site.btaMedia Review: October 3

VOTE BUYING

According to Nova TV, candidate MP Jeyhan Ibryamov from the coalition around Ahmed Dogan, Alliance for Rights and Freedoms, was detained for vote buying.

The candidate's apartment was searched. He will either face a detention order of up to 72 hours and charges, or be released, his lawyer said. bTV reports that the raid was "urgent" and that he has been charged with bribery and vote-buying.

According to other outlets, the raid also involved Ministry of Interior structures and the detention was at the time of receiving a large sum of money.

Candidate immunity does not allow detention except for a general offence and with the permission of the Central Election Commission on the basis of a reasoned request from the Prosecutor General. Authorization for detention shall not be sought in the case of a serious offence, in which case the CEC shall be informed immediately.

Neither the institutions nor the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms have so far issued statements.

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An action against vote-buying takes place in Tvarditsa, Nova TV reports. Law enforcement authorities are investigating whether any crimes have been committed in connection with illegal logging and offering firewood for votes in the upcoming elections on October 27. 

One person has been detained. Some 30 cubic meters of illegal firewood has been found. 

The entrances of the locality have been blocked by police and gendarmerie teams. Uniforms are checking private addresses, shops, restaurants and moneylenders.

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Two people have been detained in a specialized police action against vote-buying and domestic crime in the Asparuhovo district of Varna, BNT reports.

Pawnshops, fast loan companies and other places where there is evidence that vote trading is taking place are being checked.

"Within the framework of a special operation to prevent crimes of vote trading, an operation is being conducted, during which two persons have been detained. The actions are ongoing on the territory of Varna district and will continue until the end of the election day, October 27," said Chief Inspector Dragostin Todorov of the Varna police.

The two arrested were found to be trading votes. The action continues in the rest of the Varna district.

SECURITY

Bulgaria may have to pay back EU funds, but it may also have to pay sanctions if it fails to implement an important cyber defence project. The commitment is made under the European Commission's quantum communication initiative and should be implemented within a few months. However, so far - for more than a year now - the co-financing needed from Bulgaria is missing.

“It may turn out that the EU will ask for the money back and we will have to use our own funds, national funds to build this infrastructure to be able to communicate with the EC and the EU member states,” Assoc. Prof. Lachezar Georgiev , Head of the National QCI Plan for Bulgaria, told BNT.

Lagging behind with quantum communications also poses other risks - after joining the euro area Bulgarian banks will not be able to communicate with their European partners. The project foresees the routes to be built by the end of the year, which means that the funds from Bulgaria have to be made available as soon as possible for the phase to be completed. So far, however, there has been no reaction from the Ministry of Finance. The Council of Ministers, on the other hand, responded to BNT that the case is being checked and information is expected at a later stage.

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The Foreign Ministry urged Bulgarian citizens on the territory of Iran to leave the country immediately due to the escalation of tensions in the Middle East, Dnevnik and other media report.

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Elena Poptodorova, a former ambassador to the United States and vice-president of the Atlantic Club in Bulgaria, said on bTV that strictly speaking the situation in the Middle East remains a regional war. She distanced herself from the "catastrophic predictions of global war coming out of the mouths of Bulgarian politicians". In her opinion, they serve domestic political purposes.

Poptodorova said that the US, which have the strongest leverage to influence Israel at the moment, are in a hesitant position four weeks ahead of the presidential election and will seek to “have their cake and eat it too” - to support Israel, but not at the expense of votes.

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“Israel is not looking for a diplomatic solution, but a total victory. Israel sees a real existential threat with the nuclear programme Iran has", former foreign minister Nadezhda Neynsky commented on Nova TV’s morning show.

In her words, no major world power is interested in a full-scale war. "The question is to what extent the big players can influence Israel. The US is Israel's most serious ally. A full-scale war would get the US involved, but I don't think they want that to happen," Neynsky said.

ENERGY

Trud reports that Bulgaria expects the first delivery of liquefied natural gas through the Alexandroupolis terminal. The LNG terminal at the Greek city has been in commercial operation since October 1. The facility features state-of-the-art technology and has a maximum regasification capacity of 5.5 billion cubic metres per year. Fourteen Greek and international companies are commercially involved in the project, having committed almost the entire capacity of the terminal until at least 2030. In addition to Greece and Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Moldova and Ukraine, Hungary and Slovakia can also be supplied with natural gas.

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Bulgaria and the United States will expand the scope of the intergovernmental agreement for cooperation on the project for the construction of new nuclear power capacity at Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant and Bulgaria's civil nuclear programme. The document will be upgraded with a view to deepening bilateral energy cooperation in all areas of mutual interest, in particular the development of the renewable energy sector and the oil and gas sector. This possibility was discussed by Bulgaria's Energy Minister Vladimir Malinov and US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt, the Energy Ministry said, quoted by NOVA.

MISCELLANEOUS

After the reconstruction of the Kalotina border crossing checkpoint, the traffic jams on Bulgaria’s border with Serbia continue, Nova TV reports. Hauliers complain that their trucks wait for hours to cross the border.

"Border crossings are not being serviced efficiently. The excuse is staff shortage," said Valery Rusinov, a truck owner. According to him, there is an 8-9 hour minimum wait to enter Bulgaria.

"There is no change from before. Now there is not much traffic of cars, and a single employee is processing all the trucks," he said, adding that the check on the Serbian side is fast, but not on the Bulgarian side.

By order of Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, an inspection will be carried out in connection with alerts received about the formation of queues at Kalotina, according to Trud.

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The state of education in Bulgaria not only does not meet the criteria for high quality, but also does not produce people with skills that will provide them with stable jobs and income. Raising teachers' salaries does not change this picture, and Bulgarian students are performing worse and worse in matriculation exams, Dnevnik writes, following a discussion between experts in IT and Education.

The economy already employs functionally illiterate people, and the political class only talks about the issue before elections. After that, no one takes it upon themselves to make the necessary changes, because they are difficult and unpopular. Moreover, piecemeal changes will not bring the desired result. There will be fewer and fewer jobs on the labour market for people who lack basic skills and whose destiny is to be unemployed. These issues should become the first priority for the government, according to the IT sector.

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"Art is Significant" is the slogan of Sofia Art Fair, the international exhibition for contemporary art, which will be held from October 3 to 6 at the John Atanasoff Forum in Sofia Tech Park, Dnevnik reports. The event will feature galleries and artists working in a variety of artistic styles, and the organizers' aim is to unlock the potential of contemporary art, provoke thought and the senses, educate and contribute to the European cultural image of Sofia.

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The performance "Thank You, Bulgaria" will be presented in Belogradchik on October 19 at 7:30 pm in the Kaleto fortress, Trud reports. The residents and guests of the town under the unique cliffs will be the first spectators in Bulgaria of the concert after its great success in Argentina, where it won first place in a biennale of performances that combine elements of contemporary dance, 3D mapping, folk motifs and a fire show. The choreographer and director of the performance is Greta Pencheva. The participants are Daniela Stoichkova (soloist), the Mystery of Bulgarian Voices, and Eva Quartet.