site.btaMedia Review: May 22

PUBLIC MOODS: POLL

More than half of Bulgarians do not feel informed about the planned euro changeover in the country. About 59% support President Rumen Radev’s initiative to hold a referendum on whether to adopt the euro on January 1, 2026, but this has not impacted his public approval rating, shows a survey commissioned by the 24 Chasa daily and conducted by the Trend Research Centre.

Public assessments of the performance of the main state institutions have not changed much over the last two months, despite the dynamic events associated with them, Trend found, as reported in the daily’s main story. Parliament receives 15% approval and 77% disapproval in this latest survey. The ratings of the government have remained basically unchanged for the third month in a row, with 26% approval and 57% disapproval recorded in May. About 41% of respondents approve of the President’s performance, which, again, implies no tangible change compared with earlier months.

GERB remains the number one political force, supported by 26.2% of voters. Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria and Vazrazhdane are neck and neck, with scores of 13.8% and 13.5%, respectively. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning ranks fourth on a slightly improved score of 11.6%. BSP-United Left has retained its public support from earlier months, scoring 6.8% in May. Three parties enjoy similar levels of support: There Is Such a People (6%), MECh (5.9%) and Ahmed Dogan’s faction of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, whose parliamentary group is called Democracy, Rights and Freedoms (5.8%). Support for Dogan’s faction has eroded from 6.7% in March. With a score of 3.9%, Velichie remains close to the National Assembly entry threshold of 4%.

Trend co-founder Evelina Slavkova comments in 24 Chasa that President Radev’s referendum proposal may be a step towards launching his own political project. Slavkova says: “Whether elections will be held any time soon is one of the important questions, because launching a project and opting for elections before the end of the presidential term is one thing, and doing it after the expiry of the presidential term is quite another thing.”

POLITICS

The Bulgarian Constitution says that the people have sovereignty over their government, but this obviously applies only unless the people demand insistently to have a say on something, Trud says in an analysis. The author, Iliya Iliev, recalls a proposal for a national referendum on the Istanbul Convention, which was supported by more than 200,000 signatures, and yet, it was “successfully buried.” The same happened with other similar initiatives, which were presented either as populist or as a threat to stability. The mechanism does exist, but it is cushioned by buffers which rob referendums of their meaning, Iliev argues. If the National Assembly is the only authority that can approve a referendum proposal, the principle of popular sovereignty is limited, he says.

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The BSP-United Left parliamentary group has moved a bill to reduce the interest rates on loans extended to university-level students and doctoral candidates from the current ceiling of 7% to 3%, Duma says in its main story. National Assembly Youth and Sports Committee Chair Gabriel Valkov commented that it is not right for banks to get richer at the expense of young people who have no access to education because they cannot pay for it. The bill envisions penalties for banks which fail to comply strictly with the framework agreement with the Ministry of Education and Science. The bill proposes that a student’s loan should be forgiven when a young couple with two children have completed their education.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

A Russian computer hacking group has attacked companies in Bulgaria and Romania which supply military equipment to Ukraine, bTV said on Wednesday, covering a report by ESET, a cyber security company based in San Diego, California. According to the report, the Russian group Fancy Bear (APT28) carried out a massive cyber espionage campaign codenamed RoundPress. It targeted government and military organizations in Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria and Romania. The group has been active since 2023. Its activity was last detected on April 17, 2025. According to the report, some of the affected companies in the two Balkan countries make weapons of Soviet-era design intended for Ukraine.

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European Energy and Housing Commissioner Dan Jorgensen’s remarks on ending Russian energy imports, published on May 6, appear in a full Bulgarian translation on MediaPool.bg. Jorgensen said: “Today the European Union sends a very clear message to Russia: No More. No more – will we permit Russia to weaponise energy against us. No more – will we allow our member states to be blackmailed. No more – will we indirectly help fill up the war chest in Kremlin.” The Commissioner went on to say: “Last year we in the EU paid EUR 23 billion to Russia for our energy imports. That is EUR 1.8 billion per month. This needs to stop. For that reason – today – the Commission has adopted a roadmap that will finish the job. It will be a stepwise and gradual approach, so as to minimise impact on the EU Member States affected, whilst also acting fast and resolute.” He vowed: “By the end of 2027 we will be completely free from Russian gas.”

