site.btaMedia Review: August 14

THE HOME SCENE

Interviewed on two inside pages for Trud, Prof. Antoaneta Hristova says that in recent years Bulgarians have been exceedingly unmotivated to vote, and political parties enjoy some of the lowest levels of trust. "Not a single party which has been involved in politics so far holds out any prospects," the political psychologist comments. "People feel confused, insecure and disgusted. This rejection of partisanship is a very dangerous tendency, the interviewee warns. Politicians have packaged themselves in a negative image and cannot get out of it because of their misguided behaviour and past mistakes in which they are trapped. Hristova expects an end soon to what she calls "unnatural things in the present-day practising of liberal values". Something new and different is expected at this point: a patriot providing certainty in the future, espousing family values, she reasons, arguing that only the patriotic parties stand a chance, of which Vazrazhdane is the strongest, the professor points out.

A signed item in Trud quotes PR expert Diana Damyanova as predicting that the October 20 early elections will be the last one in which Continue the Change (CC) and Democratic Bulgaria (DB) will run together. "There is simply no way having a working alliance between a Right and a Left party," she insisted. For his part, Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) member Svetoslav Malinov said that CC DB will definitely enter the forthcoming elections on a joint ticket, and further consolidation is expected after the elections with a single leadership including new figures.

In an analysis republished by Duma from Prof. Antonii Todorov's blog, the author writes that the present-day Left in Bulgaria is undoubtedly burdened by the history of Soviet communism whose "Leftness" is ever more called into question. Moreover, there is a difference and even opposition between a political Left and a non-governmental Left. The political Left is already organized in several different political parties originating not only from the previous Bulgarian Communist Party but also from the previous Union of Democratic Forces. A 2021 survey found that most Left parties are rather conservative or centrist. On the whole, the political left has lost four-fifths of its voter support in elections over the last seven years, from a little over 1 million votes for all Left parties in 2017 to a little over 200,000 in 2024. The non-governmental Left consists of numerous Left citizen organizations, initiatives and projects, working on the ground and often taking a rather reserved and even hostile view of parties. The Left is divided on a number of issues: the attitude to Soviet communism, the choice between cultural liberalism and cultural conservatism, the attitude to present-day Russia, the attitude to NATO in principle, but also to the West as a whole, the positions on the eurozone and the level of political integration in the EU, to federalism or a union of nation states, Todorov writes.

NEW CARETAKER CABINET

24 Chasa reports that after Finance Minister Lyudmila Petkova formally confirmed that she will keep her job in Goritsa Grancharova's Cabinet, insiders say that Rosen Karadimov will quite probably remain head of the Ministry of Innovation and Growth, along with Education and Science Minister Galin Tsokov, Tourism Minister Evtim Miloshev, and Culture Minister Nayden Todorov. On Monday, Mariya Pavlova herself said she was ready to stay on as justice minister even though she had not yet been invited. Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov said that his professional expertise fits into the future caretaker cabinet. This will be a sign to foreign partners in the context of the war in Ukraine. Galya Kondeva is also inclined to continue as health minister.

After conferring with Goritsa Grancharova, Petko Nikolov has accepted her proposal to keep his post as minister of economy and industry in her caretaker cabinet, Nikolov's team said, quoted by Bulgarian National Radio. 

INTERIOR MINISTRY

National security expert Nikolay Radulov, who is a former secretary general of the Interior Ministry, told Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) Wednesday morning that a protest staged by Interior Ministry personnel on Monday in support of Kalin Stoyanov keeping his job as minister was unlawful. "This protest was organized by people close to the minister, which is an open secret among police officers, these are several members of the Special Police Forces who have worked with this minister. This is one of the signs of politicization. Over the last 20 years, the Interior Ministry has been gradually but continuously politicized," Radulov commented.

