site.btaMedia Review: November 25

The topic of political talks between parliamentary forces to elect a National Assembly chair and try forming a government dominate Monday's news media.

POLITICS

24 Chasa reports that GERB leader Boyko Borissov has proposed a way to get the ball rolling in Parliament without a chairperson being elected, as the Constitution requires for the National Assembly to start working. One of the last options being discussed is for all formations in the 51st National Assembly to sign an agreement acknowledging the existence of parliamentary groups. That would allow the President to start handing cabinet-forming mandates without a Parliament chair having been elected. According to the article, it is clear that despite the public speeches about attempts being made to form a parliamentary majority for a regular government, everyone is already thinking about new snap elections. However, those require the constitutional procedure with three cabinet-forming mandates to be carried out. That, in turn, requires that three parliamentary groups nominate three prime-minister designates to receive the mandates from the President, and without a Parliament chair, groups cannot be formed.

Trud asked the Bulgarian chatbot BgGPT and its bigger global brother, ChatGPT, about the possibility of forming a government within the 51st National Assembly. According to analysts, after a series of Facebook posts over the weekend between the first and second political forces - GERB-UDF and CC-DB - about a possible cabinet-formation meeting this week, only AI is able to tell what the options will be. According to the chatbots, the National Assembly can be pulled out of the crisis with the inconclusive first session and begin the active work of forming a cabinet. It is possible that it will be headed by GERB leader Boyko Borissov and Gen. Atanas Atanassov from CC-DB. However, everything depends on the political talks and agreements between the parliamentary forces.

Mediapool.bg quotes MP Nadezhda Yordanova of CC-DB as saying on Bulgarian National Radio on Sunday that she is currently not aware of a specific day and time for the meeting between her formation and GERB-UDF and in what format. "This is worrying. In my opinion, there should be a meeting and it should be on priorities between the political forces," she added. Yordanova described as a provocation the claim that there was an agreement Gen. Atanas Atanassov of DB to be Parliament chair and Boyko Borissov to be prime minister. "There is no such offer in the correspondence for a meeting with GERB colleagues, so this is speculation. As we say all the time - first policies and priorities, then any posts, names for nominations. What is happening at the moment, these speculations, these insinuations, are aimed at destroying the dialogue rather than achieving any goals. Borissov becoming prime minister, given that all parties say this is unacceptable, is an absolute stop offer. This is classic intrigue. It looks as if they want to buy us. This is just a usual GERB tactic and absolutely unacceptable," Yordanova commented.

In an interview for Trud, lawyer Petar Slavov, Doctor of Constitutional Law, says he expect in two months the ruling of the Constitutional Court on the amendment of 2023 introducing a list of potential caretaker prime ministers that the President has to choose between when appointing a caretaker cabinet. Slavov notes that because of the very unreasonably amendment, the current issue with the election of Parliament chair is much more difficult to solve; each parliamentary party is currently making additional calculations about what this chairperson would look like in the role of caretaker prime minister. Slavov expects the Constitutional Court to find the amendment in question unconstitutional.

Duma quotes Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Deputy Chairman Kristian Vigenin as saying on Bulgarian National Radio on Sunday that those supporting Silvi Kirilov's candidacy for National Assembly Chair are obviously looking for another name to fill the list of potential caretaker prime ministers. "For us, this is not an acceptable approach. We should elect a Parliament chair, not an option for a caretaker prime minister," Vigenin commented. He went on to say that after seven consecutive early parliamentary elections, it is the responsibility of the political parties to speak on point. "We have clearly stated that we will support a programme-based or expert cabinet with a defined horizon. We will not make a coalition with GERB and UDF - New Beginning, nor will we support Borissov for prime minister. [UDF - New Beginning leader Delyan] Peevski and Borisov must be kept out of power.  But there must be dialogue in this complicated situation: a budget must be adopted, a number of important issues must be resolved, such as the proposed postponement of the liberalisation of electricity prices [for household consumers], the taxation of excess profits of banks, the reduction of bank charges," Vigenin argued.

24 Chasa has in an interview with Prof. Milko Palangurski, who argues that in history, it is unacceptable to play at war and at being a power holder without wanting to actually be in power.

An analysis at Segabg.com about the political crisis reads that "the political outrage is already reaching dizzying heights." For two weeks the party leaders have been unable to agree on whom to put at the head of the National Assembly. The result is that Parliament cannot perform any of its tasks - neither to pass and amend laws nor to control the Executive. "In other words, we have a parliament, but we do not actually have one. There are as many culprits as you want: politicians of all colours contribute generously to this disgraceful situation," the article reads. "People are looking at the shameful chaos in the National Assembly and are looking around for new parties and new saviours. Many are secretly dreaming of a presidential republic or a presidential party, and in any case they would welcome [President Rumen ] Radev's political rise. Some politicians - the DB, for example - already feel that the rotten parliament is a problem for democracy and the rule of law. Most politicians, however, do as they please, not caring that they are cutting the branch on which they sit. And with the outrage they are creating in the National Assembly, they are practically organising their own funeral."

An analysis at Dnevnik.bg reads that early elections already seem to be a normal scenario. Political players even have an unofficial forecast that these will be in the first weekend of April. There are at least two Constitutional Court decisions pending that also affect the lack of action right now - first, will Velichie enter Parliament if there is a partial nullification of election results, and second, will the formation of a caretaker government return under the President's control. For now, the possibility of the chair of Parliament also being caretaker prime minister makes his election even more difficult, and There Is Such a People say openly that if their nominee, Silvi Kirilov, is supported, he is a potential caretaker prime minister. Another attempt at an election will be made this week, but in the meantime comments are being heard that there are probably some legal possibilities to form parliamentary groups without having an elected Parliament chair. Such a thing has never happened before, the analysis reads. The question of whether there will be a regular government is today reduced to whether there will be a meeting between GERB and CC-DB. Although it was a hot topic all weekend, such a meeting appears more like a mock negotiation than a real one, the analysis concludes.

