site.btaMedia Review: October 21

No single topic dominates Monday’s news media.

POLITICS

In its morning talk show on Monday, bTV organized a debate between journalists Polina Paunova and Ilhan Anday, and security expert Tihomir Bezlov of the Centre for the Study of Democracy, who commented on the Interior Ministry's activity against vote-buying before the October 27 snap parliamentary elections and whether it actually reaches the people who organize vote-buying schemes. 

Paunova said: "The big problem is that us, the citizens, we do not trust what the institutions tell us – including the Ministry of Interior, the prosecuting magistracy and the court. We are in a terrible publicity crisis". Meanwhile, civil society organizations like BG Elves publish lists of people with exotic nicknames who allegedly buy votes for the Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning, among other parties, but no one pays attention to this, she argued.

In Anday's words, previous parliamentary elections have shown that there is vote buying, and that the Interior Ministry’s representatives are working as much as the law allows them to do so. "We are talking right now, but you have not interviewed an actual major vote buyer. The [vote-buying] system has been structured perfectly," he said. He argued that allegations of vote-buying lead to MRF - New Beginning because Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria Co-chair Kirill Petkov has been making the most noise. Anday also said that in the towns and villages in the Eastern Rhodopes votes are being bought in exchange for firewood by a logging contractor who is a monopolist in the region and is loyal to Ahmed Dogan of Alliance for Rights and Freedoms coalition. After a report was filed against that businessman, he was checked by the Interior Ministry, the journalist added.

According to Bezlov, the Interior Ministry often intercepts low-level vote-buyers and vote-traders, but never the people who are the links to the parties that are involved in vote-buying activities. Only between 2 and 5% of all detainees are sentenced, and they get mostly suspended sentences, he explained, adding that votes for the upcoming elections are traded for BGN 100 to BGN 150 apiece.

The three participants in the discussion agreed that most parties and coalitions are involved in vote-buying.

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Mediapool.bg frontpages an analysis of the non-governmental Centre for Analysis and Crisis Communications on the election campaign ahead of October 27. The story’s headline reads: "The 51st Parliament: Kleptocrats, Democrats, Putinists. What Is the Choice and What Depends on the People". "This [election] campaign brings expectations of a record low turnout and perhaps a record number of bought votes, which further discourages voters who seem unwilling to participate in a pre-determined election. It is the responsibility of voters to stop behaving as passive spectators of the political theatre and take responsibility as an important participant in the democratic process by getting out there and voting. Because the more people vote out of conviction and with real thought about the consequences of their choices - for themselves, their families and for Bulgaria, the smaller the share of the controlled vote (bought, corporate, exercised under pressure, among others) will be," the article reads.

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The 24 Chasa daily has an interview with former caretaker deputy prime minister for EU funds Atanas Pekanov who denied rumours that he was involved in talks to be Bulgaria's next prime minister in case an expert cabinet is formed after the October 27 elections. "An expert government is only possible and realistic when parties actually realize that they have to overcome their own ambitions and not seek personal dividends from such a situation. When they understand that Bulgaria is lagging behind, and our competitors in the region and in Europe are moving ahead. They are building, making reforms and stabilizing. Look where Greece was 10 years ago and where it is now. When this is realized and there is an understanding that we need to stop the political battles for a while, and work for our common success, perhaps there will be an environment for such an expert government. I am not sure the time has come," he commented. "Of course, 'the political' will always win in the end - an expert government, as [former Italian prime minister] Draghi gave an example, that is a solution [that is] limited in time. At the end of the game, someone always pulls the rug and reaps the political benefits, as happened in Italy," Pekanov added.

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The Telegraph daily publishes a leading interview with political scientist Tatyana Burudzhieva, who argues that Bulgaria urgently needs "a cabinet of national salvation" after the October 27 elections.

