar Iliev said that Ministry of Youth and Sports has managed to complete absolutely everything in its management programme until the end of 2024, except for one single point - a scientific research centre, which is scheduled to be implemented in June 2024. "If this is the criterion, my name should not be among those of the ministers who will be replaced after the rotation," said Iliev and added added he is not aware of what is to come regarding the Ministry of Youth and Sports after the rotation. He admitted that he did not trust GERB and would not feel very comfortable as a minister in their cabinet, but he did not intend to resign. He added that his priority is the preparation of the athletes for the Olympics and until March this will be his main focus.

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24 Chasa, Sega, Mediapool quoted MRF Floor Leader Delyan Peevski, who issued a statement agreeing to take responsibility for the management of the MRF a day after MRF honorary chair Ahmed Dogan said that the party should have two co-chairmen, Delyan Peevski and Jevdet Chakarov. Chakarov has not yet commented. Peevski's statement points out that the political times present trials and challenges that only the most prepared can respond to. Peevski said that the most important challenge is not to lose touch with the people, in favour of whom the MRF was founded 34 years ago.

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Sega quotes former social minister and former deputy prime minister Ivailo Kalfin, who pointed out that members of the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Illegal Asset Forfeiture Commission have been classified as doing Category I work. This means they enjoy the privilege of early retirement alongside people who actually toil under harmful and dangerous conditions, such as miners, divers, those who handle radioactive waste. There are many inequalities and injustices in the pensions themselves, which have happened because of the increase of only a part of them, and in recent years this has been observed with the minimum pensions, said Kalfin. The most affected at the moment are the people who have been paying higher social insurance for many years, and their pension is close to the minimum, Kalfin told bTV.

***

24 Chasa reports that the Continue the Change (CC) has concluded a USD 100,000 contract with US lobbying company M&M. This was reported by the BIRD site on its Facebook profile. Such an agreement actually exists, a reference on the website of the US State Department shows, and the contract was concluded on December 22, 2023, signed by CC co-chair Assen Vassilev. According to the contract, lobbyists must work for good relations between Bulgaria and the USA. To date, no other political power in Bulgaria is known to have paid for American lobbyists.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Trud, Telegraph, 24 Chasa report that National Assembly Chair Rosen Zhelyazkov was welcomed in the Indian capital of New Delhi with wreaths of flowers, dances and drums. He is on an official working visit to India, where on Friday he has several meetings with representatives of the two Houses of the local Parliament. The delegation to India also includes Denitsa Sacheva and Hristo Gadzhev from GERB-UDF, Stoyan Mihalev and Neli Dimitrova from CC-DB, Angel Georgiev and Ivo Ruschev from Vazrazhdane, Hamid Hamid and Valentin Tonchev from MRF, Borislav Gutsanov from BSP, as well as Tsvetan Predov and Alexander Valchev from There Is Such a People, as well as Kazanlak Mayor Galina Stoyanova.

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Trud, Telegraph, Mediapool report that Bulgarian Svetoslav Slavkov died in battle in Kupyansk, at the northernmost point of the active combat in Ukraine. Slavkov was 31 years old. The Levski football team, which he was a fan of, also paid their respects in a Facebook post. Slavkov left for Ukraine in November 2023. 

Ukraine's Ambassador to Bulgaria Olesya Uluschu gave an interview on the air of NOVA on Friday morning, discussing the largest airstrike in the 679 days of Russia's war against Ukraine, in which, between December 29 to January 2, 500 missiles and drones were launched against Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure, affecting hospitals, educational institutions, as well as residential buildings, commercial warehouses, parking lots, killing 78 people and injuring over 200. NOVA clarifies that official Kiev and the Ukrainian ambassador follow a policy of not commenting on the retaliatory attacks on Belgorod and Western Russia, in which, according to the Russian authorities, more than 30 civilians died.

***

Telegraph, Trud, Sega report that a plane made an emergency landing at Sofia Airport on Thursday at noon due to a death on board, a British citizen. The plane was flying on the Izmir - London route. 

DEFENCE

Trud, Telegraph quote Defence Minister Todor Tagarev, who told journalists in Blagoevgrad that Bulgaria will not send war ships to the Red Sea, or troops to Yemen, and that that was never an option. His comments were regarding two Bulgarian ships who were hijacked by pirates in the region in the past months. The captain and first mate of the first hijacked ship, the Galaxy Leader, are Bulgarian. While the other sailors have been released, the two are still with the ship, and the Bulgarian government is trying to find a way for them to be released, said Tagarev. The Bulgarian ship Ruen was hijacked with initially eight sailors on board, one was released, and a solution is currently being sought, he added. Tagarev also stated that an agreement between Turkiye, Romania and Bulgaria will be signed next week in Istanbul on a joint plan to clear the Black Sea of drifting mines.

Mediapool frames the matter a bit differently, writing that Tagarev does not disregard the possibility of Bulgaria participating at least symbolically in an operation in the Black Sea, despite the criticism and warnings by GERB leader Boyko Borissov. The media outlet still quotes Tagarev's statement that Bulgaria will not send ships or troops there and notes Tagarev agreed with Borissov that there is no way Bulgaria can get involved in such an operation without a decision of the National Assembly. 

