site.btaMedia Review: February 17

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - UKRAINE

24 Chasa writes French President Emmanuel Macron will host European leaders in Paris for a common position on Ukraine. The Elysee Palace said the meeting, which is informal and will take place on Monday afternoon, will include the heads of government of Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, and the President of the European Commission and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

"The aim is to find out what Europeans can do for themselves, taking into account the acceleration of events in Ukraine as a result of President Trump's initiatives," said a French presidential adviser. He stressed that Europeans must do more and act better for their common collective security.

The meeting is taking place at a particularly delicate moment. as President Trump has spoken by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin about negotiations on Ukraine. Trump's initiatives, however, are worrying Europeans. Trump announced last week that he would meet with his Russian counterpart in Saudi Arabia to begin talks on Ukraine. But asked about the date of that meeting, Trump replied that no date had been set, but that it could very soon.

At the Munich Security Conference, US Vice President J.D. Vance made a hostile speech to the EU. He accused the bloc of not respecting freedom of speech and confirmed that Americans are considering negotiations on Ukraine without the Europeans.

Asked in Munich about the possible participation of Europeans in the negotiations, Donald Trump's special envoy for the Ukraine Keith Kellogg replied: "I think that's not going to happen."

Again in Munich, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on allies to strengthen to avoid an agreement forged by the Americans behind the backs of Ukraine and Europe.

"Trump never once mentioned that America needs Europe at the negotiating table," Zelensky said. "Trump does not like weak friends, he respects strength," the Ukrainian leader added.

"Only Ukrainians can decide to stop fighting and we will support them until they make that decision," France's number one diplomat Jean-Noel Barrot assured on Sunday.

"The Ukrainians will not stop until they are sure that the peace they have been offered is lasting and until they have guarantees for security," he stressed.

According to Barrot, Europeans will be able to be part of the talks on ending the war in Ukraine.

"The role of the US is to get Putin to negotiate, and they (the Americans) think they're going to achieve that through a mixture of dialogue and pressure," Barrot added.

***

There will be no just peace for Ukraine, journalist Valery Todorov, a former correspondent of the Bulgarian National Radio and the Bulgarian National Television in Moscow, told Bulgarian National Radio. He commented on the meetings planned for Monday in Paris and Riyadh on the situation in Ukraine and the US plans.

"It is already obvious that Ukraine will lose territories - that will also be part of the deal. Russia's final terms set a very difficult framework for these negotiations. The change of approach to the conflict in general has also caused reactions and problems that Europe is currently unable to resolve with a unified position. If the argument so far has been that Russia should not be allowed to win, it is clear that there can be no winner. The problem is that it is not possible to formulate what could be a victory and, in fact, what is more important at the moment - the continuation of the war or peace. Another question is who will pay for the war and who will pay for the peace", he said. 

In his words, the conditions set by Russia: Ukraine denouncing plans to join NATO, demilitarization, and loss of territories - are unacceptable for Europe. In his view, Europe has become too involved in the conflict.

"Europe is in a predicament because it is clearly entering another phase of European security. The US, which used to be the guarantor, is now saying 'Whoever wants guarantees should pay for them'. A trade in influence, a trade in guarantees, a trade in this conflict in general is beginning. Trump, to begin with, is approaching politics with a commercial flair. Europe has far more to worry about. The outlook for Europe will not be very favourable. Europe is currently paying for the war, i.e. it is supporting Ukraine, but it will have to pay a high price for peace." 

The issue of the war becomes personal for each of the leaders, Todorov believes. He pointed out that there is also internal opposition in Ukraine and different views on what peace and the agreement on Ukraine should look like. According to him, there are a lot of questions about who could sign the peace deal.

"If Russia doesn't recognize the legitimacy of Zelensky because his presidential term has expired. An illegitimacy could be challenged by either side and raise further questions." 

In his words, the issue of elections in Ukraine is very complicated. On the one hand, they are necessary to legitimize the signatures under the agreement, but on the other hand it will be extremely difficult to implement them, the journalist explained. 

