site.btaMedia Review: February 12

POLITICS

A main topic in all publications on Monday, is the upcoming government rotation on March 6, when current Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel (GERB-UDF) is planned to replace Nikolay Denkov (Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria) in the post of Prime Minister, and he in turn will take the post of Deputy Prime Minister.

Mediapool summarizes that for a week now, Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) and GERB have been in public discord over the position of foreign minister, which will be vacated by Gabriel. GERB leader Boyko Borissov vigorously rejected Denkov's insistence that he should become foreign minister, despite previous agreements that he would take the post of education minister. Borissov was adamant that the Foreign Ministry should remain with GERB. 

24 Chasa, Trud and Mediapool write that both CC-DB and GERB declared that they are ready for a rotation with "minimal changes" in the current composition of the Council of Ministers. At the same time, neither is inclined to cede the Foreign Ministry to the other. CC-DB Co-Chair Kiril Petkov insisted that the Government will continue in the same format after March 6. Movement for Rights and Freedoms Floor Leader Delyan Peevski took the GERB's side. If the CC-DB take another ministry, the rotation becomes meaningless, Peevski stressed.

Mediapool, Sega and 24 Chasa quote CC-DB Co-Chair Hristo Ivanov, who said that his party Yes, Bulgaria may revise the degree of support for the "next edition of the rotation formula" if he does not receive guarantees for the implementation of the judicial reform and priorities in the next 9 months. He noted that if authorities are responsible and politically mature there will be no need for another snap elections. 

Trud quotes GERB's Denitsa Sacheva who noted that no one will benefit from early elections. The political parties hardly aspire to such a development and are only talking about posts and positions, and this, her opinion, is very tiring for society. Sacheva reiterated that the management programme states that Denkov is to be minister of education.

In a morning discussion on NOVA, sociologists Andrey Raichev and Evelina Slavkova, social anthropologist Haralan Aleksandrov and political scientist and former MEP Prof. Svetoslav Malinov commented on the topic of whether the powerholders will come to an understanding on the position of the foreign minister. All of the experts agreed that the chances of snap elections are low, as this will not be beneficial to neither GERB nor CC-DB. Raichev noted that the tensions in the Sofia Municipal Council are indicative of a larger tension between power-holders.

SOFIA MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

Another main topic in media on Monday are the continuous issues in the Sofia Municipal Council (SMC). On Thursday, after a three-month stalemate, the SMC finally elected municipal councilor Tsvetomir Petrov from Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria-Save Sofia as its Chair.

24 Chasa and Sega wrote that Thursday's Council meeting lasted 13 hours in order to also elect deputy chairs and the composition of committees. An hour before the end of the meeting, members of CC-DB-Save Sofia left the hall, dissatisfied with the allocation of committees, after receiving only one out of a total of 14. Save Sofia's Boris Bonev called the SMC leadership "not political, but financial and economic". "We didn't want to legitimize the conquest of the SMC, that's why we left," he added. Trud also quotes Bonev, who argued that the decision by which the chairmanships were announced was illegitimate, and that a legal team is currently preparing legal defence on the matter.

Trud, 24 Chasa quote GERB SMC Deputy Chair Georgi Georgiev who said on bTV that CC-DB-Save Sofia refused to head of some of the commissions, and that Boris Bonev set the tone. Georgiev noted that over 20 times they refused various positions and in the end somehow they changed their mind and took the leadership of three committees. There will most likely be new mayoral elections in Sofia, in view of the data on abuses available from forensic examinations, Georgiev added.

Trud quotes GERB-UDF municipal councilor Anton Hekimyan who accused Democratic Bulgaria and Save Sofia of fighting only for positions, power and money.

On the air of Bulgarian National Television, VMRO municipal councilor Carlos Contrera noted that Sofia's Mayor is from CC-DB, as is the SMC Chair, and in this sense, Boris Bonev's statements that he was in opposition were absurd. He noted that Save Sofia has its key appointments in various positions.

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Duma publishes declarations from the Bulgarian Socialist Party's (BSP) Sofia organizations against the municipal councilors who supported the election of a CC-DB Chair of the SMC. The daily also quotes a number of BSP political figures, including BSP Deputy Floor Leader Georgi Svilenski, MPs Hristo Prodanov and Floor Leader Ivan Chechnev, who expressed sharp criticisms against the BSP municipal councilors' decision. 

Sega, Trud and Mediapool quote BSP municipal councilor Ivan Takov, who said that he put his head on the line to make the Sofia Municipal Council work. Takov noted that BSP's disapproval is extremely unimportant, as he has the trust of the entire city organization, the city council, the group of councilors, as well as the local coalition, which has elected him as their head.

