site.btaMedia Review: August 13

No single topic dominates Tuesday's news media.

POLITICS

Bulgarian National Television’s morning show is dedicated to the formation of the new caretaker government and what can be expected. Prof. Plamen Kirov, a constitutionalist, predicted that there will be changes of ministers as the caretaker prime minister changes. However, it is likely that a large part of Dimitar Glavchev's team will remain in the new caretaker cabinet. The intrigue seems to revolve solely and mostly around the figure of the caretaker interior minister, as if he is organising and holding elections and winning them, Prof. Kirov commented. Caretaker prime minister-designate Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva is subordinate to Dimitar Glavchev at the National Audit Office and will not pursue a policy different from that of Glavchev, the legal expert stressed. According to Prof. Kirov, Parliament cannot seek political responsibility from the caretaker cabinet. The caretaker cabinet becomes an independent constitutional player and slips out of the control of the President and the National Assembly.

On bTV’s morning show, the head of the trade union of Interior Ministry employees, Iliya Kouzmanov, commented on Monday’s protest against the use of the Interior Ministry for political purposes; part of the protesters expressed support for caretaker Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov. Political talking has crossed all lines, Kouznamov commented. “The human factor at the Interior Ministry is grossly underestimated. There have been ministers acting like kings and giving us orders as if we are their subjects,” he noted. The system needs peace, and the attack against Stoyanov is a very gross political attack. “We have stated very clearly that we support the way in which the Ministry is run,” he also said, specifying that it does not come to a specific individual. It is only this year that their calls since 2012 for an increase in the number of permanent job positions at the borders were heard, he specified further.

On Nova TV’s morning show, political expert Rossen Yordanov and media expert Georgi Lozanov commented on the police officers’ protest and the formation of a new caretaker government. "Kalin Stoyanov is another one who is defined as a monster and against whom we must fight," Yordanov said. He added that it is not important whether the protest was organised for political reasons or not, but that there are Interior Ministry employees who support their minister. The political analyst pointed out that Stoyanov is the first one who does not remove employees, does not make serious personnel changes and stands as a political shield, which is the reason he received this support. The expert added that raising wages in the sector is also important. Lozanov believes that the protest of the police officers is "typical and aims to protect the chief". In his words, it is not about spontaneity: Stoyanov is the brightest political marker. On the subject of the formation of the new caretaker government, the media expert pointed out that the formation of this cabinet is like "acupuncture of the political body". Yordanov said that Goritsa Kozhareva could not be completely autonomous in choosing ministers, as she had to seek advice from people she trusted and their cooperation. "She has nowhere to pull the joker from and make ministers," the political expert added.

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Duma writes that Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and leader of the Labour Party, has sent a letter to Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Acting Chairman Atanas Zafirov thanking him for the words of support after the election victory of the Left in the UK. In the letter, Starmer expresses his readiness to rebuild ties with partners to build security and prosperity for the people. "As a community of progressive parties, it is vital that we work together to steer a changing world, leveraging our shared knowledge and experience," Starmer writes, as quoted by the daily. The British Prime Minister also expresses a desire to maintain an active relationship with the BSP, along with the need to strengthen cooperation on issues of mutual interest with international partners.

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An analysis at Segabg.com reads that the Movement for Rights Freedoms (MRF) finds itself in a very difficult situation because of a vicious internal war right before the snap elections. The party members are divided into two camps: that of Honorary Chairman Ahmed Dogan and of Chairman Delyan Peevski. The MRF has experienced serious crises before, the analysis reads, recalling the removal of deputy chairman Kassim Dal in 2011 and of chairman Lyutvi Mestan in 2015. Both of them formed their own parties which in 2017 merged into one and had Turkiye’s support. However, that support quickly waned as Ankara gave up on its beef with Dogan, and the MRF seemed to stabilize at the start of the 2020s. Until Peevski’s wish to rule single-handedly broke the party in two. Now it looks as though the MRF is stuck in marshes from which it cannot leave. The big problem lies not in whose camp the party members are – that of Peevski or Dogan – but in the matter of who will approve the MRF’s candidate lists for the snap elections. Legally, both Peevski and MRF Co-Chairman Dzhevdet Chakarov, who is on Dogan’s camp, can approve those lists.

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Capital.bg reports that just over two months before the snap parliamentary elections on October 20, one of the leading polling agencies - Gallup International Balkan - has changed its owners. The previous founders and shareholders - Andrey Raychev and Kancho Stoychev - have sold their shares to Paxton Research, a company established in late June with three members of its board of directors (former MP of NDSV Borislav Tsekov, former Central Election Commission chair in 2014-2019 Ivilina Alexieva-Robinson, and lawyer Adrian Boyanov). The change in the polling agency's ownership was announced through a press release by Gallup International. It quotes Raychev and Stoychev as saying that they have decided to take advantage of the "constitutionally guaranteed right to a pension". "We therefore sought to pass the baton to individuals who not only have an understanding of Gallup’s mission but also the capacity to build on it," the two added. Tsekov, for his part, is quoted as saying that the agency is to be restructured into a three-pronged research centre. One will be sociological, with the current director, Parvan Simeonov, retaining his position. The other will be a centre for constitutionalism and democracy. It will publish a scientific journal and its head will be Prof. Georgi Bliznashki. The third will be called Centre for Monitoring of Anti-Democratic Ideologies and Propaganda in Bulgaria.