The main issue that will be discussed in Paris is how the cooperation between the US and Europe will develop - whether it will be Euro-Atlantic or transatlantic, and whether the Europeans will be able to forge a common position, Todorov also commented. 

"Europe has put itself in a subordinate position. Now it will try to catch up. The question comes down to the future leadership of Europe itself and who will be the leaders in Europe."

***

Referring to foreign media, TrudNews reports that in a post, capped "Hysteria in Munich", Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, said on Telegram that the European political elites only had themselves to blame for the predicament.

"The collective institutions of the European Union, represented by their leaders, do not understand what is happening in the world, have shown their incompetence and inadequacy," Volodin said.

Volodin said that European leaders had reacted with irritation to US Vice President JD Vance, who took a swipe at European governments for what he described as their censorship of free speech and their political opponents. Europe, he said, faced a crisis but that change was inevitable.

***

Speaking on the morning programme of NOVA TV, analyst Ognyan Daskarev said that thanks to the war in Ukraine and Western support for Ukraine, China and Russia have grown closer and China tis the biggest rival of the United States. In 1971 President Richard Nixon and then security adviser Henry Kissinger went to China to drive a wedge between the two communist countries. Probably something like that is being prepared now, Daskarev said.

He believes that Trump is currently fulfilling his campaign promises. He repeatedly said he would seek a quick peace in Ukraine. 

Trump understands that the US and Europe are two sides of the same coin. “I am confident that things will improve. The most terrible thing is the Ukraine war. What Trump is doing is logical. Soon it will be 3 years of war - what's next except to have a ceasefire. Trump wants them to stop killing each other. The negotiations that are starting are for a ceasefire, not a peace treaty,” said Daskarev. He rejected theories that Putin might invade NATO.

Journalist Asen Genov said that obviously, Vance's speech was a smokescreen to hide the effect of what we all observed in the early days of President Donald Trump's new administration - for example, a reduction of the US military presence in Europe. What Vance said was an attempt to cover up the Trump administration's complete mismatch between words and deeds. Yesterday, Secretary of State Rubio gave an interview that highlighted exactly what he was talking about - Trump has no plans for peace in Ukraine, no concept, nothing agreed upon. There is only a wishful phone call and conversation with Putin, said Genov, host of "Counter-Commentary."

Rubio himself said there is nothing planned for the Riyadh talks, and it is not clear what Russian officials he will meet with, Genov said.

HIGH FOOD PRICES

French and Spanish experience in the association of farmers and small farms will be used to set up associations of producers that can more easily defend their rights against large retail chains, 24 Chasa has learnt from knowledgeable sources. A meeting on food prices on Saturday at the Council of Ministers, outlined measures to "encourage fair pricing", counter unfair trade practices and optimize supply chains

A working group will be set up on Monday, which includes representatives of the ministries of agriculture, economy, and finance, the State Commission for Commodity Exchanges and Auctions, the Commission for Protection of Competition, the National Revenue Agency and other authorities. Its aim will be to write amendments to the Agricultural Producers Support Act or to draw up a new act for this purpose. 

The many attempts to build strong associations have failed. It is therefore most likely that a legal possibility will be created to make them compulsory for at least some basic foods.

Other legal changes that will be made concern purely commercial practices and their place will be included in a separate law.

It is about delayed payments and the unilateral imposition of fees and penalties on suppliers that lead to price increases, revealed on Saturday Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov.

Delayed payments were more common years ago but still occur. It is inconvenient primarily for producers who are new or have relatively small supplies.

If a supplier still insists on getting his money immediately, they have to agree to a discount, often by up to 25%. This, according to experts, could be written into law as a vicious commercial practice and banned outright. Fees and penalties are imposed when a supplier delays goods, cannot deliver the whole quantity or there are changes in quality. Both practices are not illegal and are likely to be listed as unfair in a law in order for the competition regulator to sanction them.

On the idea of Agriculture Minister Georgi Tahov, work will also be done on legal texts to facilitate direct access of local producers to the final customer in cooperation with municipalities and local structures.