Trud, 24 Chasa report that the BSP National Council will decide whether to exclude the municipal councilors from the party. BSP Floor Leader Ivan Chenchev said on NOVA NEWS that there should be a severe punishment for the municipal councilors who do not conform to the party line

Sega quotes BSP's former leader Sergey Stanishev, who said on BTV that anyone in the BSP who expresses a difference of opinion is declared an enemy. He noted that the BSP is not doing well as an opposition, and that this is evident from the results of elections and sociological surveys.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

On Bulgarian National Radio, Margarita Shurupova, a journalist who fled from Russia to Bulgaria after the start of the war in Ukraine, commented on public attitudes in Bulgaria regarding Putin and the war, the attitude to Russia. Shurupova believes the Russian influence in Bulgaria is "huge, unfortunately". She noted that she now lives in Rousse, and finds attitudes very pro-Russian. The journalist expressed the view that in Bulgaria there is no critical understanding of what Putin is doing and of the situation in general, and that Russia's soft power in the region is underestimated. She also noted there seem to be too many connections between the Russian consulates and the Bulgarian services and its entire government. Unfortunately, in this country there is ground for internal conflicts and provocations. Many similar things happened in Ukraine before the war, Shurupova recalled.

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24 Chasa focuses on a Bulgarian Government delegation's visit to Egypt, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel and including Ministers Todor Tagarev, Georgi Gvozdeikov, Bogdan Bogdanov, Milena Stoycheva and Rumen Radev. Gabriel met with her Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry and discussed energy, defence, agriculture, tourism, social contacts. At an official ceremony, a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Ministry of Defence of the Arab Republic of Egypt on cooperation in the field of defence was signed. Deputy Prime Minister Gabriel awarded the employees of the Bulgarian Embassy in Egypt for their efforts in the evacuation of Bulgarian citizens from the Gaza Strip.

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Sega writes that the Finnish Air Force will participate in NATO air defence in Bulgaria, Romania and the Black Sea, according to a press release by Finnish Minister of Defence Antti Hakkanen. Finland will participate in the so-called peacetime NATO missions with one Navy ship and with a maximum of eight Air Force F/A-18 Hornet fighters. Tasks will include aerial surveillance and armed patrol flights under the direction of NATO's integrated air and missile defence, the Ministry of Defense said.

HOME AFFAIRS

Sega, 24 Chasa, Mediapool and Trud report that CC-DB introduced changes to the Minister of Interior Act for mandatory personal video cameras (body cameras) of police officers, as well as for mandatory video recorders in the cars of the Ministry of the Interior and the National Security Service. The MPs argued that body cameras are necessary in view of the increasing cases of accusations of police violence, and abuse of power.

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Mediapool writes that a state laboratory for pesticide research at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint should start working by the end of February. At the moment, samples for the purposes of official phytosanitary control at the Kapitan Andreevo border post cannot be examined, because after long legal disputes, the state terminated its contract with the private laboratory, which for years had a monopoly on this activity at the border. Currently, samples taken by the inspectors of the State Food Safety Agency at the border post are transported to Sofia, where they are examined in the state laboratory, which delays the process

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24 Chasa, Trud, Telegraph, Mediapool and Sega report that on Saturday, the Vazrazhdane party blocked the work of several border points in protest of a decision of the Constitutional Court (CC), which rejected the referendum requested by the party to introduce the euro. The protests were held at the Lesovo checkpoint on the Turkish border, the Kardam checkpoint on the Romanian border and the Kalotina checkpoint on the Serbian border. Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov said that these protests will continue throughout the country. A few hours later, the Ministry of the Interior issued a statement on the matter, noting that the protests were not regulated and hindered the functioning of the border checkpoints, and any further attempts will be stopped. No arrests or sanctions were reported. On their part, Vazrazhdane said that they will not comply with institutions "subject to foreign agents". 

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Mediapool focuses on the scandal surrounding the recently murdered Martin "The Notary" Bozhanov, who was implicated in building a network of connections with prosecutors and judges whom he allegedly bribed, threatened, blackmailed or otherwise pressured to treat his "clients" favourably. The publication notes that this case proves the broken judiciary system in Bulgaria, and that a lot of the facts that have come to light have been in the public domain for years, but somehow eluded the state. It was discovered that Bozhanov had two social security numbers. The Interior Ministry finally inspected his private club, which had been closed for years, and the court was able to find an old case against him, considered lost.

