site.btaMedia Review: December 4

PARLIAMENT'S IMPASSE

Ahead of Parliament's ninth attempt to elect its chairperson, the news media analyse the possible groupings of MPs behind the nominees.

GERB leader Boyko Borissov told 24 Chasa on Tuesday he no longer insisted on being prime minister if a coalition government was formed. He said his group, GERB-UDF, would back Atanas Atanasov from Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) if that group agreed on a GERB-dominated government not led by Borissov. To this end, the attempts to elect Parliament leader should be halted and GERB and CC-DB should negotiate and sign an agreement on a government. Then Atanasov's nomination could be put forward for a vote.

Another story in 24 Chasa says CC and DB are not in unison on possible talks with GERB on the formation of a government. Late on Tuesday, CC's Lena Borislavova said on Facebook Continue the Change is not meeting, and will not meet, with Borissov if he cannot break away - at least in words - from Delyan Peevski of MRF-New Beginning. Lyudmila Ilieva from Atanas Atanasov's Democrats for Strong Bulgaria, member of the Democratic Bulgaria coalition, told Nova TV on Wednesday that any government should be formed after negotiations and the signing of an agreement, and called for talks instead of exchanges through the media. She said that before sitting at the negotiating table, GERB should state a clear mandate rather than changing its position all the time. When GERB says why it cannot do without Peevski, things will become clear, according to Ilieva.

Interviewed by bTV, former deputy prime minister and economy minister Nikolay Vassilev said politicians should start talking, or else voters will put a sanitary cordon around them. If politicians cannot take the first step and elect the chairperson for several weeks, what will they do about reforms and modernization? He also asked: where are the big business projects, the big infrastructure, the foreign investments? He said the top question to ask is where is the government, not who will head Parliament.

Talking on bTV, political analyst Daniel Smilov said Borissov's latest proposal was a good thing. He is unacceptable as prime minister to all, but there must be a government. There are two options for forming a cabinet - one is with Peevski, the other without him. Borissov's suggestion is worth considering, according to Smilov.

The Bulgarian National Television (BNT) asked two former MPs of CC-DB and of GERB to comment on the political impasse. Iskren Arabadzhiev, formerly of CC-DB, said Peevski was seeing that the sanitary cordon around him was working and none of the parliamentary forces wanted to work with him. CC-DB's top priority is to isolate Peevski from the institutions he has captured. For his part, former GERB MP Radomir Cholakov said that from day one, Continue the Change does not want a government to be formed, and certain people, specifically CC co-leader Assen Vassilev, have been working to this end.

Also on BNT Borislav Gutsanov MP of BSP-United Left once again stressed the professional qualities of Nataliya Kiselova, but said they might withdraw their nominee for chairperson if she was not elected on Wednesday. Then they would back the most senior MP, Silvi Kirilov, named by There Is Such a People.

On Nova TV, Velislav Velichkov from the Justice for Everyone initiative and constitutional law expert Orlin Kolev seemed to agree that procrastination is a deliberate course of action. Velichkov argued that GERB, with the tacit support of MRF-New Beginning, wants to make sure there is no time for amendments to the Judicial System Act that would allow to halt the election of Borislav Sarafov as prosecutor general. For his part, Kolev assumed that foreign policy considerations stopped the major parties from taking more resolute steps towards forming a government.

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Interviewed by the Bulgarian National Radio, political analyst Ivan Nachev talked about the emergence of political adventurism in Europe, Bulgaria and Romania. He said the power of the political elites in Europe was being challenged. A series of crises has shown their inability to deal with the fundamental problems of European citizens. In his words, this opens the way to the emergence of new political elites. The traditional methods used by political parties to keep in touch with voters are no longer working. In his view, the latest developments in Bulgaria have left it on the periphery of the EU's decision making in the medium and long term. He assumed that the impasse in Parliament could be intended to tire out voters so that fewer parties would gain more weight in the next election, which would make it easier to form a government.

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After meeting with Boyko Borissov, GERB MP Tervel Georgiev will quit his seat once Parliament's chairperson is elected, 24 Chasa says on its front page. Georgiev, the lawyer defending one of those accused for the beating of 168 hours editor-in-chief Slavi Angelov in 2020, called in sick and a hearing of the case was adjourned. His sick note was valid for Monday, the day of the court hearing, but not for Parliament's sitting on Wednesday. Borissov told Georgiev that one cannot argue for a quick and fair trial and use delaying tactics. At the same time, Borissov is aware that it is the lawyer's duty to defend his client. Georgiev himself offered to quit his seat because if his client was to choose a different lawyer, the hearing would be further delayed. Besides, he did not want his legal duties to harm GERB.

ECONOMY

Quoting Eurostat, 24 Chasa reports that at 4%, Bulgaria's unemployment rate was lower than the EU average of 5.9% (6.3% in the euro area) in October. This makes it one of the top five countries with the lowest unemployment. There is virtually no change from September's data, meaning that the jobless rate will remain record low at least until the end of 2024.

Duma quotes on its front page expert Boyan Rashev as saying that November will go down in Bulgaria's modern history as the month with record large electricity imports worth about BGN 230 million. This country was a net importer of electricity almost 95% of the time. Exports only occurred in the rare moments of sunny and warm weather, when prices were relatively low.

EU

In a Trud interview, Daniel Gueguen, the longest serving lobbyist in the EU, talks about lobbyism, NGOs, and the European Green Deal among other things. He is in Bulgaria for the launch of his book European lobbyists: NGOs vs industries. Asked specifically about the construction of the Struma Motorway in Bulgaria, which has been delayed by actions of green NGOs, he said he was not familiar with the situation, but in principle, lobbying is a matter of balance of power, and when the balance of power is not in your favor, you have to restore it. Lobbying is activism and setting forth arguments, not just idle talk. The government needs to be convinced, people need to be convinced of the economic and social aspects of building the motorway. It is important for Bulgaria to have strong sectors in industry, which in turn should have representatives in Brussels and be in constant contact with European associations because this is time and money well invested. As to NGOs, Gueguen said they are much better organized than the various representations of industry and are very good at communication. Commenting on the  Green Deal, the lobbyist said the problem is that energy cannot be within the competence of the European Commission as the energy mix of each country is a matter of national policy - some countries are developing nuclear energy, others have coal-fired power stations, and when common standards are imposed the result is chaos. In his view, the EU's energy policy has been the worst possible for years. The Commission proposes standards and regulations but lacks a vision for energy. Gueguen called Schengen one of the EU's big mistakes, although the concept was good. The idea was to abolish all customs controls in the EU and to have them only at the external borders, but that has not been achieved. Regarding the eurozone, he said it could be destroyed by high inflation because France and Italy cannot refinance their debts. Before the introduction of the euro, there was an adjustment mechanism which included devaluation and revaluation, but now there is no such mechanism and France cannot be competitive precisely due to this.

WORLD

The news media cover the latest developments in the Republic of Korea. Early on Wednesday, mediapool.bg gave prominence to the news that President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law across the country and lifted it after protests. He made this move to protect the country "from the threats of North Korean communist forces" and accused the opposition of controlling the parliament and sympathizing with North Korea. The country's parliament voted against the move, with the leader's own party urging him to reverse it. Tensions ran high between police and protesters outside the parliament building in Seoul.

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A commentary in Trud headlined "If you don't like my morals, I have other morals too" looks at President Joe Biden's pardon of his son for tax and firearm-related convictions. His explanation for one of his last decisions as US President - that he trusts the courts, but his son is a victim of politics - is ridiculous, Viktoria Georgieva says.

LIFESTYLE

The Capital daily has a story about Bulgarians in Germany and the cliches about them. An art installation put together by a sociologist and two visual artists illustrates the cultural practices and challenges common to Bulgarians in Germany. There are close to 430,000 Bulgarians in that country, but little is known about their community both in their homeland and in Germany. They consider themselves European citizens, not immigrants. Two of the biggest cliches about Bulgarians in Germany are related to the Roma. One is that they are not coping and live on welfare, and the other is that they are isolated. The sociologist, Marina Liakova, says many of them manage to support their families in Bulgaria. Bulgarian social workers trained in Germany are key to the immigrants' ability to cope with the everyday challenges. Furthermore, she stresses that integration through the labour market is the most important thing.

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Interviewed by 24 Chasa, Evelina Slavcheva, the newly elected President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, says Bulgarian scientists are typically 45-50 years old, thoughtful, are not happy to talk about money, but are no longer embarrassed by their salary.

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Ahead of St Nicholas Day, marked on December 6, Trud says on its front page that carp has given way to sea fish. Traditionally, carp has been served in Bulgaria on this day. The story looks at variations of the feast day meal across Bulgaria.