site.btaMedia Review: October 24

HEADLINES

All media outlets have reports on Wednesday’s hot air balloon accident near Botevgrad (Western Bulgaria), which left one dead and another injured, and the attack at Turkiye’s state-run defence and aerospace company that claimed several people’s lives.

24 Chasa leads with the headline "Four Years of Snap Elections = BGN 710 Mln". A total of BGN 127 million has been allocated for the October 27 early parliamentary elections, the daily adds.

In its top story, Trud says that savings of people insured in private universal pension funds are getting eaten up by inflation. Rather than generating real returns, these funds are losing purchasing power. Referring to data from the Financial Supervision Commission, the daily adds that over nearly 20 years, the returns from various pension funds have ranged between 70.45% and 128.16%, while cumulative inflation over the same period has reached 126.3%.

Telegraph reports on measures to reduce safety risks for passengers at bus stops along boulevards with high traffic speeds. The issue gained renewed attention after a recent incident on a major boulevard in Sofia, where on Tuesday, passengers were nearly hit by a car that drove through a tram stop. The measures, outlined in an ordinance from the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, include the installation of Kassel kerbs and the placement of bus stops on major boulevards in separate lanes or pockets.

Duma writes about widespread dissatisfaction and protest petitions from residents of Northern Bulgaria, sparked by a Bulgarian State Railways' decision to implement a new timetable starting December 15, which includes the closure of several unprofitable lines.

The morning programmes of Nova TV and bTV reported that residents of Slivnitsa and Dragoman had protested the lack of public transport by blocking the highway leading to Serbia. They expressed their frustration over being unable to travel to Sofia and raised concerns about water shortages and issues with garbage collection.

HOT AIR BALLOON ACCIDENT

The Bulgarian National Television (BNT) morning programme featured a segment on the hot air balloon accident that occurred between the villages of Litakovo and Novachene. One of the skydivers died on impact, and the other was hospitalized. The owner of the hot air balloon was detained following the tragic event. Interviewed on the BNT programme, Civil Aviation Administration Director General Anelia Marinova said that the balloon was not airworthy and its owner was not licensed. Teodor Toshev of the Bulgarian National Parachute Club added that no company in Bulgaria is licensed to offer parachute jumps from a hot air balloon. While there are three or four registered balloons that provide recreational activities, they are not legally permitted to offer skydiving, he noted.

TURKIYE ATTACK

All news media cover the attack at the Turkish Aerospace Industries headquarters near Ankara. Turkiye’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya Wednesday condemned what he called a terrorist attack and said that at least 4 people were killed and 14 injured, the print dailies write. Yerlikaya said that two terrorists have been neutralized, Telegraph adds.

Middle East and Islam expert Vladimir Chukov was a guest on Nova TV’s morning programme. "The suicide bombers who targeted the aerospace company in Ankara were linked to a radical faction of the PKK," he said. Chukov noted that Bayraktar drones, produced at the facility, are a source of national pride for Turkiye.

Also featured on the BNT programme via videolink, he said that the attack was a political message. "Why? Because the meeting between [Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir] Putin was taking place at the same time. The attack forced terrorism onto the agenda of an already planned meeting, which is disturbing for Erdogan," Chukov said. He added that this is a powerful political message in light of recent events in the Turkish parliament. The chair of Turkiye's Nationalist Movement Party, Devlet Bahceli, had declared that terrorism had been defeated and called on PKK founding member Abd Abdullah Ocalan to officially announce the disbanding of the PKK, the expert added.

Appearing on BNT, Milen Keremedchiev, former deputy foreign minister and foreign policy expert, shared a similar view. He said that it is more likely the attack was carried out by a self-activated terror cell affiliated with the PKK, rather than by ISIS, another group that frequently targets Turkiye.

POLITICS

In an interview with Telegraph, mathematician and election expert Prof. Mihail Konstantinov discusses issues such as vote buying ahead of the snap elections on Sunday, machine voting, and the possible impact of the US presidential elections in November on Bulgaria. Konstantinov predicts that between six and eight parties will enter the new parliament. "When there are more parties, they tend to have a shorter half-life, to borrow a term from nuclear physics", he says. The expert believes that either the next parliament or the one that follows will form a stable government "because geopolitics demands it". He also highlights the possibility of vote splitting or the formation of more parliamentary groups due to rifts within major political parties like the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms.