BULGARIA'S EU COMMISSIONER

Trud reports, quoting its own sources, that the nominations for the next Bulgarian EU commissioner will most probably come from parties affiliated to the European People's Party: GERB, DSB and DB. Former Socialist MEP Petar Vitanov told the daily that, judging from talks he had "with important factors" in Brussels, including two EU commissioners, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia are allocated three portfolios: regional development, defence and transport.

24 Chasa writes that 17 days remain until the deadline by which Bulgaria must come to terms with the EU about the portfolio of the country's commissioner, select nominations and send them to Brussels. This will be one of the top priorities of Goritsa Grancharova's caretaker cabinet which is expected to take office on August 20, and it will thus have a little over a week to cope. "The parties' silence now is probably prompted by the still unclear cabinet lineup that will be approving the nominations," the daily says. "If we are late in joining the negotiations on the allocation of portfolios, we may well get a fringe portfolio," 24 Chasa warns. It quotes Socialist MEP Tsvetelina Penkova as saying last week that Bulgaria stands a chance for the energy portfolio. The female names subject to speculation now include Denitsa Zheleva, who was chef de cabinet in the third Boyko Borissov government and is now in the EPP headquarters.  

NATIONAL ECONOMY

The "health" of the national economy continues to deteriorate, Prof. Boyan Durankev told Telegraph in an interview. The economic growth is very low (1.8%), the unemployment is high (5%), inflation continues to flourish (2.5%), imports invariably exceed exports, the state budget is in the red, the deindustrialization process is going on (-5.2%), the State is handing out "aids" to private businesses and concludes contracts to the benefit of foreign countries, a large part of the young and smart people continue to study abroad and in most cases stay on there, the labour force is aging, the structure of the Bulgarian economy is getting ever more non-competitive, etc. The minimum monthly wage of BGN 933 (BGN 724 after tax) is enough for mere physical survival. The average monthly wage for June (BGN 2,296 before tax and BGN 1,781 after tax) is also paltry. The three highest paid sectors: information and creative products and telecommunications (BGN 5,164), finances and insurance (BGN 3,332), and electricity and heat production and distribution (BGN 3,280) show that  something is very rotten in Bulgaria, the economist argues.

TOURISM

In an interview for 24 Chasa, caretaker Tourism Minister Evtim Miloshev says that the second episode of British historian Bettany Hughes' Treasures of Bulgaria series, filmed in April 2024 in Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, Belgradchik, Sozopol and the Magura Cave, has been watched by over 216 million people worldwide. Miloshev says that the European Travel Agents' and Tour Operators' Associations (ECTAA) will hold its annual meeting in Bulgaria in October. Bansko will host again the World Snowboard Cup, on January 18 and 19, 2025. "The Arab Peninsula countries have the potential to generate important added value to our tourism industry, but this requires good transport connectivity," the interviewee says, recalling that over 2,700 people from Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, the UAE and Saudi Arabia visited Bulgaria between January and June 2024.

The same daily quotes statistics according to which 402,348 Bulgarians holidayed in Greece between January 1 and June 30, 2024, followed by 265,424 in Turkey, nearly 120,000 in Romania, 90,000 in Italy, 65,000 in France, and 58,000 in Spain.  

WATER SHORTAGE

Telegraph reports that water supply rationing was introduced in two regional capitals: Pleven and Lovech (North Central Bulgaria) on Tuesday, after nighttime restrictions in Teteven as from August 12. Duma also covers the story.

Interviewed on Bulgarian National Radio, climate change expert Georgi Stefanov said that water supply is rationed in 29 settlements in 92 municipalities countrywide, but they are actually far more numerous because restrictions are partial in some, and they increase by the day. In Stefanov's opinion, the problem is multi-faceted and calls for a serious review of the country's objectives and policies. At this point, water shortages affect 15% of Bulgaria's population. If there is one more year of drought, even half of the country's population may be affected, the expert warned.

DOGAN'S PEOPLE TARGETED BY ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION

The Commission for Anti-Corruption (CAC) on Wednesday launched synchronized raids against two prominent figures close to Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) Honorary Chairman Ahmed Dogan: businessman Rumen "The Wolf" Gaytanski and former Kardzhali (Southeastern Bulgaria) mayor Hassan Azis, mediapool.bg reports.

