site.btaMedia Review: October 1

OVERVIEW

All dailies report on the first flight from Beirut, which saw 89 Bulgarians get evacuated from Lebanon. The Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) reports that a second group of Bulgarians is ready to be evacuated. Caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev specified that there are 61 Bulgarian nationals with proper documents who can board the next flight.

POLITICS

Trud offers a spread interview with the head of the Blue Bulgaria Coalition economic staff, Nikola Yankov, who stated: "All participants in the elections, except Blue Bulgaria, have practically the same 'governance programme', which boils down to the sentiment, 'We will spend some state money on this or that.' But the state does not have the money for the promises being poured during the campaign. In the current leftist model of government, the state does not have and will not have the money to do the minimum necessary to provide a middle-class living environment for people and infrastructure for business." According to Yankov, the only way to fix this situation is to have the state stop trying to act as a businessman and investor and leave those roles to the private sector. He is adamant that the taxpayers' money should be redirected not for inhouse procurement or subsidies to state-owned companies but for security, development of neglected areas in the country, providing access to good healthcare and quality education.

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Duma's Aida Panikyan said in an op-ed that the monthly minimum pension in the country could increase from BGN 580 to BGN 850 by 2028, if the Bulgarian Socialist Party's programme for rapid development gets implemented.

ECONOMY

24 Chasa's frontpage reports that a household in Bulgaria would have to spend at least a monthly minimum wage or BGN 933 in order to pay for a month of their child's extracurricular activities. Among the most popular activities are private lessons in Bulgarian language and math. Towards the end of the previous school year, a parent in Sofia would pay between BGN 30 and 50 for one lesson that would last around 90 minutes, however, according to the head of the Bulgarian Union of Teachers with the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) Yanka Takeva, that rate has increased by 20% since September 15, 2024. Parents in the capital would struggle to find a lesson that costs below BGN 60. Lessons in foreign languages tend to cost around BGN 40 per hour. Children learning to play the acoustic guitar have their parents pay BGN 30 to 40 per lesson. Violin lessons are slightly cheaper, costing between BGN 30 and 35. Sending a child to attend prima ballerina Krasimira Koldamova's master class, which includes eight to nine sessions per month, would cost BGN 160. A child willing to train football would have their parents pay under BGN 6 per session, if they take it as an elective, however this option would lack a professional trainer. Parents willing to pay more could enrol their child in a professional academy, which would cost at least BGN 60, however, the daily does not specify whether this price is per month or per training session.

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24 Chasa quotes Chair of the Commodity Exchange and Wholesale Markets State Commission, Vladimir Ivanov, who reported that cooking oil prices will likely rise between 5% and 10% due to the poor sunflower harvest. A 100% spike such as the one that took place two years ago however is unlikely, one reason for which is the option for relatively cheap imported oil.

AGRICULTURE

Head of the National Sheep and Goat Breeding Association, Simeon Karakolev, told Telegraph that farmers will launch protests within a week, if the state fails to compensate them with BGN 30 million due to the imports from Ukraine. Some 58,000 farmers were supposed to receive the money from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, as was agreed with the Nikolay Denkov Government back in February, however, the Ministry of Finance has not transferred the funds to the State Fund Agriculture. Farmers have a scheduled meeting with caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Lyudmila Petkova on Tuesday.

TRANSPORT

Telegraph quotes Sofia municipal councillor Carlos Contrera who reported that public transport in Sofia may cease, only if drivers launch a protest, which Contrera sees as a likely scenario. The reasons is the municipality may fail to pay the drivers' advance payment and salary. To this date, Stolichen Avtotransport [capital city's motor transport] EAD is owed BGN 14.16 million, Stolichen Elektrotransport [capital city's electric transport] is owed BGN 8.7 million, and the Sofia Metro expects BGN 2.5 million. The state has not paid the three companies since May 2024. According to Vladimir Hristovski, having the drivers protest in Sofia would also cost Vassil Terziev his position of city mayor.

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The Bulgarian News Television reports that after a 6-year break, the morning direct train from Ruse, on the Danube, to Sofia, once known as the Blue Danube has been restored. The train made up of four newly delivered German coaches will run until mid-December. In the meantime, an analysis of its performance will be conducted to decide whether the train will continue to run afterwards.

LOCAL

Trud's frontpage quotes Novo Selo Mayor Hristo Hristov, who criticized the National Early Warning and Notification System for being ineffective when it comes to area with poor mobile phone coverage. The problem becomes serious in settlements where blackouts mean the mobile operators are unable to service their customers. Hristov points out that currently there is no legislation in place that obliges the operators to have alternative energy sources for their antennas.

TOURISM

Telegraph quotes an interview with the head of the Institute of Analysis and Assessment in Tourism, Rumen Draganov, who reported that some 10.7 million foreigners have visited Bulgaria since the start of the year. This is an increase of 5% compared to the previous year. It is also an improvement of 200,000 compared to 2019, the most successful pre-pandemic year for tourism.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

In an op-ed published by Trud, Kostadin Filipov writes: "I sincerely recommend to everyone in North Macedonia, and indeed in our country, who are pretending to be surprised by Albania's breakaway on the way to EU membership, to stop pretending. Such a decision by Brussels has long been in the air, it has been the reason for delicate but clear diplomatic warnings to Skopje that this could happen." According to the author, when a state candidate for EU membership is at odds with a current EU Member State, chances are the EU would side with its Member State. He continues: "The common position of EU Member States is always stronger and more effective than that of an individual candidate country. Politicians in Skopje should know this well, and if not, it means a lack of elementary professionalism, to say the least. The lack of understanding persistently manifests itself in an obvious disagreement with the condition which, according to the so-called 'French proposal', the Government there has to fulfil. Namely, to change the Constitution of the country and to include the Bulgarian community in it. Therefore, instead of looking for an external culprit, they should look inward, they should honestly and responsibly determine the reason for the breakaway from Albania."

HEALTHCARE

In a spread interview for Telegraph, the new Chair of the Bulgarian Medical Association, Dr Nikolay Branzalov, said that his priorities include drafting a methodology to valuate healthcare providers' labour, providing easier way for healthcare experts to obtain specialization or to work in scientific research.

ENVIRONMENT

Trud reported on the Wildlife Rescue Centre in Stara Zagora, South Central Bulgaria, which has released 177 storks throughout the year. Most of them had been rescued as chicks. Others were taken in after their nests were destroyed in fires or after they fractures or electrocution.

CULTURE

BNR and Nova TV reported that conductor and head of the Razgrad Philharmonic Levon Manukyan has been released from custody on cash bail of BGN 50,000, as confirmed by the supervising prosecutor Galin Gavrailov. Manukyan is accused of fictitious appointments and is suspected of siphoning off state funds on a massive scale. Dozens of people have been involved in the alleged scheme.

In early September, more than 40 people were hired by the Razgrad Philharmonic at significantly higher salaries than the old employees. The prosecution alleges that they did not receive their salaries but were paid their social security contributions. The money for the salaries was collected by a close associate of Manukyan. The philharmonic's budget for salaries spiked from BGN 164,000 in August to BGN 1.7 million in September.

The Inspectorate at the Ministry of Culture has been tasked with carrying out an inspection to clarify all the facts and circumstances. The Ministry of Culture is planning inspections of all secondary budget allocators in the field of performing arts.

Manukyan was detained during a meeting with his accomplices in Plovdiv, South Central Bulgaria.

He was immediately dismissed as director of the Theatre, Music and Philharmonic Centre in Razgrad.