DEFENCE

Capital.bg's frontpage article says that the full modernization of the Graf Ignatievo Airfield near Plovdiv (South Central Bulgaria), whose facilities are to service the new F-16 Block 70 multirole fighters, may not be completed on time due to the lack of an overall vision and questionable capacity of the companies carrying out the renovations. The upgrade of the Graf Ignatievo Airfield’s runway was officially completed three months ago, but the construction of the rest of the facilities has been delayed. So far, the airbase modernization has cost about BGN 386 million, but 14 more contracts are to be signed and the amount could increase significantly. Due to the lack of capacity of some of the contracted companies, multiple subcontractors are working on the sites, which could also be an issue, Capital.bg's story further says.

ECONOMY

24 Chasa's frontpage story reads that while the private sector keeps pushing for at least 20% job cuts among civil service personnel in Bulgaria, the number of public servants is growing, and their salaries are growing even faster. In the past 10 years, Bulgaria's population has declined by some 10%, but over the same period the number of public employees has increased by 4% and their salaries have risen by 178.1%, 24 Chasa writes, quoting National Statistical Institute data. In 2014, employees in central and local public administrations numbered 135,939, while currently they number 141,466. In each successive year since the coronavirus pandemic, the number of public servants in Bulgaria has increased. In 2023 alone, nearly 12,000 civil service vacancies have been advertised, the article says.

ENVIRONMENT

An article in the Trud daily says that the fertility of the chernozem soil in region of Dobrudzha, which is popularly known as "the granary of Bulgaria", is at serious risk due to drought, strong winds and the drying of field shelterbelts. Addressing EU LIFE Programme’s Forest Habitat Restoration international conference, Balchik State Game Farm Deputy Director Radoslav Radev said that the drought has started back in 2019. Firstly, the white ash and elm were affected, but due to climate changes and pests, the oak, hornbeam, ash, and acacia belts are also drying up.

HEALTH

In a Nova TV interview, lawyer Dimitar Ploshtakov from the environmental NGO "For the Earth" argued that Bulgaria’s national air quality control system is deliberately compromised by the Environment and Water Ministry and, more specifically, the Executive Environment Agency with the Environment and Water Ministry. According to data collected by Ploshtakov, many air quality measurement stations are placed far from urban places where there is a high concentration of fine particulate matter or heavy traffic. In his words, the stations have been moved so that Bulgaria can save tarnishing its image by failing to comply with the European air quality directive, as the country is not improving its air quality but only seemingly announcing that fine particulate levels have been declining in recent years. Ploshtakov said that, according to World Health Organization and European Environment Agency data, some 11,000 Bulgarians die prematurely every year because of the lack of control, prevention and measures in regard of air quality. "These [measurement] stations have been relocated for a reason," the lawyer insisted.

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Dr Georgi Deyanov, Helicopter-based Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) Centre Director, told the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) that the Centre is due to receive the second and the third of a total of six medical helicopters at the beginning of 2025. There is a problem with the production of components and because of this the manufacturer is delaying the delivery of the helicopters. The second helicopter is expected to be delivered to Bulgaria in January 2025 and the third in February 2025, Deyanov explained. The second medical aircraft’s home point will be in Sliven (Southeast Bulgaria). Its air medical personnel are yet to be recruited, he added.

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In BNT's morning talk show, epidemiologist Prof. Todor Kantardzhiev said that respiratory diseases' season has arrived in Bulgaria, but there is still no widespread flu. Cold weather, close contact between people, and vasoconstriction predispose an individual to respiratory illnesses. Commenting on an eventual influenza epidemic, Prof. Kantardzhiev explained that when a large part of the population has been vaccinating for years, it maintains a good level of immunity against it. A total of 887 coronavirus cases have been registered in Bulgaria recently, he added.

SPORT

Bulgarian athlete Radoslav Rosenov, who won the gold medal in the men’s 60 kg event at the U23 European Boxing Championships in Sofia, has been named Best Boxer of the tournament, Dnevnik.bg reported. Rosenov was presented the award by Bulgarian Boxing Federation President Krasimir Ininski. In the overall U23 European Boxing Championships table, the Bulgarian national boxing team ranked eighth, securing a total of three medals (1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze).