site.btaMedia Review: December 12

SCHENGEN

"Last Obstacle to Schengen Lifted. Here's What Lies Ahead," reads Capital's headline of an article dedicated to Bulgaria's upcoming accession to Schengen by land.

The EU interior ministers are expected to vote on the accession of Bulgaria and Romania by land, and a formal vote by the countries' leaders is due next week, the online media reports, giving a brief recap of what happened and what’s next.

Bulgaria and Romania will also join Schengen by land on 1 January 2025, after Austria and the Netherlands finally announced their support.

The Bulgarian-Romanian border will have random checks and the Bulgarian-Greek border will be fully open, but with the possibility of sporadic checks.

Full Schengen membership for Bulgaria and Romania will reduce congestion, but it is still unclear how the buffer parking areas on the northern border will function.

Bulgarian National TV: Caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev convenes a working meeting in the Council of Ministers on Schengen later on Thursday.

On the Prime Minister's orders, the process of reorganising work at the borders was launched last month. The Prime Minister formed a task force with the participation of all competent institutions so that from 1 January 2025 this country will be fully ready to work in the Schengen area if a positive decision for Bulgaria is made in Brussels.

In the framework of Thursday's meeting, Prime Minister Glavchev will be briefed on the work done so far on the reorganisation of the borders with Romania and Greece. The focus of the meeting will be on the measures taken so that the control activities currently carried out at the borders are gradually transferred to the interior of the country, without allowing traffic chaos.

Also on Thursday, in Brussels the EU interior ministers will vote on the full admission of Bulgaria and Romania into Schengen. If the decision is finally adopted, checks at the two countries' Schengen land borders will be lifted from 1 January.

ECONOMY

Dnevnik: The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) unprecedentedly recommended that the draft budget for 2025 not be adopted. The central bank expresses its firm position against the proposed draft state budget for 2025 and its adoption, an official statement by the institution says. It has had less than half a day to analyse the bill and give an opinion. Such a reaction is unusual in the practice of passing budgets, including internationally.

The central bank objects to the significant increase in the redistributive role of the state to 46% of GDP, and the large share of budget expenditure - 38.2%. The BNB warns of the risks of the country not fitting into the 3% of GDP deficit limit. It recommends that the government stop hiring new people in the public sector so that the incomes of those already working can continue to grow.

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"Lord of the Tenders: How a Road-sector Cartel for Over BGN 2 billion BGN Is Arranged," reads Capital's headline of a story about the biggest procurement in the Road Infrastructure Agency's history, which offers a new approach, but also risks for concentrating more than BGN 2 billion within a narrow circle of companies.

In October, RIA announced the largest public procurement in its history - worth BGN 2.25 billion. It includes major road repairs in nine groups of areas, selected in an unclear manner, which are also the individual items in the tender. The plan is for the RIA to enter into framework agreements with three bidders (companies or consortiums) for each item for four years, and will organize internal competitions between them for each individual item. This is in effect the mother of all tenders that will define the money for roads in the next four years.

At first glance, it looks tidy and transparent - rather than wasting time on procurement and appeals for each individual repair, at least there is some clarity. A second reading, however, shows that the procedure has inflated turnover and experience requirements that target, as always, a narrow range of companies, the conditions are vague and highly subjective. In other words, the procedure could end with one round of certain participants winning.

The Public Procurement Agency (PPA) speaks about this in its opinions, as well as builders, one of whom has appealed the tender before the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC). The appeal initially halted the procedure, but the regulator subsequently allowed the road agency to proceed, and has yet to state whether there are indeed irregularities and has yet to issue a decision on the matter.

The procedure also sets the direction for how RIA's budgets will be allocated over the next few years. There is also a condition in the tender that the cost of BGN 2.25 billion can reach BGN 4.5 billion, i.e. it can double if there is sufficient funding secured.

On the one hand, this gives stability to whoever comes to power that they will be able to quickly commission repairs and maintain the network without going through the extremely onerous process of a new order.

But this is a double-edged sword. The tender will put three companies in each area which will be mandatory to choose and which will get some of the money there. This will inevitably form the cartel that exists anyway of a handful of companies gaining experience and turnover with which to respond to subsequent contracts, and will be protected from competition for four years.

POLITICS – PRESIDENT - CABINET-FORMING CONSULTATIONS

Thursday is the third day of cabinet-forming consultations with the President, who already met with GERB-UDF and Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria on Tuesday and with Vazrazhdane and BSP-United  Left on Wednesday. The head of State did not invite the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) – New Beginning parliamentary group to consultations, which has sparked critical remarks on both sides.

MRF-New Beginning Deputy Floor Leader Yordan Tsonev told BNT that President Rumen Radev violated the Constitution because it states that the [exploratory government-forming] mandate is given after consultation with all parliamentary groups. Tsonev's remarks came in response to the head of State's decision not to invite MRF - New Beginning to cabinet-forming consultations.

Tsonev added that if representatives of the parliamentary group had gone to the President, they would have expressed their opinion on how to form a cabinet because this parliament "is not capable of electing a majority." We would have expressed our considerations about the budget, Tsonev further said.

The sanctions on the Magnitsky list against [MRF New-Beginning leader] Delyan Peevski are a slander. The prosecutor's office found no evidence, SANS also made a check, Tsonev added, commenting the sanctions imposed against Peevski by the US under the Magnitsky Act for corruption.

According to him, the President has deserved impeachment three times so far. In this and in the previous two parliaments, most parties are linked to the President, Tsonev said, according to whom the head of State has expanded the political crisis.

"I do not agree with putting the blame for the proposed budget and the deficit on the experts in the Finance Ministry. We, the politicians, made the budget this way because we passed such laws. MRF-New Beginnings will not support any decision that harms people," Tsonev added.

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Bulgarian National Radio: At the moment there are talks on forming a government - this was confirmed on the sidelines of the Parliament by GERB-UDF leader Boyko Borissov. In his words, the person who is obstructing this process is Assen Vassilev.

There are talks, Borissov said, recalling that he had appointed a negotiating team of senior GERB members a couple of weeks ago. "When I have something to say - I will tell you," he said.

"Assen Vassilev is the person who preventing the formation of a governmenti in every way. We will do our best," the GERB leader added.

"We see that the colleagues from Democratic Bulgaria think differently," he noted.

Borissov warned that the state of the country's finances was worrying.

"What the Bulgarian National Bank said yesterday [Wednesday] about the draft budget - I think this is the first time it is happening, it is scandalous, because it is true and the hole goes well over BGN 18 billion already. This means that we are already heading towards BGN 80 billion in debt in the next three years," he said. 

BULGARIANS CHARGED WITH SPYING FOR RUSSIA IN UK  

NOVA TV: The Bulgarians charged with spying for Russia in the UK have discussed the kidnapping of a second investigative journalist, besides Hristo Grozev. This became clear during their ongoing trial in London.It also emerged that they boasted of strong connections at the highest political levels in Bulgaria, with the names of [Bulgarian President] Rumen Radev and [former Bulgarian Socialist Party leader] Korneliya Ninova specifically mentioned. At this stage, no comment was made on this information.

The trial, in what the British authorities call a "spy cell" case, is at a very early stage. Up to this point, it is debated what the six have discussed with each other in a Telegram channel. According to the Crown Prosecution Service, there are more than 80,000 messages between them and Austrian businessman Jan Marsalek, who is charged with ordering the six espionage operations.

On the other hand, Orlin Rusev wanted to demonstrate to Marsalek that he was a man of influence, not only in Bulgaria. He said he could organise the kidnapping of Russian journalist Roman Dobrohotov by boat. He was a key figure in the discovery of one of the biggest poisonings on the island, that of Sergei Skripal. Dobrohotov then managed to prove that the Russian special services were behind the attack.

NOVA TV also recalls that in 2008 and 2009, Orlin Rusev was an advisor at the Ministry of Energy during Sergei Stanishev's government.