site.btaMedia Review: January 31

PEEVSKI-RADEV CLASH

The topic of the clash between Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) floor leader Delyan Peevski and President Rumen Radev dominates Wednesday’s news media.

Earlier in January, Peevski said that: "the President should stop pursuing comfort and come out and give answers. I think that the spotlight should be on the Presidency, this dark institution brimming with cash". The MRF floor leader came with a strong reaction to President Rumen Radev's challenge of the constitutionality of the election of two new Constitutional Court judges - Desislava Atanasova and Borislav Belazelkov. Peevski then referred to the Prosecutor General, the Secretary General of the Interior Ministry and the heads of the State Agency for National Security and the counter-corruption commission signals related to corruption in the presidential institution.

Asked to comment Peevski’s attacks against him and the subsequent announcements for checks by the prosecution service and the Interior Ministry, President Radev called these „a staged media craze“ and referred to the MRF floor leader as „Mr Magnitsky“. In 2021, Peevski was designated by the US under the Global Magnitsky Act as an oligarch who "has regularly engaged in corruption, using influence peddling and bribes to protect himself from public scrutiny and exert control over key institutions and sectors in Bulgarian society." The MP is challenging the designation in a US court. His lawyers argue that there is no evidence of any wrongdoing by their client.

Peevski was later quoted in a press release by the MRF as saying that "Mr Cash is acting like the ultimate institution in the country. His dictatorship is over and will never happen again", apparently referring to President Radev and his past caretaker governments. Commenting on Radev's remarks about the need for a new political alternative, Peevski said: "The only great thing is that he (Radev) will create a party. I will be waiting for him. The gauntlet has been thrown. I accept it. We want a battle on the political stage. He can't be just sitting in his comfortable presidential chair, abuse the (presidential) institution and hide behind his full immunity".

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In a Bulgarian National Radio interview, journalist Veselin Stoynev said that Peevski's "hyperattack" on President Rumen Radev aims to nip in the bud the possibility of Radev creating a party from his entourage in the presidential institution. "If until now political parties, mainly CC (Continue the Change) and DB (Democratic Bulgaria), were the president’s main target and mainly criticised him for pro-Russian positions, power grabbing and abuse of power under caretaker governments, with Peevski the reasons are different and not institutionally symmetrical. In a nutshell, right now what Peevski says to the president is this: You are one of us, you are a rank-and-file partyman, come to the field of party struggle, resign from the presidency. You are not untouchable and that is why I am shooting at your lieutenants", Stoynev explained.

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The 24 Chasa daily has an interview with political analyst Dimitar Ganev, who also comments on the Peevski-Radev clash. In Ganev's words, Radev's actions are directed against the parliamentary majority. The President is trying to accumulate political capital to present himself as a potential alternative, leaving his parliamentary opposition with a secondary role. He did the same during his first term of office, when he became the main opposition to GERB Leader Boyko Borissov's third cabinet, the political analyst stresses. According to him, Radev cannot bring down the current government and trigger new elections at a convenient time for him, as this depends on the majority parties, and they will try to make the situation not in Radev's favour. Radev's party would target mostly at the non-voters, because that is where the greatest electoral potential lies. However, this will not be an easy task because some of those potential voters have permanently distanced themselves from the political process. Of the parties that are already familiar to the public, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Vazrazhdane and The Left should feel most threatened by Radev's project, since it would be their electorate that he would attack, Ganev adds.

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Dnevnik.bg also comments on the topic. The online news outlet publishes an article, saying that "Mr Cash" and "Mr Magnitsky" are the new most popular names on the political scene in Bulgaria. Quoting unnamed government sources, Dnevnik.bg writes that Peevski's attack on Radev was self-initiated and was not discussed or synchronized with GERB and CC-DB. Peevski's behaviour is mostly linked to his desire to show leadership to his own party, as he is in a weak position ahead of the MRF national conference in end-February which is to elect a new MRF leader. Earlier in January, MRF Founder and Honorary Chair Ahmed Dogan, who took over the party's day-to-day leadership in 2023, demoted Peevski from a candidate for the MRF leadership to a candidate for joint leadership with MP Dzhevdet Chakarov.

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Political scientist Maraya Tsvetkova told BNR that Peevski has started a long marathon in his quest to officially seize power. This man wants to wield power not only from the shadows, but also under the spotlights, she stressed, adding that the MRF floor leader might even rise to become a candidate for prime minister.

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The Telegraph daily publishes an interview with political scientist Tatyana Burudzhieva, who believes there are no conditions for a new political party to arise, given the current political situation in Bulgaria.