Featured on bTV’s morning programme, an Alpha Research poll conducted among 1,000 people between October 20 and 23 indicates that seven parties are likely to enter the new parliament. GERB-UDF has seen an increase in support, followed by Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), Vazrazhdane, the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (ARF), the Movement for Rights and Freedoms-New Beginning, BSP-United Left, and There Is Such a People. Sociologist Boryana Dimitrova said that parties such as Morality, Unity and Honour and Velichie may also gain seats due to protest votes.

24 Chasa features campaign interviews with Natalia Kiselova, who runs for MP on the BSP-United Left’s ticket in Sofia's 23rd constituency, and co-leaders of Continue the Change Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev. ARF’s MP candidate Valentin Tonchev and BSP-United Left’s top-of-the-list candidate in Varna and Shumen Borislav Gutsanov were guests on bTV’s morning programme.

Mediapool.bg reports on a final televised debate between GERB-UDF’s Rosen Zhelyazkov and Delyan Dobrev and CC-DB’s Nikolay Denkov and Kristina Petkova, which aired on bTV on Wednesday. Zhelyazkov said that if GERB secures a majority of more than 80 seats in the October 27 vote, they will propose a government led by the party’s leader, Boyko Borissov. In response, former prime minister Denkov argued that this would effectively end any chances of negotiating a coalition government. Despite repeated requests from Denkov and Petkova for GERB-UDF’s representatives to explicitly state that they would not govern alongside Delyan Peevski and Vazrazhdane after the elections, neither of them committed to such a statement.

Speaking on Nova TV’s morning programme, GERB's top-of-the-list candidate in Gabrovo, Tomislav Donchev, said that "it is logical and socially acceptable to partner with CC-DB". "Together, we should seek support in parliament if we cannot secure a majority on our own. A government with a short-term perspective cannot achieve anything significant because meaningful change takes time," he added. "I cannot envision a coalition with either of the two MRF formations, as that would further divide society," Donchev said, referring to ARF and MRF-New Beginning.

HOME AFFAIRS

Trud, Telegraph, and 24 Chasa report on Sofia Municipality’s plans to develop a new programme aimed at addressing air pollution in the city. The measure comes after a foreign company revealed the alarming findings of its report on air quality measurement commissioned by the City Hall. The data from the municipal air quality sensors have proved to be inaccurate, showing a 12-fold discrepancy compared to the readings from the Ministry of the Environment and Water, Telegraph writes.

Telegraph carries a story about 26 illegal migrants detained after a police chase ended in a bus crash in Sofia on Wednesday morning. The driver managed to escape. The nationality of the migrants is being established, with most of them claiming to be Syrian.

ECONOMY

All print media report on the planned increase in the monthly minimum wage from BGN 933 to BGN 1,077 as of January 1, 2025. Following a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, caretaker Labour and Social Policy Minister Ivaylo Ivanov said that some 430,000 people in Bulgaria currently earn the minimum wage, Trud writes.

Commenting on the topic on the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), healthcare consultant Arkadi Sharkov said that raising the minimum wage would help the National Health Insurance Fund budget revenue.

In an interview with 24 Chasa, Bulgarian Development Bank Executive Director Tsanko Arabadzhiev discusses the report by former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on the EU competitiveness made public in September.

HEALTH

Trud features an interview with Nikola Vladov, head of the Hepatopancreatobiliary and Transplant Surgery Clinic at the Military Medical Academy (MMA), who has recently assumed the role of chair of the Bulgarian Surgical Society. He discusses his experience in transplant surgery, comments on the use of artificial intelligence in medicine and the reasons why Bulgaria is not a popular destination for medical tourism. Asked about the interest of foreign surgeons in training in Bulgaria, Vladov says that surgeons from Croatia and Slovenia receive training at the MMA. "This year alone, we have conducted four courses on laparoscopic liver surgery with Croatian surgeons. All of Croatia's university hospitals have expressed interest in training here," he says. There are around 30 people in Bulgaria who are currently waiting for liver transplants, he adds.

Duma writes that some 770,000 people, or 16.5% of Bulgarians, suffer from diabetes, with half of them unaware of their condition. The daily cites data from the most recent diabetes screening conducted in this country in 2024. This marks a significant increase from a 7.9% diabetes rate in 2006. One in three people over 60 in the country has diabetes, with most of the affected being men.

Interviewed in 24 Chasa, Bulgarian Medical Association Board Chair Nikolay Branzalov says that patients in Bulgaria receive better healthcare than in many other countries, primarily because, in his words, doctors in Bulgaria are the most affordable in the entire European Union. As other reasons, he identified the high quality of care Bulgarian doctors provide and the fact that their work is still not properly appreciated. Branzalov emphasized the need for greater investment in both financial and human resources.