site.btaMedia Review: February 14

BULGARIA READMITS MIGRANTS   

TrudNews reports that 18 migrants from Austria and 14 detained in other EU countries were returned to Bulgaria on Tuesday under the Dublin Regulation. Some arrived on a charter flight. The Bulgarian National Television reported that dissatisfied people, who were waiting at the airport, claimed that the Bulgarian government had negotiated the return of thousands of refugees to Bulgaria. The State Agency for Refugees said the migrants were returned to the country because they had applied for refugee status here. If refused, the migrants will be handed over to the Migration Directorate as they are considered illegal residents. Since the beginning of the year, 82 people have been returned to the country under this mechanism, out of a total of 317. 

CABINET ROTATION 

Speaking on Bulgarian National Radio, sociologist Kolyo Kolev said: "The rotation in the cabinet won’t go smoothly. I don't expect the assemblage to be undone in that respect. Certainly, it will be image-damaging for everyone involved."    

 He also commented on the situation in the Sofia Municipal Council, which after three months elected a temporary chairman, which, however, led to tensions in two of the parties – the Bulgarian Socialist Party and Vazrahdane.  

Recently, there has been a huge discrepancy between public sentiment and the political elite, he said, adding that this is building up tensions that could go in two directions. One is to lower the voter turnout and thus hide the ruin of all political parties, while the result remains at the current level. However, according to him, the tension is strong and it can break out in the search for a new political "saviour" to unite the hopes of the people, or it can lead to street protests.   

"It is no coincidence that we are talking about a party of Radev. Much of the hope is in this direction, "said Kolev.  Disputes among the parties in the ruling coalition according to him, are a form of racketeering in relation to the "Big Brother” who is behind this ruling majority. 

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On Bulgarian National Television, MP Martin Dimitrov of Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria said: “Because of the changes in regulators, people from GERB do not want the government to continue. The planned changes in the regulators' leaderships are the reason why there are people in the ranks of GERB who do not want the government to continue.  

Shifts in regulators should be set in motion after the cabinet rotation in March. According to Dimitrov, however, GERB likes the work of the control bodies, as no one from the party has criticized them. He added that GERB has created a majority in the Sofia Municipal Council, where together with the Bulgarian Socialist Party managed to take over the key committees. He expressed concern that this behavior of GERB may be multiplied at a national level during the rotation. 

FARMERS’ PROTESTS 

Speaking on Bulgarian National Television, former agriculture minister Mehmed Dikme said that a memorandum signed by protesting farmers and the government does not solve the problems and this is a short-term solution. "The truth is, these people have their backs to the wall, and they have no alternative but to forcefully seek a solution to the issues," the former agriculture minister said. "In grain production we work at 90% of export potential and export, but grain producers till bulk of the agricultural land and pay over BGN 2 billion in rent, "said Dikme. According to him, if the European Commission does not bear the costs of the "green deal", it will be at the expense of the people. "If the European Commission does not financially meet the requirements of the Green Deal, there is yet to be a very serious increase in food prices because someone has to pay the bill.” 

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Interviewed by TrudNews, former deputy prime minister Meglena Plugchieva says: “The fact is that we are witnessing serious protests in France, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and even in Lithuania. Undoubtedly, what unites all protests is the excessively high environmental requirements and regulations that the European Commission has gradually increased in recent years. And they are mainly related to the implementation of the commitments under the Green Deal. In addition, heavy bureaucracy, the need to constantly keep unnecessary accounting, thousands of strict requirements and many environmental standards have further inflamed the anger of producers. All these things present the sector with great challenges and it becomes uncompetitive with imports from third countries. I expect that the European Commission will adjust the course it is leading. If it does not, things will escalate and take on political dimensions with a manifestation as early as this year's European elections.” 

She further says that appropriate measures should be taken with unlimited duty-free imports so as not to destroy the agriculture of the Member States, especially the affected Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia. She recalls that last year Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski talked about compensation measures and seeking a solution. But instead the European Commission ignored him and decided that duty-free imports would continue until 2025.  In addition to all these burdens and dumping of goods from Ukraine Bulgarian farmers do not receive the full European aid like the old member states. Also, in Bulgaria there is the problem with the wrong allocation to the individual subsectors and this puts them on the verge of survival. For example, livestock, fruit and vegetable production, honey. The reason for the discontent of farmers is also the slow work on legislation. Seven laws are expected. If the necessary attention had been paid to them when the new minister took office, these blockades could not have been there now. 

The other thing that needs to change is the blind acceptance of everything that is offered by Brussels, both with regard to duty-free imports from Ukraine and with regard to the EU's agreement on duty-free imports of goods from South America. 