Prosecutors and CAC officials are searching Gaytanski's properties, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported.

The actions of prosecutors, CAC officials and police officers are linked to the investigation of a loan extended to Gaytanski's company by the Bulgarian Development Bank.

At the same time in Kardzhali, CAC and police officers raided the offices of companies and establishments belonging to the circle of Azis, according to the website 24rodopi.com, which is close to MRF Floor Leader and party co-chair Delyan Peevski.

The website specifies that law-enforcers are in at least two establishments. The operation comes after numerous media reports that Dogan plans to make Azis the leader of a new united MRF after he solves the problem with Delyan Peevski's breakaways.

Officers of the General Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime have entered a building in central Kardzhali that houses the office of Ahmed Mollahasan, considered to be Azis' "right hand man" in the ex-mayor's business initiatives, 24rodopi.com reported.

The operation against Gaytanski is taking place simultaneously in Sofia and Kardzhali. A search is also being carried out at a company registered in Kardzhali, which has allegedly received BGN 30 million from a loan. Among the residences searched is that of a former director of the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB), BNT reported, referring to Stoyan Mavrodiev.

There are indications that the manager of the beneficiary companies has left the country, which is why he will be charged in absentia and put on a wanted list. The same applies to the former BDB director.

BNT reports that Gaytanski and Mavrodiev have left the country a few days ago.

The CAC recently "warmed up" the media with reports that a company linked to Gaytanski is repaying Dogan's loan in connection with the Varna Thermal Power Plant.

In the meantime, it transpired that Dogan had declared he wanted to return the shares in the TPP to the previous majority owner, Danail Papazov. A few days ago, CAC announced that they had launched a probe into the extension of a loan by the state-owned Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) to Gaytanski's company Roadway Construction in 2019.

The current actions of the prosecution service and the CAC seem quite strange right now, because there has been public information about this contract for years, www.mediapool.bg commented.
 
The prosecution service refused to investigate the case and closed the file last summer. Now the CAC probes come at a time when Dogan and Peevski are fighting for control of the MRF.

Bulgarian National Radio on Wednesday morning interviewed BDB Executive Director Tsanko Arabadzhiev, who said that back in 2021 his bank alerted the prosecution service about the BGN 150 million lent to Gaytanski's company that is being investigated. "In our opinion, even then it seemed" that a large amount of money was extended while the collateral did not have the appropriate value," the banker said. He recalls that the prosecution service twice terminated the pre-trial proceedings, BDB appealed and finally approached the prosecutor general, who returned the case for further investigation. 

CHIREN GAS STORAGE INVESTIGATION

Commenting on an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) into the spending of EU funds on an extension of the Chiren Underground Gas Storage, energy expert Martin Vladimirov of the Center for the Study of Democracy explained on Nova TV Wednesday morning that the EPPO had been alerted by the Bulgarian Energy and Mining Forum about an undercutting of the costs of drilling by a more insecure technology that can put the facility at risk. The expert added that yet again the Bulgarian energy sector, and more specifically the management of the gas transmission network, concentrates a huge amount of public resources that go into the hands of a small group of subcontractors and large construction companies. Vladimirov stressed that at the end of the chain are the same oligarchic networks that over the last 15 years have been helping Russia assert its dominant position on the natural gas market in Southeastern Europe. He added that these are companies that worked on TurkStream. "After the Russian invasion in Ukraine, these companies have switched to projects related to resources diversification," the interviewee said further.

LUXURY CARS

Registrations of eight luxury car brands (Austin Martin, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Lotus, McLaren, Rolls Royce and Ferrari) in Bulgaria grew by 25% last year, reaching a total of 879, and new cars (up to 5 years) in this segment increased by 40% to 308, compared to a 3.9% rise in the overall number of motor vehicles in the country (by 154,000 to 4.1 million-plus), Trud reports, citing Interior Ministry statistics. There are 6,997 Porsches, 6,300 Lexuses, 2,964 Jaguars and 499 Maseratis registered in Bulgaria. At the same time, more than half of the motor vehicles in the country are over 20 years old.

