site.btaMedia Review: January 23

POLITICS

Bulgaria is not protected from ballistic missile attack and urgently needs to modernise its air defence systems, Deputy Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov said on Nova TV.

"We talked about how the US can help us with air and anti-ship defence systems. The US is our main partner in the modernization of the Air Force and the Ground Forces. There is no contract for deployment of air defence systems, such talks are going on. We have old Soviet systems and the time is coming to replace them," Zapryanov explained.

However, Bulgaria will hardly get the Patriot systems because the production is small and even if they are ordered now, they will be available in 8-9 years, the deputy minister claimed.

According to him, the Balkans are vulnerable because they are an old area of Russian interest. 

"Russia has been consistent in its actions since 2008 - using military force to conquer territories. First Georgia, then Crimea, now Ukraine," he pointed out.

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24 Chasa runs an interview with Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev, here are the highlights:

I make a difference between negotiations on common goals for the capital and bargaining for the chairmanship of the city council;

In every political group there are people mature enough to stand up for their principles without this being to the detriment of the citizens of Sofia;

For the first time, all the tables and estimates of the city budget have been published in detail before the public debate;

The maximum fine will be imposed for the delayed repair of Shishman Street in the city centre; 

Tons of rubbish passes under the radar when the weighbridge at the plant is not working. An incinerator cannot be built at this stage, the money has already been returned;

If the civic budget experiment works and people decide for themselves what to improve in their neighbourhood, there will be more money in 2025.

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BNR reports that Minister of Agriculture and Food Kiril Vatev is in Brussels, where he is expected to take part in a meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council of the European Union.

In the framework of his visit, Minister Vatev will also attend a ministerial conference on biosecurity and vaccination as essential tools for the prevention, control and eradication of animal diseases.

ECONOMY

The meeting between Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and grain growers on Monday was constructive, we hope it will not lead to a protest, Radoslav Hristov - a member of the Board of the National Grain Producers Association and chairman of the Thracian Union of Grain Producers said on BNT. He called for balanced support for all sectors in agriculture based on reasonable estimates. According to him, since November last year producers have been asking for a meeting with Finance Minister Assen Vassilev, which was never scheduled.

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With the current financial policy of active state intervention in the economy, we should expect nothing but an increase in interest rates, as already pointed out by the BNB, which means that Bulgaria will not enter the euro area soon, said in a statement financier and former deputy finance minister Lyubomir Datsov on BNT.

The expected raising of interest rates on loans is not a late measure, the expert was also adamant.

"This is a political issue, the question is where this credit goes, what it finances. But this question is not for the BNB," he said.

However, there is no reason to worry about a sharp jump in interest rates on consumer and mortgage loans in view of the general trend in the country, Datsov reassured.

On the contrary - in the opposite scenario, if banks were to stop lending abruptly, but due to a reverse market process - a decrease in demand from businesses, it would be a sign of a much more benign economic situation, the financier explained.

HOME SCENE

The members of the Legal Affairs Committee in Parliament are discussing changes in the rules of procedure of the National Assembly, BNR reports. 

The extraordinary session will discuss the proposal to change the status of the Committee for Control of the Security Services so that it is no longer chaired on a rotating basis by a representative of each parliamentary group. 

The proposal is signed by Boyko Borissov, Kiril Petkov, Delyan Peevski and Atanas Atanasov. The reason for it was the chairmanship of the committee assumed by Vazrazhdane, which, according to Peevski, is a threat to national security because the party, in his words, is pro-Russian.

The new chair, Nikolay Drenchev, told BNR that as a member of the committee he had the same access to documents as he had as chairman.

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A conference on combating domestic violence at home and at the workplace is taking place at the House of Europe in Sofia, BNR reports.

Topics such as gender stereotypes, good and bad practices in law-making, and support for victims of domestic violence will also be discussed.

The organisers are the Center for the Study of Democracy, the Institute of Public Administration and Demetra Association.

The forum is attended by experts, analysts, MPs, and representatives of the General Directorate of National Police.

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Most media on Tuesday report that the Interior Ministry is carrying out checks for bombs in schools across the country. Following the closure of schools in Kozloduy and Hayredin municipalities earlier on Tuesday due to bomb reports, the police have undertaken mass checks at educational institutions ahead of the start of classes in coordination with district governors, representatives of regional education departments, and school principals. The Ministry of the Interior stated that no explosive devices have been detected and classes are being held as planned. The police action will continue throughout the day.

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Trud reports that during the meeting in Tel Aviv of heads and senior representatives of the public prosecutor's offices of Israel, European Union member states, the United States and others, acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov stressed the active role that Bulgaria plays in the fight against terrorism within the European Union - ensuring the security of the external borders of the community and prosecuting perpetrators of terrorist attacks and participants in radical groups. In the future Bulgaria and its law enforcement institutions will continue to show zero tolerance towards radicalism, Borislav Sarafov further said.

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Former gambling mogul Vassil Bojkov is to appear on Tuesday as a defendant in the National Investigation Service to receive the materials on the investigation of more than BGN 500 million damage caused by the non-payment of fees from gambling activities, 24 Chasa reports.

The investigation, launched in early 2020, was the reason Bojkov spent more than three years in Dubai, from where he returned last year.

Bojkov is expected to appear before investigators with his lawyers. The businessman is being investigated for having, with the assistance of senior officials of the closed Gambling Commission, defrauded the state budget of more than BGN half a billion, which his companies operating in gambling had to pay.

In addition to Bojkov, ten people are accused in the case, including the heads of the former Gambling Commission. After the submission of the case materials, which is expected to take at least a month, the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office will hand over the businessman and his accomplices to the court.

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Speaking on the air of Nova TV, Chief State Health Inspector Dr. Angel Kunchev said that by the end of the week he expects one-third of Bulgaria to be in a flu epidemic.

According to him, after Smolyan, Plovdiv and Gabrovo, probably by the end of the day, Pleven, Burgas and Varna districts will also declare an epidemic. On the verge were Pazardzhik, Yambol, Pernik and Sofia region. The morbidity in the capital city is growing, but not at such a level that an influenza epidemic could be declared.

Dr. Kunchev also commented on innovations in immunology and new vaccines that are expected to appear on the market. They will be nasal, administered by injection into the nose. However, he would not predict when they will be available.