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Bulgaria’s future euro area entry is unlikely to impact the domestic labour market in any immediate and direct way, according to economists interviewed by Dnevnik.bg. They share the opinion that the euro changeover will not change the working conditions either inside the country or with regard to cross-border labour migration, because travel opportunities will not change. The currency peg of the Bulgarian lev (initially to the Deutsche mark and later to the euro) for almost 30 years now, is one of the reasons to not expect a major change in this field.

Real effects may come at a later point, presumably because investors’ trust will grow as the country sends clear signals that its business environment is much better than, say, a year ago, according to Adrian Nikolov of the Institute for Market Economics. He expects that this can create new jobs and bring more investments into mechanization. The main signal can come from international credit rating agencies, which have already indicated they will revise up Bulgaria’s credit rating upon the country’s entry to the euro area. In the meantime, the problems remain. Nikolov notes that the shortage of labour is a nationwide problem, and demographic forecasts are gloomy. Only 60 people enter the labour market for every 100 individuals who leave it.

Plamen Nenov, who heads the government’s Economic Analysis Council, argues that, although employment is record high, there are still people in Bulgaria who can integrate into the labour market. Nenov expects that the economically inactive population can be activated when pay rates go up. But this, he warns, cannot happen until three to five years after accession, with employment rising by a further 1.5 to 2 percentage points.

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The EU has confirmed the condition for starting accession negotiations with North Macedonia, journalist Lyubcho Neshkov said on Thursday morning’s talk show of BNT1, the main channel of Bulgarian National Television. As for whether the President and the Prime Minister of North Macedonia want the country to join the EU, “they have not just turned their back on it but have kicked the door closed altogether,” Neshkov said. “Any institution, any analysis that fails to recognize the existence of a third Serbian regime in today’s Macedonia, serves other interests, not the protection of the independent state and not the Bulgarian national interests,” he argued.

ECONOMY

After the demands of Sofia’s above-ground public transport employees were met following a six-day strike (May 14-19), other sectors understandably voiced similar grievances, SegaBG.com says. The Bulgarian Medical Specialists Union (BMSU) insists that the wages of nurses, laboratory employees and rehabilitators in state and municipal healthcare establishments should be 150% of the average wage in Bulgaria. The BMSU has threatened an effective strike in a position statement addressed to the prime minister, the ministers of health and finance and the national ombudsman.

Ten days ago, medical specialists held nationwide protests raising the same demands, but the cabinet made only vague promises referring to the state budget in 2026, saying that the 2025 budget holds no possibilities to address the issue, the website recalls. After Sofia’s public transport employees won a backdated pay rise and a BGN 15 million boost to their wages from the central government, the BMSU refers directly to the transport strike in pressing the demands of the healthcare sector, which, it says, have been overlooked for years. The call for a pay level of 150% of the average wage in Bulgaria is yet to be substantiated. It is unclear how much money is necessary to meet this demand. Most recently, the Health Ministry proposed that the minimum wage for nurses should be BGN 2,066 per month, which would be 90% of the average wage in Bulgaria, the website says.

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The number of people injured in accidents in Bulgarian mountains has doubled in four years, Trud says in its main story. With rain and thunderstorms forecast for the coming days, the Mountain Rescue Service (MRS) warns tourists that they should be particularly cautious. In 2024, the MRS provided aid to 225 injured people in 2,777 cases and 193 operations. According to MRS instructor Marto Nedelchev advises hikers to choose a suitable route by paying attention to the terrain, the path and the other conditions at this particular time. It is crucial to take account of our own abilities when planning the trip.

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Cigarette filters will be used to produce electricity in Bulgaria, MediaPool.bg predicts. The Bulgarian subsidiary of multinational tobacco company Philip Morris will put special containers in its stores to collect cigarette stubs from smoke-free tobacco products, which contain plastics and sometimes metal wire for induction heating of tobacco. A partner company will take the material from the containers and will recycle 80% of it. The rest will be incinerated to produce electricity.