site.btaMedia Review: March 27

POLITICS

In a statement covered by all media outlets, President Rumen Radev described GERB-UDF Floor Leader Boyko Borissov and opposition Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning Floor Leader Delyan Peevski as the "architects of the [parliamentary] majority". "The stability of the Government depends on dialogue and understanding between them," he said.

Mediapool.bg writes that Borissov has deflected comments that he is acting in sync with Peevski: "We are supported by everyone", he argued. Asked whether MRF - New Beginning will have representatives in the Joint Governance Council without being part of the Cabinet, he noted that "at this moment they  have none".

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Nova Television reported that Sofia City Prosecution Office has indicted Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria MP Bozhidar Bozhanov for malfeasance in office allegedly committed in his former capacity as electronic governance minister. Bozhanov is suspected of trying, as electronic governance minister in 2021-2022, to secure gains for a consortium bidding for a BGN 18 million public procurement contract. This morning Bozhanov said he was not worried. "The accusation is absurd and has propaganda purposes. Things are alleged that did not happen. I have committed no crimes," the accused said outside the building of the Sofia City Prosecution Office. In Bozhanov's words, the falsity of the accusation is confirmed by the fact that “on Wednesday media outlets close to Peevski” published information that he would be charged today, including details of the cash bail.

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On Nova Television's morning show, political scientist Slavi Vasilev said there are U.S. agents of influence in the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly. "There are many more Bulgarians snitching to Washington than to the Kremlin," he argued. Military expert Vasil Danov disagreed: "There have been and are Russian spies," he stressed. Agents of influence, he said, are numerous. "They cannot be arrested because they are not doing anything illegal. We have more Russophile organizations per capita than in Russia," Danov highlighted.

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On Nova Television’s morning show, journalist Stoyan Neshev commented on the alleged links between Bulgaria's European Prosecutor Teodora Georgieva and notorious judiciary fixer Petyo "Evroto" Petrov. The European Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation against an European Prosecutor in Georgieva - an unprecedented action since its establishment in 2020. According to Neshev, Georgieva may have affected someone's interests. “The latest information was that the former caretaker energy minister did not appear for the indictment in the Chiren' case, while GERB’s Petrich Mayor has already been charged. The anonymous letters, allegedly from Petyo "Evroto" Petrov, say he will send a report to Luxembourg, where the European Public Prosecutor's Office is headquartered. In it, he would state that he had given her a bribe and that Georgieva had not followed his instructions," Neshev added. According to him, the leaked records paint a realistic picture. "In 2020, there were eight candidates who wanted to become a European Prosecutor and the Supreme Judicial Council chose three of them. The government sent them to a selection committee which ranked them after a hearing. […] If Petyo "Evroto" Petrov lobbied for her, we need to see how and whom he influenced for her appointment. It should also be investigated whether the then justice minister was influenced by Euroto in 2020," the journalist added.

ECONOMY

In an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio, National Board of Tourism Executive Director Polina Karastoyanova said that the tourism business is in the highest degree of preparedness for joining the euro area. Karastoyanova stresses that the tourism sector can now prepare for the upcoming changes thanks to the presence of a regular government. She pointed out that so far the practice in the sector implies payment in hotels and other services not only in lev but also in euro, as most of the visitors are foreigners. "There is a need for an additional information campaign, an effort that we propose to carry out in the interior of the country, in the smaller tourist places and resorts, together with the Ministry of Tourism, with the Ministry of Finance, with the Bulgarian National Bank - with the competent and responsible institutions that can give the most accurate answers and guidance on what needs to be done so that on January 1, 2026, Bulgarian tourism will enter the large and prestigious family of the eurozone without problems and in very good condition," she added. Karastoyanova was adamant that the competitiveness of the Bulgarian tourism product will improve significantly after Bulgaria's accession to the euro area.

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24 Chasa writes that after the tragedy in Kocani, North Macedonia, 122 Bulgarian night clubs, bars and restaurants were inspected and 12 sanctions were issued. A total of 83 fire safety violations were found in 2024 in Bulgaria's 260 discos, the daily adds. In some establishments there are lapses in the documentation stating who is responsible for evacuation - "It happens that there is a change of staff and a new person is not appointed in charge. And by law there should be one and he should be familiar with his duties," explained Yoto Vasilev, head of State Fire Control department with Interior Ministry's Fire Safety and Population Protection General Directorate. "The main violations are placing fuel elements on evacuation routes. Mostly waste materials, boxes, paper, packaging. They are not removed on time to the designated places," he added.

SOCIAL POLICY

On bTV's morning show, former social policy minister Ivanka Shalapatova said that "every civilized society relies on foster care and care with relatives for abandoned children. In Bulgaria, neither is supported." "In Bulgaria, due to the lack of adequate support for biological parents, many children cannot actually live with their birth family. There is no financial and housing support when the family lives in poverty. That is why we have many children entering the protection system," Shalapatova noted.

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On Bulgarian National Television's morning show, State Psychiatric Hospital Sv. Ivan Rilski Director Tsveteslava Galabova described the 5% increase in the salaries of people working in psychiatric clinics as "cynical". Collective resignations may be forthcoming, she added. "The Ministry of Health has been pretending for decades that we do not exist," Galabova said. She also explained that there is a big staffing problem: "In our hospital, out of 38 nurses, 18 are in retirement age. We have one nurse under the age of 52." The Hospital Director stressed that employees of retirement age do not owe notice and can leave whenever they choose. Dr. Galabova said that due to lack of staff she intends to reduce the beds in the hospital.

HEALTH

Telegraph features and interview with Assoc. Prof. Elena Georgieva, head of the Clinic of Pediatric Pneumology and Phthisiology at the University Hospital St. Ivan Rilski. She reported a marked increase in the spread of tuberculosis in the country. "For the whole of last year we registered 24 newly diagnosed children with TB in our clinic. This is the only specialized clinic in the country to treat this disease. This year so far we have registered 15," she said. Georgieva explained that more severe cases of the disease usually affect older children, but lately that has been changing. "The fact that we diagnose children and then find the disease in the family shows that there are many families with TB that are not detected. We detect them past the incidence of children," she added. "Until a year or two ago, we could say that we registered the most patients in northwestern Bulgaria - the settlements around Vratsa and Montana, Pleven, Plovdiv. In the last year we have seen the spread of the disease in the South of the Balkan Mountains - we treat patients from Burgas, Kardzhali, Yambol, Blagoevgrad, Petrich. I list the big towns, but for the most part the patients are from smaller surrounding settlements. You could say that we already have cases from all over the country. This is also a cause for concern," Georgieva said.

EDUCATION

Trud writes that by the summer the Ministry of Education will propose changes to the Pre-school and School Education Act to ban cell phones in school. "We are already preparing the amendments," the daily quotes Education Minister Krasimir Valchev as saying. Children en masse walk around with two smartphones - the one that doesn't work they give away for safekeeping and the other they don't part with, the article reads. The Minister explained that even now there is a ban on using the phones in class. "We are going to propose to MPs that their use be restricted in school altogether, which means they cannot be used in interest activities, they cannot be used in between classes," Valchev said. Parents are not unanimous about banning phones at school. Many of them ask how they will have contact with their children and do not hide their fears that if something bad happens they will not be able to help. Opponents of the ban point to the argument that their children will be catching up with their phones during the time they are not at school and screen time will come at the expense of their preparation for the next day.