site.btaMedia Review: January 21

The election of US President Donald Trump and predictions for the longevity of the Bulgarian Government dominate the media on Tuesday.

As the Joint Governance Council will hold its first meeting on Tuesday, discussions on how long the Government will remain in office came into focus. The election of US President Donald Trump and how it will affect Bulgaria was also a dominant topic.  

POLITICS

In an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), political scientist Svetoslav Malinov said that the public and the opposition should keep a close eye on who the key appointments to the state regulators will be by the current Government. “It is very interesting how the appointments will be decided, because especially for [Ahmed] Dogan's Democracy, Rights and Freedoms, it will be key who the political appointments will be, especially in some regions, some districts, some areas where you know they are fighting with [Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning leader Delyan] Peevski. And if they are not given some concessions, tensions will arise," Professor Malinov added.

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On Nova Television's morning show, former deputy prime minister and interior minister Rumyana Bachvarova predicted that the current government will remain in power until the next presidential elections. According to her, the presidential vote will involve political drama over how the candidates will be nominated and who will support them. On the topic of the election of the prosecutor general, Bachvarova pointed out that the issue is important because "all the lines of mistrust between politicians run through it". She added that the issue is of great importance because this is the main mechanism of democracy to maintain and protect the rule of law. "This is the big deficit that we all suffer from and gives us reason to doubt the strength of our democracy," she added.

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In an interview with BNR, journalist Ruzha Raycheva shared her expectations that there could be new parliamentary elections in the country as early as this year and described next spring as the longest horizon for this Government. "Nothing brings them together except that they want specific ministerial seats. I don't know what the face of this coalition is. They are trying to sell the thesis of responsibility," she said, stressing that this is not a reformist government. "They are trying to put old people back in power who were shamed during previous protests. They're testing where the nominations will pass unnoticed, they will bring back whoever they can," Raycheva added. She identified There Is Such a People (TISP) as the political force most likely to take steps to dissolve this Government, as their image as oppositionists has been damaged and there has been a major turnaround in the position of their leader Slavi Trifonov. "He is an easy victim. TISP are an easy victim. But it seems to me that he and TISP have moved into a new phase in their politics."

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24 Chasa reports that there are 18 candidates for chair of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), who will be elected on 23 February if the congress to be held a week before does not cancel the direct vote. Eleven years after he stepped down from the position, former Bulgarian prime minister Sergei Stanishev is aiming to return to it. He was at the helm of the party between 2001 and 2014, the daily notes. The media outlet also highlights the candidacy of former economy minister and Stanishev’s deputy Rumen Ovcharov. BSP-Sofia’s leader Ivan Takov and his predecessor Kaloyan Pargov also have submitted documents for participation in the election. BSP’s acting Chair Atanas Zafirov is also on the list together with Labour Minister Borislav Gutsanov and MEP Kristian Vigenin.

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On BNR, philologist Pavlina Varbanova, founder of the Kak se pishe [How do you spell it] website, presented the results of the platform's ranking of the most mentioned personalities and phrases in the media. Among the personalities, Donald Trump is first, followed by GERB leader Boyko Borissov, Russian President Vladimir Putin and MRF - New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski. The only figure in the top 20 who is not involved in politics is tennis player Grigor Dimitrov. Among the phrases, Schengen leads with 37%, followed by "Dubai chocolate" and "cordon sanitaire". Top 10 also include "Gundi," "elections," "disinformation," "water shortage," "Trump," "New Beginning" and "Olympic Games."

TRUMP ELECTION

Nova Television's morning show featured an interview with Prof. Asen Asenov, a professor at the University of Washington. " Trump said he would impose tariffs on any country that has a surplus in their trade. Bulgaria is one of those countries and imports about 1.3 billion goods into the US, while about three times less travels the other way. That puts in danger thousands of jobs in Bulgaria and is a direct threat to the country," he said. 

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On Nova Television's morning show, Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov said that Donald Trump's inauguration as US president would have direct significance for Bulgaria only if the US Ambassador to the country is replaced. "Indirectly, our country will benefit a lot because an entire ideology that marked the last 15 years is going down in history.” Kostadinov added that the election of Trump is a good thing for Bulgaria. "If we can put our national interest on the map of American politics, it will be a good thing," he said.

ECONOMY

Trud features an interview with Bulgarian Academy of Sciences corresponding member Vladko Panayotov on the energy crisis and ways to overcome it. "There is uncertainty in various spheres - mainly in industry, economy, social sphere, competitiveness, etc. I am not even talking about Bulgaria, but about Europe - the decline of Germany's industrial power is a sufficient indicator of the overall deterioration of the economic climate. We all know that Germany is the engine of Europe. It is also our main trading partner.” Panayotov added that it is high time for Bulgaria to put significant efforts into more efficient and innovative use of coal energy, rather than closing mines and power plants. “There is a need to develop technologies to extract critical and strategic metals, such as we have, and to build a plant to recycle electrical and electronic equipment containing valuable components such as gold, palladium, silver, copper, cobalt. "He described US President Donald Trump as "the new [former US President Franklin] Roosevelt" who would provide the impetus to resolve inter-national conflicts and change economic dependencies. He argued that Trump would find a formula that would satisfy Russians, Ukrainians and European institutions.

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Telegraph covers the Bulgarian participation in International Green Week in Berlin, one of the biggest consumer fairs for food, agricultural and horticultural industries. The daily writes that German consumers are very interested in cosmetic products with rose and lavender oil.

SECURITY

"Head of Sofia Police's Migration Unit Detained with Bribe," reads a Mediapool headline. Yotko Andreev, head of the Sofia Police's migration unit has been detained in central Sofia, Mediapool quotes NOVA TV. Andreev has been allegedly providing fictitious addresses to temporary residents in Bulgaria in exchange for certain sums of money. The detained has served in the Interior Ministry for a long time. He has held senior positions in the Migration Directorate and the Border Police. The investigation against him lasted several months. According to information from BNT, he was detained with a bribe near the Sofia Police building. One of the middlemen was also detained during the operation. Yotko Andreev has also served as deputy director of the General Directorate National Police. In 2016, he was dismissed from the post in the midst of a public procurement scandal concerning the transportation of illegal migrants. Back then, it transpired that a human trafficking suspect had won a public procurement contract for transportation of illegal migrants.

TRANSPORT

On Bulgarian National Television’s morning show, Petar Bunev, who heads the Railway Workers' Union with the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria, said that there are 1300 vacancies in the National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC), which is about 10% of the total workforce. He added that all other NRIC employees work overtime and under harsh conditions. "The pay is less than that of a grocery store cashier. How are we going to get quality people to train. Why are we lowering the requirements? Once upon a time, you studied 3 years for those positions, now you study 6 months," explained Bunev. He added that the railways in the country, for the most part where there is no European funding, are in worse condition than 35 years ago. The reason - they are not maintained.

HEALTH 

Telegraph reports that on Tuesday a ban on the export of certain medicines from Bulgaria in order to ensure a sufficient supply for the needs of patients in the country. Exports of nine products from the "Insulins and analogues" group are suspended until 20 February, as well as two from the group "Sodium/glucose cotransporter 2" (SGLT-2), one from the group "Antiviral monoclonal antibodies', and products from the 'Antibacterial medicinal products for systemic use" with international non-proprietary names Amoxicillin, clavulanic acid and Azithromycin.

SOCIETY

Nova Television showed an interview with the only man to successfully walk to both the South Pole and the North Pole - Robert Swan.