HOME AFFAIRS

Telegraph, Trud report that a number of district judges have recused themselves en masse from the case of Deborah Mihailova from Stara Zagora. During the summer, Debora was a victim of domestic assault perpetrated by Georgi Georgiev. His unsatisfactory imposed punishment caused massive outcry and protests throughout the country. If all the magistrates of the court recuse themselves, the Supreme Court of Cassation will have to consider where to send the case. Most likely, the case will be heard in Plovdiv, as a nearby court of the same level is usually chosen in order not to cause additional inconvenience to the participants in the process.

Mediapool writes that Petar "the Euro" Petrov, a former ranking investigator and now a key figure in the so-called Eight Dwarfs investigation into trade in influence and theft of companies in the judiciary, will not be wanted on a European Arrest Warrant. Such is the final decision of the Sofia Appellate Court due to insufficient evidence. At the moment, Petrov's whereabouts remain unknown. Petrov was charged in the Eight Dwarfs case together with his ex-wife Lyubena Petrova and prosecutor Dilyan Deyanov. The case was prompted by an investigation named "Eight Dwarfs" by the Anti-Corruption Fund in 2020. 

Multiple publications, as well as BNT and NOVA's morning programmes focus on a controversial recent case of a police pursuit, which ended in the death of 58-year-old Plamen Penev. Two officers from the police in Stara Zagora were temporarily suspended regarding the case. A few months prior, Penev was incarcerated in psychiatry in Radnevo thanks to the help that the police provided to his employer. It is likely that a combination of these circumstances led to his behavior and the manner in which he attempted to resist the officers.

HEALTHCARE

Telegraph, Trud quote experts on the increase in the incidence of influenza and acute respiratory diseases in the country. There are currently people sick with both types of flu or with both COVID-19 and flu. Doctors are adamant that the sick should be examined so that it is clear what they should be treated for. The peak of morbidity is expected to be in mid-January.

ECONOMY

Sega reports that in the first days of the new year, a mandatory pre-registration of almost every shipment of perishable goods in the country has created huge problems for traders and manufacturers of food products. Increased controls on so-called high-fiscal-risk goods came into effect on January 3, 2024, despite criticism from businesses. The National Revenue Agency's system for electronic submission of cargo data turned out to be unprepared and constantly glitches and bumps out users, forcing them to begin the process again. As a result of these problems, almost no trucks were on the road on January 3, as shipping without the code in question results in huge penalties of up to 40% of the value of the cargo. 

Sega, Mediapool write that Bulgaria has asked Ukraine to tighten its export regime of grain products to Bulgaria. Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev informed his Ukrainian counterpart Mykola Solski in an online meeting about attempts to circumvent the agreements between the two countries that imports to Bulgaria country should only take place with previously issued licenses. Since the beginning of December, the ban on the import of Ukrainian sunflower, and before that of wheat, corn and rapeseed, has been replaced by a licensing regime. Permits are issued by the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy, and once a week the Ukrainian side must provide the Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture and Food with information on received export applications. The aim is to facilitate control over imports so that the Bulgarian market is not flooded with cheap Ukrainian grain and seed. In recent weeks, there has also been an increased import of sunflower by barges along the Danube River, Minister Vatev also pointed out. On his part, Minister Solsky stated that the Ukrainian side will take up to two weeks of action against these practices and companies that violate the licensing regime will lose the right to export.

The data on the licenses issued for the export of Ukrainian grain to Bulgaria show that since December 4, only six licenses have been issued - one for 3,500 tonnes of rapeseed, two for a total of 1,500 tonnes of corn and three licenses for a total of 2,600 tonnes of sunflower. The Ministry of Agriculture committed to publishing weekly information on the issued licenses for the import of Ukrainian grain with the corresponding quantities and prices.

In a BNT interview, Association of Industrial Poultry Chair Daniel Bozhankov spoke about a pressing issue of imported meat and eggs, which have been re-labelled as Bulgarian goods. This problem has been around for years, Bozhankov said, noting that the State Food Safety Agency and the Ministry have been alerted, that their efforts to reduce this practice are noticeable, but should be improved.

TOURISM

Telegraph reports that tour operators have begun offering tours to the Surva International Festival of Masquerade Games in Pernik, which will take place between January 26 and 28. This year is the 30th edition of the festival, which has a more than 50-year history. The day bus tours cost about BGN 20 from Sofia, BGN 45 from Plovdiv, BGN 55 from Pleven and Veliko Tarnovo and BGN 65 from Ruse and Stara Zagora. The Bulgarian National Railways offer the lowest possible price to reach the festival, about BGN-4-5 from Sofia. 

Telegraph reports that the sledding slope next to the Aleko hut on Vitosha has enough snow and has been processed, allowing it to be opened on Friday, January 5, and be in operation during the first weekend of the year. The facility, which was launched three years ago, will be open throughout the winter every weekend from Friday to Sunday, weather permitting. On the remaining days, the track will also be usable, but without safety nets and service personnel.