Mediapool and Sega quote CC-DB Co-Chair Atanas Atanasov who said that he has a list of the names of magistrates linked to Bozhanov. The list mainly includes prosecutors from Sofia, a few judges, names from the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office. Atanasov said that he will provide this information to the parliamentary ad-hoc committee regarding the case. Atanasov clarified that this is, not exactly a list, but more so "an interesting material about how the Notary operated in the judicial system and settled cases". 

On Nova TV's morning show, lawyer and former interior minister Emanuil Yordanov argued that he is slightly skeptical of Bozhanov's exaggerated influence in the judiciary. He had some contacts, especially in the specialized institutions, which fortunately were closed, and there he mainly played with the detention measures, he said.

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Telegraph, Trud, Sega, Mediapool and 24 Chasa reported that by order of Sofia Municipality, the holding of Lukov March on February 10 was suspended. This was in fact a rehearsal for the actual march is planned for the following week. The event commemorates the anniversary of the execution-style murder of a former war minister, Gen. Hristo Lukov (1888-1943), by two Communist militants. Lukov was also known for his close links to the Third Reich and his activity as leader of the far-right Union of Bulgarian National Legions. 

AGRICULTURE

Mediapool quotes President Rumen Radev, who commented on the farmers' protests, part expected to partially continue next week as well. The President said that the protests that broke out all over Europe show that the European Union is diverging in terms of ambitions and options to solve this problem. "If Europe wants to guarantee its food security and its competitiveness, it must listen to the voice of farmers and take measures in time," Radev argued.

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Trud recalls that on Friday, protesting agricultural organizations said that they were suspending effective protests. This happened at a briefing in the Council of Ministers after a meeting between Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, Minister of Agriculture Kiril Vatev and dissatisfied producers. An agreement is expected to be signed between the representatives.

Trud, Telegraph, Sega, Mediapool reported that two agricultural organizations continued their protests during the weekend despite the protesters' agreement with the Government on legislative changes and additional support reached on Friday. National Association of Potato Growers head Todor Dzhikov, who was the deputy minister of agriculture in Rumen Radev's last caretaker cabinet, noted that they do not understand the position of the Bulgarian Government regarding the green deal, and regarding administrative arbitrariness.

Trud and Telegraph quote Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev, who said that all agreements with agriculture producers are currently being finalized by lawyers. The Bulgarian Agrarian Chamber confirmed that the technical details were almost cleared. The Chamber also separated themselves from their fellow agriculture producers who decided to continue with the protests and demand the resignation of the Minister Vatev. Vatev said that on Monday he will meet with only two of the branch organizations, because only they expressed interest. 

Telegraph and Trud report that 26 branch organizations from the agriculture sector have stated they do not support the agreements reached during the series of meetings between representatives of the Government and several agricultural organizations, and have decided to continue protests from February 13. The organizations request an adequate policy in the sector that protects the interest of all branches and for the immediate resignation of Food Kiril Vatev due to his failure to deal with the problems of agriculture in Bulgaria and the purposeful division and opposition of non-governmental organizations. The organizations said that none of them were admitted to the negotiating table at the meetings of the Council of Ministers last week

24 Chasa quotes the Bulgarian Agrarian Chamber (BAC), which states there is no split in the organization. The BAC noted that so far, the National Association of Potato Growers has not submitted a decision in contradiction with their opinion regarding the ongoing negotiations and the agreement being prepared with by the Government. The Bulgarian Agrarian Chamber views the continuation of the protests as a PR action that serves political purposes and calls on farmers not to give in to suggestions that aim to solve personal, not branch problems, the position reads.

Radostina Zhekova head of the Dobrudzha Union of Grain Producers said in a BNT morning interview that that after being finalized, the agreement will be sent out to every member of the National Association of Grain Producers and the the Bulgarian Agrarian Chamber. The document will show Bulgaria's clear position regarding the liberalization of Ukraine's market in Europe, as well as green deal requirements corresponding to the position that Bulgaria has submitted to the EC at the requests of the National Association of Grain Producers and the Bulgarian Agrarian Chamber, as well as various laws that are being worked on or will be within the month of March. Small farmers will be assisted per acre without proving expenditure. Zhekova added that she was surprised by what she heard from her colleagues, because their calls were only for "resignation".

BNT's morning programme also featured farmers that explained their demands, which include a restriction on imports from third countries and a renegotiation of the green deal, as well as greater aid for agricultural producers. Some said that the division was caused by bigger players in the sector, and that the negotiations with the Government were conducted by representatives of "no more than 5-6% of the Bulgarian farmers, the large producers who own over 96% of the arable land".