Mediapool.bg recalls that Prof. Bliznashki is a former caretaker prime minister who ten years ago transformed from a protester against Delyan Peevski into his adviser on constitutional changes and judicial reform. Prof. Blizhashki is a legal expert in constitutional law, who at the start of the transition to democracy was an MP of the BSP but later dropped out. In 2014, he was appointed caretaker prime minister by president Rosen Plevneliev, who quickly felt sorry for his choice after Bliznashki got scared by criticism against Russia in a strategic document. After his short term in office, Bliznashki went to Peevski and the MRF as an adviser against the judicial reform proposed by Hristo Ivanov at the time. Just a month ago, Bliznashki was going from TV channel to TV channel to talk against Euro-Atlantism. In a July interview for Bulgaria On Air, he said that when the war in in Ukraine is over, Euro-Atlantism will be talked about with slight irony and it is overly archaic. “The truth is that the EU can no longer remain an appendage of the USA and their hegemonic policy. The EU should obtain its own image,” he argued then. Now, however, Prof. Bliznashki’s new employers are supporters of former US president Donald Trump. Former Gallup owner Andrey Raychev himself told Mediapool that Borislav Tsekov is a Trumpist with conservative views.

On Bulgarian National Radio, Mila Mineva, lecturer in sociology at the St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, commented that Gallup International Balkan will begin to function much more like a conservative think tank than a polling agency. "It is a structurally defining agency, but I think it will radically change its role," she added. She recalled Tsekov's conservative stance on the Istanbul Convention when he sent a legal opinion to the Constitutional Court to oppose its adoption and ratification. "Perhaps the fact that Borislav Tsekov is buying Gallup is good news because this polarising role will now be exposed, i.e. it will be clear: there will be no need to guess why this or that research is being done. It will be clear that it is being done to support this new conservative line in Bulgarian society which, I am afraid, is starting to become common sense, i.e. is starting to try to present itself as common sense. In that sense, it needs a huge push-back. The question is whether we will have sociological data with which to do it, beyond these studies which will obviously be ideologically motivated," she argued.

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24 Chasa has an interview with Prof. Ivan Ilchev about North Macedonia. The historian comments that North Macedonia is self-isolating. Its diplomats’ statements follow the directions set by Serbia and take advantage of the anti-Bulgarian attitudes. From 1913 to the 1950s, being a Bulgarian in North Macedonia was considered a crime, and those 3,500 who still claim they are Bulgarians are heroes. Bulgaria’s demand that they be included in North Macedonia’s Constitution will not help them; that policy is wrong. Skopje abandoning Transport Corridor 8 linking it to Bulgaria in favour of the Belgrade-Athens axis is a step towards Serbia becoming a centre in the Balkans. What Bulgaria is doing in this situation is similar to what happened with the regular flights between Sofia and Skopje: they were launched with a lot of media noise but without an economic analysis on the number of passengers, costs, and economic effect. Two to three flights later, the regular flights were cancelled quietly. 

ECONOMY

24 Chasa’s front-page article reads that if one brings theirs blue health insurance booklet with them to the Bulgarian seaside, their visit to any general practitioner would be free of charge. One must have paid their health insurance contributions regularly, doctors advise. Their comment is related to a recent case where a family paid an exorbitant sum for a medical checkup at the seaside.

Trud’s front-page story reads that pharmacies in most small settlements are in agony, and their owners close them down if they fail to sell them. A total of 22 municipalities have no pharmacies, and 42 municipalities have one only. Over 50 pharmacies have closed down in a year. Pharmacists from across Bulgaria commented for the daily that the main reason lies in the lack of personnel and the many regulations of the National Health Insurance Fund. People with chronic diseases living in villages and towns without a pharmacy have to travel to get their medicinal products; others use relatives or people who collect prescriptions and go to fulfill them in nearby settlements. According to Institute for Market Economics representative Petya Georgieva, the market is strongly regulated but part of the regulations can be changed; online trade and distribution of medicinal products through couriers can be eased. 

Trud has an interview with Prof. Alexey Savov, head of the National Genetics Lab in Sofia, commented that statistically speaking, one in 30,000 women could have XY chromosomes and one in 25,000 men could have XX chromosomes. There are only two genders in biology and genetics, and the above cases are deviations. 

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24 Chasa writes that MPs will get a salary of at least BGN 6,980 without setting foot in Parliament during their summer holiday and the upcoming election campaign. Their salaries increase by 4.5% because of being linked to the average in the country. The President will have a higher salary too as of September, from the current BGN 13,308 to BGN 13,960. National Statistical Institute data released on Monday show an increase of the average monthly salary by 4.5% in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the first, reaching BGN 2,276 in June, and by 17.3% year on year, the biggest rise in the last years.

Reporting on the same data, Capital.bg writes that these figures reflect to some extent the situation on the labour market in the country - low unemployment against a background of an ever decreasing working age population. Additional contributors include pay rises in the civil service and education sectors: by nearly 30% according to the statistics. Thus, the average wage in the public sector outpaced that in the private sector by BGN 68 and reached BGN 2,327 gross in June. The figures reflect the salary increase for 53,000 civil servants, which came into effect in March, by an average of around BGN 289. Teachers' salaries have been raised by 8.4% since January, police officers' food allowances, military salaries and, most recently, those of employees in the higher education sector have also been increased.

Telegraf has an interview with Ekaterina Asenova, head of the General Labour Inspectorate, who advises people to not seek work through social networks due to the high risk of getting scammed.