ENERGY 

Interviewed by TrudNews, energy expert Yavor Kuyumdjiev says that the future of the Bulgarian energy sector is uncertain, electricity producers are constantly burdened with new conditions and payments so that the state can put BGN 1 billion a year to offset the cost of carbon emissions. At the same time, neighbouring countries excluding Greece and Romania are quietly producing cheap coal power.  

He says that the maintenance of TPP Maritsa East 2 will cost about BGN 1 billion. He argues that Bulgaria has to pay because the coal-fired plant provides the power in the evenings and at nights. He says that the Bulgarian energy sector will cease to exist in its current form. On February 26, Maritsa East 3 will be switched off followed by Maritsa East 3 in May 2026. Other coal plants will be switched off from the grid for purely economic reasons, and the high carbon prices. And in the end, the Bulgarian energy will consist of solar, wind and hydro plants and one nuclear plant, and possibly a second nuclear power plant. 

In recent weeks Bulgaria has become a record importer of electricity, because the neighboring countries, except for Greece and Romania, do not pay for carbon emissions. The price of electricity in Turkey is significantly lower than in Bulgaria and will become even lower once the new nuclear facilities are launched there. On the other hand, during the day in Greece produce electricity from solar energy, which is very cheap and it is looking for a market. 

In Bulgaria 60% of the electricity production comes from nuclear energy, thermal power plants, as well as another 7-10% from district heating plants on a sunny day and the photovoltaics are the future energy capacities, argues Kuyumdjiev. 

Some 4,000 MW in capacities will be switched off from the grid within 5-6 years, and there is not enough production in the region. “We need to think quickly about other sources and quickly build nuclear power plants and not two units, but four. In practice, we have destroyed our energy, the state will have to pay BGN 1 billion per year to Maritsa East 2 to produce electricity at night, another BGN 1-2 billion at least until January 1, 2026 for the regulated price of household consumers, and we will continue to pay to the US-owned thermal power plants.” 

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Duma writes that the new capacities at Kozloduy NPP will be three times more expensive than the construction of a second NPP at Belene. Nearly US 14 billion will cost the construction of two new units at Kozloduy NPP, said Energy Minister Rumen Radev. By comparison, expert estimates from two years ago said that the construction of two new units at the Belene nuclear power plant site would have cost the state BGN 10 billion. Rumen Radev signed a strategic agreement on cooperation in the field of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes with US Assistant Secretary of Energy for International Affairs Andrew Light. The two discussed small modular reactors. The maximum cost of Kozloduy units 7 and 8 should be up to USD 14 billion and the price of electricity should be below BGN 127 per MWh. Westinghouse will be ready with a first cost estimate for the project by the end of March. "We are looking at units 7 and 8 as a state-owned project with our state participation, in the range of 25-30%, and with loan financing, part of which we are ready to secure with the relevant state guarantees," Radev added. In the summer of 2023, Parliament decided to sell the reactors bought for the Belene NPP to Ukraine for EUR 1 billion, according to expert estimates. 

LIFESTYLE 

Mediapool.bg reports that more than 70% of children spend one to three hours on the internet every day. The kids' preferred social network is Tik Tok, followed by Instagram and Snapchat. Over 61% of children say they use them more than 5 times a day. Apart from social media time, 70.8% of students are online for one to three hours every day, shows a survey conducted by the State Agency for Child Protection in cooperation with the Plovdiv Regional Department of Education and the Bulgarian Security Academy among nearly 1,000 students from grades 6, 7 and 8 in Plovdiv.  

Over 83% of children know how and set their own privacy settings. However, 23% of them have received an invitation to meet in person from strangers on the Internet. Twenty percent have been offered gifts from complete strangers. Nearly 46% play online games with strangers. More than 11% admitted to having been bullied online.  

The Bulgarian Security Academy's analysis of the surveys, which have been carried out together with the Agency in the last three years with over 5,000 students in the cities of Sofia, Varna and Plovdiv, shows a positive trend in the rise of children's confidence in sharing with their parents their experiences online. 

Children's willingness to share their experiences, worries and anything that concerns them with adults is crucial for their protection both online and in real life.  

According to the Bulgarian Security Academy, in a comparison with the results for 2022 and 2023, there was a decrease in the number of cases in which children were chatting with obscene language, as well as those in which they were victims of shaming (insults about the way someone looks). On the positive side, the number of children who have been exposed to age-inappropriate pictures and videos has also decreased. In 2022, 41% of children answered that they had not been in any of these situations; this rose to 48% in the past year, 2023.