So far, the retail chains are unwilling to comment on the ideas as there is no official information yet on the direction of the legislative changes.

In addition, Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said on Saturday that he would invite them for a discussion on the prices of goods, after which they are expected to present their views.

However, the ideas of legal restrictions on markups are generally rejected by them. In Bulgarian legislation in general the word 'markup' is not mentioned and there is no described mechanism to show how exactly it is determined.

“There are ways to identify unfair practices that lead to increase the price throughout the chain - through subsidiaries or related parties. Therefore, the State should base itself on antitrust legislation. Price caps and price capping can lead to shortages or speculation. We will not allow this," Zhelyazkov said.

Meanwhile, it turned out that at the beginning of the year inflation in Bulgaria is visibly accelerating, and quite strongly. 

The annual one, which in recent months was within 2.2-2.4%, suddenly became 3.7%, and measured by the harmonized index, applied by the EU, is even 3.8%.

***

Speaking on the morning programme of NOVA TV, Tsvetan Tsekov, chairman of the National Branch Chamber of Fruits and Vegetables and Adrian Nikolov, an economist with the Institute of Market Economy, discussed who is responsible for the rise in food prices and if the state should intervene.

For most of the fruits and vegetables there are no entry fees. The problem is a series of unfair practices, which are a whole algorithm of actions and which make it difficult to distribute on the market, Tsekov said. In his words, a measure that could be proposed is that there are no apparent agreements of retail chains with the producer.

Nikolov said that the government has realized that the introduction of price caps, like in other European countries, is not a good approach. In his words, in the case of food chains it is possible to limit the number of distributors, but in open markets "they are a necessary evil".

Tsekov said producers should be able to sell freely on the Bulgarian market. “By passing through the chains, the Bulgarian product is depersonalized. They force us to put their brand,” the expert further said. And he said that the Bulgarian production is put on the low shelves in the shops.

Nikolov pointed out that in the open market of the EU it is difficult to talk about favouring Bulgarian production. He stressed that measures could be taken to promote cooperation. Tsekov added that they have been asking for a law on cooperatives for 10 years.

TURBOT QUOTAS

TrudNews.bg writes that as of February 15 Bulgarian fishermen have no quotas for catching turbot. At the same time, their Romanian counterparts received their quotas on January 5, just days after the start of the new year.

"We do not know whether this delay is due to the absolute inaction and disinterest of the Fishery and Aquaculture Inspectorate, but such behaviour is ruining our business.

The ban on catching turbot starts on 15 April. Fishing time is getting shorter by the day. On top of that, for the next ten days, according to the forecast, the weather will be bad, not suitable for fishing. This means that we will have 15 days at most to catch the much-awaited turbot," experienced fishermen told TrudNews. Every year they have the same problem.

 “There have been good catches of turbot two or three years in a row. "We don't know if the population has increased or if it's because of the war which drives fish away, but there are enough turbot and the specimens are very large," the fishermen said.

Turbot is fished at 45 to 80 metres of water all along the coast. It has its habitats. The main habitats are Maslen Cape, Emine and Kaliakra.

SOCIALIST LEADER ELECTION

TrudNews writes that on Sunday by a margin of 57 votes, Bulgarian Socialist Party acting chairman defeated his opponent Borislav Gutsanov, the party's organizational secretary, for the post of party leader in the ballot. 

On Saturday delegates to the 51st party congress reversed the direct election of the party leader.

Of the original 17 candidates, only seven remained in the running. All the others withdrew, most on voting day on Sunday.

The race between Zafirov and Gutsanov was contested because of the line the party would take with either of the two - the former is seen as the Euro-Atlantic in the BSP and the latter as the pro-Russian segment in the party.

In a secret ballot at the congress, socialists also elected members of the party's National Council, Control Commission and youth quota. 

However, the limit of two terms for the party leader and local chairpersons, as well as 12 years for a member of parliament, remained in place.

"The change in the BSP must continue. The BSP must regain its status as the first political force," Zafirov said in his first address to the party.