RECYCLABLES DEPOSIT

24 Chasa quotes the Ministry of Environment and Water as saying that a recyclables deposit system is expected to go into operation in Bulgaria as from 2026, when 0.1 to 3 litre empty plastic, metal and glass single-use and multiple-use bottles of water, soft drinks, beer and cider will have to be accepted by all retail trade establishments countrywide in exchange for BGN 0.20 or a deduction from the price of a full bottle. In the retail chains, the return will be handled by vending machines. Environmentalist organizations estimate that some 1 billion plastic bottles are dumped without being collected separately in Bulgaria every year, which makes 3 million daily. The unrecycled bottled are part of the reasons why since 2021 Bulgaria has been paying the EU BGN 44 million annually on the basis of the quantity of unrecovered plastic packaging, 24 Chasa says.  

ANTI-LGBTI LAW

In a commentary contributed to Trud, Viktoria Georgieva writes that a large part of the over 10,000 associations and foundations registered in Bulgaria deal with LGBTI rights, children's sexual orientation, tolerance of the different and other activities "well financed by various foreign sources". The NGOs in question have long been trying to penetrate the schools to "educate and elucidate" adolescent on questions concerning sexual orientation, the author points out. She dismisses as "an attempt to manipulate public opinion in an all-too obvious way" the argument of the NGOs and the Association of European Journalists that the legal amendments "bear amazing resemblance to measures taken by the authoritarian regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin". Georgieva argues that this is "much ado about nothing" because gays and lesbians represent an insignificant 1.2% of the population and those involved in education in some way are probably less than 0.1%. The author insists that the ban on this propaganda in school simply means not to indoctrinate children at a very young age that being different is very cool, that it will help you stand out among your peers, that it is trendy and all but compulsory.

In an analysis for www.dnevnik.bg, former deputy health Minister Mihail Okoliiski asks: "Why so much attention is paid to the theses and narratives coming from Eurasia? They instill chauvinism, hatred of the different and the weak, homophobia, and hesitancy even about scientific facts." "Medical statistics show that each and every society has 5-6% homosexually oriented people. This means that in every school class of 30 children, at least one or two feel or will feel different regarding the kind of partner they like," Okoliiski notes. He argues that homosexuality is a biologically determined phenomenon and not a fad or a temptation, and the argument that propaganda can tempt children to change their sexual orientation is completely untenable.

Why the incumbent leaders of the ministries of education and health, who are responsible for the implementation of the Strategy for Early Childhood Development 2030, do not come up publicly with defence of the State policy and objectives set about sex education in this programme, the expert asks. "They could soothe passions by valid facts and authority rather than leave it yet again to civil society to wage battles for the protection of the rights of the vulnerable ones," he insists.

"What will the State decide: to keep imposing the insane and unconstitutional law or to back the EU approaches that seek to achieve a comfortable living environment for all citizens and integration of the different and the disabled? The answers to these questions do not pass through instilling hatred but through dialogue regarding the boundaries that each member of the community sets to protect their own individuality but also to continue to feel part of the whole," Okoliiski comments.

SENIOR OFFICIALS' PAYCHECKS

Telegraph reports that the minimum monthly salary drawn by Bulgarian MPs now stands at BGN 6,981 (up from BGN 5,661 a year ago), excluding extra pay for members and chairs of standing or ad hoc committees. The monthly pay of National Assembly Chair Raya Nazaryan and of future caretaker prime minister Goritsa Grancharova is a little over BGN 10,800 (compared to BGN 8,774 in June 2023). Ae cabinet member's salary is BGN 9,075 (up from BGN 7,359). President Rumen Radev's monthly pay is nearly 14,000 (up from BGN 11,322 a year ago).