On Bulgarian National Radio, political expert Georgi Prodanov commented that the parliamentary players' inability to communicate with each other blocks the political process - not just talking, but talking around important issues for society. "Whatever the moves, they show only one thing - absolute powerlessness before the rules we have adopted. The refusal to abide by the rules and to replace them with things that work for the moment is the reason for the current state of our Parliament, our judiciary, if you will, and the State. The fewer the exceptions, the better," he said, referring to the inability to elect a National Assembly chair and start the process of forming a government. "Behind this talk of a National Assembly chair is nothing more than fear - fear of what will happen if we continue to be the same at the next elections," he added. Prodanov expressed the hope that the meeting between GERB-UDF and CC-DB will be a public conversation, a meeting of substance, and not another talk of intentions and priorities that would only continue the pre-election mode of communication. According to Prodanov, a government with GERB is possible, but without Borissov at the head. Borissov could step down voluntarily and offer some of the people around him. The point is to have a programme for governance and priorities to be put on the table with a very clear horizon, Prodanov specified. According to him, if the State starts to be managed with clear and transparent methods and decisions, Peevski himself will fall out of power.

On Nova TV's morning show, journalist Silviya Velikova and political analyst Stoycho Stoychev commented on the possibility of a parliamentary majority and a regular government being formed. Velikova said she could not imagine a coalition of CC-DB, GERB-UDF plus someone else, given that someone else could be There Is Such a People, who have another plan, and BSP, who say they would never join forces with GERB. "If the CC-DB agree to Boyko Borissov being prime minister, that is their end," the journalist said. Stoychev pointed out that if you look at the strategies, CC-DB and GERB-UDF have no other option to participate in a majority without each other, or any of the coalitions with Vazrazhdane. Velikova believes that the possible restoration of the President's power to form a caretaker government could be a motivation for forming a regular cabinet. However, she stressed that it is not clear how durable such a government would be.

On bTV's morning show, Prof. Vesselin Metodiev, historian, former deputy prime minister and former education minister, commented that Bulgarian society is developing dynamically, but "the State is in trouble and we are out of touch." "In complex situations, when the main actors put aside their self-interest and ego, then the public interest becomes the leading one and a solution is found to even the most tangled case. However, this does not happen easily and we do not see such occurrences at the moment," he added. He said such situations are fraught with mistrust and therefore mutual mistrust should be reduced through talks.According to him, to remove distrust, people who are not on the front line are needed - political people who are in the leadership of the parties. "The smallest things - dropped phrases in TV studios, for example - ruin weeks of effort. One personal attack, one display of emotion undoes what has been done and you have to start all over again," the historian said.

On Bulgarian National Television's morning show, the political situation was analyzed by Nidal Algafari, Vesselin Stoynev, and Boyana Bozadzhieva. Were the exchange of social media posts and letters between GERB-UDF and CC-DB over the weekend a sign of hope for the formation of a parliamentary majority and regular government, or an election campaign dance? According to the analysts, this is all just a show for voters and an election campaign. Algafari notes that Borissov would really like to head a regular government at a time when Bulgaria is expected to join Schengen by land.

***

On Nova TV's morning show, former deputy minister of foreign affairs Milen Keremedchiev and the Deputy Rector of the Academy of the Ministry of Interior, Assoc. Prof. Milen Ivanov, discussed the topic of Bulgaria potentially joining Schengen by land and what that would change. Both of them are of the opinion that even if Bulgaria gets accepted into the border-free area, there will be checks, but these will be inside the country. "You will be free to go through one of the checkpoints with Greece, but 5 km after that, whether on Bulgarian or Greek territory, there will be a patrol that is likely to stop you. That is, there will be controls, but they will be moved inside the country and there will be no queues. Heavy traffic will benefit the most from this," Keremedchiev explained. "The border infrastructure cannot be removed. Even the Schengen mechanism provides for checks if necessary," added Ivanov.

ECONOMY

24 Chasa's front-page article reads that Bulgaria faces a decision: either taxi services will become more expensive, or the third party liability insurance will be raised for all dangerous drivers. The rise would also affect everyone driving long distances, like food delivery companies and courier services. The hard decision needs to be taken after last week's protests by taxi drivers across the country over the spikes in the price of the compulsory insurance.

Telegraf reports on its front page that municipalities across Bulgaria are in a hurry to raise the prices for parking.

Bulgarian National Television's morning show focused on the idea of introducing a so-called "water meter" fee, which would oblige non-users to pay for this service: an old idea the revival of which inflames passions even more amid the water shortages across Bulgaria. Prof. Petar Kalinkov, Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Water Association, and Bogomil Nikolov from the Active Consumers Association commented on the controversial idea. Prof. Kalinkov explained that the idea aims to give the water and sewerage operators more money to cover their costs, such as investments, operating costs, management costs, electricity costs, depreciation of fixed assets. In Nikolov's words, this is a somewhat undignified way to act clever through the law.

In an interview for Telegraf, economist Mika Zaykova argues that one cannot achieve great success with a hammer and an axe.

***

Trud's front-page story warns that the Christmas holidays will be accompanied by the flu and other viruses. The health authorities already report a rise in cases of flu and other respiratory illnesses over the past week. The average number of sick people is nearly 100 per 10 000. The National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases is registering new cases of influenza A(H3N2), A(H1N1), and B/Victoria virus weekly, and an epidemic is expected in December.

All TV morning shows report of a shortage of flu vaccines in pharmacies because of the strong interest.