site.btaMedia Review: May 21

POLITICS

After a six-day strike for higher wages, Sofia's public surface transport restored its traffic in stages from the evening of May 19, Nova TV reports. This decision by unions and workers came after the state allocated BGN 15 million to the four municipal transport companies. The government's intervention came after Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev failed to reach an agreement with protesters and end the transport blockade of the capital.

More than 50,000 high school graduates are taking the Bulgarian language and literature matriculation exam on Wednesday, BNT and most other media report. Exam takers are distributed in 772 schools, and some 12,000 invigilators are engaged. The exam started at 8:30 am. It consists of 41 tasks: 22 multiple-choice, 16 free-response, two extended free-response, and an essay.

“We solved the public transit issue in Sofia so that we do not ruin the children's matriculation today. The intervention of the state was a wrong decision, but it was taken because of the incompetence of Mayor Terziev, who could not make a majority in the Sofia City Council... If the Mayor cannot make a majority and for everything he is looking for an excuse, he should resign," said GERB leader Boyko Borissov on the sidelines of the National Assembly.

Asked about the deal with Turkish energy company Botas, Borissov said, "The contract is perfect for Botas - we have only obligations and they have only rights.” He added that if there is no will from Turkiye to terminate the contract, that would run against the spirit of good neighbourliness. “The treaty is extremely disadvantageous for Bulgaria, we owe half a billion and we have to find a way out together. Going to court, we will have to pay 6 billion, which will weaken good neighbourliness, and Erdogan does not want that," Borissov said.

Bulgaria pays BGN 1 million per day under the contract with Botas, Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov told bTV. The contract obliges Bulgaria to pay Turkiye BGN 1 million per day for natural gas transmission. The fee is paid regardless of whether gas is actually transported or not. The term of the contract is 13 years.

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Commenting on the recent public transit strike, MP Lena Borislavova of Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) told BNT that the big problem in the case is BSP and GERB who have the ruling majority in Parliament and in the municipal council.

"What they do as experienced statesmen is create problems, make all citizens suffer for a period of time, and then act the saviours. However, instead of solving the problem, they actually exacerbate it, as is happening with the 15 million,” she said, adding that the extra funding will most likely not be granted next year. According to her, the public transit trade unions, led by BSP and GERB municipal councillors, have now been shown the way GERB can exert pressure.

On the topic of the euro changeover, she said that President Rumen Radev's demand for a referendum on the euro has divided society. 

According to her, the public information campaign on the euro adoption has been belated, but that cannot be remedied by a referendum. Instead, a round table could have been called by the President, or he could have asked for a clearer communication campaign from the government, which would address the main concerns of the public.

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On the topic of the euro referendum, Stanislav Balabanov of There Is Such a People (TISP) told BNT, “If by law the referendum on the euro, proposed by President Rumen Radev, is admissible in the National Assembly, TISP will support it: the people should be asked about the important issues for the country, if the question posed in the referendum is legitimate. Bulgaria should become a member of the euro area and this is the common position of the government, we are waiting for the convergence report.”

According to him, this is how Bulgaria establishes itself in the heart of Europe.

“There was a contradiction, because only a month earlier the President commented that the question of the Vazrazhdane party in their own referendum proposal was unconstitutional; this was a personal decision of Rumen Radev,” Balabanov said.

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The Fiscal Council of Bulgaria released a comparative analysis of the countries in and outside the euro area, Trud reports.

The Great Financial Crisis and COVID-19 have slowed down all economic convergence since 2008, the study says.

Bulgaria's Fiscal Council warns about the risk of credit bubbles after this country’s accession to the Eurozone, and recommends maintaining fiscal discipline after the euro's introduction to avoid entering a debt spiral scenario.

The analysis compares Central and Eastern European countries that have adopted the euro (from Slovenia to Croatia) with those that have remained outside the euro area (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria). The euro area introduces a common monetary policy and eliminates exchange rate risk, theoretically stimulating convergence.

The main conclusions of the study are that the adoption of the euro offers a slight boost to convergence by enhancing confidence and market access. At the same time, it notes that remaining outside the euro area is not a barrier - Poland's performance has risen from 50% to 79% of the EU average without accession - but with a flexible exchange rate regime. For countries such as Bulgaria, the euro adoption could help if it is linked to credible commitments to reforms in education, pensions and infrastructure development, the article says.

THE WORLD

Of the 181 member states with voting rights, 46 were absent, 124 voted in favour of the draft pandemic agreement and 11, including Bulgaria, abstained, the Ministry of Health said, quoted by Mediapool.

The vote was part of the high-level formats of the 78th World Health Assembly in Geneva, which Minister of Health Silvi Kirilov attended. During the meeting, the adoption of the draft pandemic agreement was discussed.

Apart from Bulgaria, four other EU member states abstained: Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia.

The Bulgarian position is that due to the incompleteness of the negotiation process on the whole package, Bulgaria reserves its sovereign right to judge its actions when all the information is available. The Director-General of the World Health Organization expressed confidence that the concerns of the 11 member states that voted "abstain" would be addressed in the upcoming negotiations, the statement said.

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On the last day of his official visit to Japan, President Rumen Radev visited the JASDF Hyakuri Air Base. The Head of State got acquainted with the Japanese F-2 A/B multi-role fighter, a joint development of Japan and the United States, as well as with other aircraft, BNT and other media report.

The Head of State also entered the cockpit of one of the fighter jets. He was welcomed by representatives of the country's air force leadership.

Radev will also visit the research centre of the RIKEN scientific organization later, before the end of his official visit.

THE WEB

The prosecution service is looking into alerts about the influencer Z. G., who became popular for her scandalous messages and paid individual "consultations" for men. According to BNT and 24 Chasa, before the probe begins, it must be established whether the woman is not insane.

The National Revenue Agency will also check how she collects fees and whether she is concealing income.

A few days ago it became known that MP Stela Nikolova from CC-DB had filed a report to the prosecutor's office in Varna about the notorious influencer.

The National Union of Psychologists and Psychotherapists in Bulgaria has demanded the suspension of all of Z.G.’s social media channels because of the scandalous videos and advice she gives. The content is aimed at a male audience and in many of the videos the influencer explains that "women like men who beat them" and "when a woman contradicts a man, he should be able to slap her."

Despite calls for checks and the suspension of her video content channels, as of May 20, Z.G.’s "advice" was still available online.