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In a Nova TV interview, Aleksandar Marinov, former chairperson of the Strategic Council under the President, said he sees the clash as an attempt to damage Radev's reputation. "The president's smarter opponents prefer to keep him passive on the sidelines, instead of fighting [him]. This is most advantageous for them", Marinov argued.

POLITICS

The Trud daily runs an interview with Kostadin Kostadinov, chairperson of the nationalist, pro-Russian and Euro-sceptic Vazrazhdane party. He comments on a study of the European Council on Foreign Relations, which, according to Trud, shows that far-right populist parties across Europe are flourishing. In Kostadinov's words, the EU is becoming a superstate run by anonymous people. "The vast majority of parties that are called 'right-wing' are actually sovereignist. We want national law and national sovereignty to prevail over EU law and European Commission law. This is not at all about right-wing or left-wing policies, because we keep forgetting that the right and the left are not political categories, but economic ones. Realistically speaking, many of the parties of the so-called right-wing, or as the Brussels bureaucrats like to call it, 'far-right sector', are actually pursuing and defending left-wing economic policies aimed at the interests of national economies [...] The European Commission is pushing the most anti-European rhetoric. And the most anti-European behaviour is currently being displayed by the functionaries of the European Commission, who have turned the EU into a threat to European civilization with their policies. So, we are not talking about Eurosceptic behaviour or attitudes, it is the opposite, we are talking about extreme Euro-optimism. We want sovereign states to determine Europe's policy, not the anonymous European Commission. We believe that the EU needs to be reformed and that it needs to become what it was designed to be - an economic and cultural community, because at the moment it is, obviously, failing Europe", Kostadinov argues.

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The 24 Chasa daily frontpages a survey (commissioned by the news outlet and conducted by the Trend Research Centre) which found that support for the main political players remained unchanged from November. If parliamentary elections were held now, GERB would be supported by 24.8% of people who vote, followed by CC-DB with 17.8%, Vazrazhdane 14.6%, MRF 13.8% and the Bulgarian Socialist Party 9.6%. There Is Such a People would be close to the 4% electoral threshold with 4.8%, and 7% would opt for None Of the Above. In January, 34% of respondents said they wanted early parliamentary elections, compared with 30% in November 2023. Early elections are unnecessary according to 42%. The President's performance met with 36% approval and 52% disapproval.

NATIONAL SECURITY

Speaking on the morning talk show of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT), CC-DB co-floor leader Atanas Atanasov gave details of two national security breaches. In his words, one is related to a leak of classified information in 2023. Atanasov explained it was a breach in national security through the State Intelligence Agency. The State Agency for National Security (SANS) was assigned to look into the case, but covered everything up. According to Atanasov, this is how certain circumstances related to actions performed by people close to President Radev are covered up. The other case, he said, is about a scheme in which Russians have been granted Bulgarian citizenship. SANS has been referred to this case, as well, Atanasov said, adding that this served as a channel for infiltrating people from Russia's intelligence services in Europe. Atanasov argued that radical changes are needed in Bulgarian security services in order for them to carry out the tasks given to them by the government, as they now carry out orders from the presidency.

SOFIA'S GOVERNANCE

After seven failed attempts to elect a chairperson of the Sofia Municipal Council, Boris Bonev of CC-DB-Save Sofia told BNT that there has been some progress since the Council's last meeting. After the meeting, all the local government parties have gathered for political consultations with Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev. The majority of municipal councillors want the stalemate to be resolved, Bonev said. According to him, Thursday's meeting will no longer seek the required majority of 31 votes only, but a broad support as a symbolic gesture that there are no assemblages and backroom deals between individual parties or municipal councillors.

BORDER CONTROL

Commenting on migration pressure, Anton Zlatanov, Head of Bulgaria's Border Police Directorate General, told Nova News, that the situation at the Bulgarian-Turkish border is very calm, the calmest in the last ten years. "This is due to all the measures we have taken in recent months, as well as the cooperation with Turkiye. In January, there were some 1,500 attempts to cross the Turkish-Bulgarian border. Last year, there were over 5,000 attempts", he explained. In his words, the Border Police Directorate is also working hard against the organizers of migrant trafficking, as well. An operation is currently underway in Sofia and Pernik to neutralize a smuggling channel, transferring migrants from the Turkish border to the Romanian border through Bulgaria. Security measures are also tightened at the Bulgarian-Serbian border, Zlatanov assured.

EDUCATION

Telegraph frontpages interview with National Representation of Student Councils President Daniel Parushev, who comments on the government’s proposal to waive tuition fees for undergraduate and PhD students in state universities enrolled in state-subsidized places. Parushev predicts that, if adopted, the amendments to the Higher Education Act could keep some 10,000 Bulgarians in their home country every year. Those are Bulgarian students who traditionally flee preferring higher education abroad.