site.btaMedia Review: January 25

The top news in Wednesday’s news media is that early parliamentary elections will be held on April 2. The elections became inevitable after the third – and last – government-forming mandate was returned unfulfilled on Tuesday.

POLITICS

Trud has a front-page article on the snap elections, quoting President Rumen Radev as saying that he will dissolve the 48th National Assembly on February 3.

Duma frontpages the news that upon returning the third cabinet-forming mandate unfulfilled, BSP for Bulgaria leader Korneliya Ninova told President Radev: “We did everything necessary. We set four important tasks for a regular government and parliament: Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen, legislation concerning the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, adoption of the 2023 state budget, and judicial reform.” She underscored that the failure of the third mandate is a common failure of the 48th National Assembly and the President. Ninova expects a difficult election campaign but the Left is ready for it, will work and will talk with the people.

24 Chasa has an interview with Central Election Commission Deputy Chairman Dimitar Dimitrov, who says he expects a greater voter turnout, with some 200,000 people more to cast their votes compared with the last elections. He expects a new player to run in the snap elections: “the coalition of those who left the BSP in the last 5 to 7 years, which calls itself The Left”. He expects slightly fewer votes for Continue the Change and slightly more votes for GERB, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), and the BSP. Depending on the result of Bulgarian Rise, that party might become part of a coalition with GERB, the BSP, and the MRF after the elections. 

Mediapool.bg writes that the 2021 national census will lead to a recalculation of the number of seats in the 49th National Assembly per constituency. The Central Election Commission is yet to announce these changes, but according to the e-magazine’s calculations they will be significant and will cause internal party problems over the order in the candidate lists. Six out of Bulgaria’s 31 constituencies (Dobrich, Lovech, Montana, Pazardjik, Pleven, and Ruse) will have by one seat less. Varna, Plovdiv-city, and 24th constituency in Sofia will gain one additional seat, and 23th constituency in Sofia will be represented by 19 MPs, instead of the current 16.

In an interview on Bulgarian National Radio, political expert Alexander Dimitrov believes that the political formations will reach an agreement after the snap elections; they are ready for all kinds of coalition agreements in the name of putting a stop to the constant rotation of caretaker governments. In his words, everyone will be waiting for the last dealing of the cards to see who will gain what on election day. Dimitrov expects the MRF to garner a similar number of votes to that in the last elections, while the BSP and GERB will have fewer supporters. A union between Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria could garner a significant number of votes. However, everything depends on the election campaign and the possible appearance of new formations. There will surely be tension over the candidate lists, with potential huge conflicts in some places that could ruin the entire campaign, Dimitrov said. 

On Nova TV’s morning show, sociologists Dimitar Ganev of Trend and Purvan Simeonov of Gallup International said that the snap elections on April 2 might not be the last parliamentary elections in 2023: new general elections might be held in autumn together with the regular local elections. According to the sociologists, the organization of the local elections will determine the parties’ strategies for the snap elections in two months. “The next two months will give an answer to the most important questions: who is responsible for what is happening to us at the moment,” Simeonov said. “The local elections turned out to be a break in front of the regular government’s formation,” Ganev commented.

On bTV’s morning show, elections expert Prof Mihail Konstantinov commented that a real experiment needs to be conducted with the voting machines under the newly amended Election Code, because it is unclear how well the new paper to be printed out by the machines will work. Central Election Commission (CEC) Chair Kameliya Neykova told bTV that such an experiment has been conducted already. Former CEC member Roumyana Decheva commented that voters having the option to choose between paper ballots and voting machines when casting their vote, undermines the trust in the election process. According to her, Bulgarians have poor political culture.

***

On Nova TV’s morning show, Stoyan Taslakov MP of Vazrazhdane said that he had been attacked in front of his home by Ivan Belishki, the son of a mayor from GERB. Belishki tried to hit Taslakov but the latter blocked the hits, after which Belishki drew a weapon out of his bag and directed it at Taslakov. “I managed to get away and to enter a nearby shop, where I waited for him in case he came, so that I can disarm him. He entered and something like a squabble  happened in front of witnesses. I managed to neutralize him,” Taslakov told Nova TV. According to Taslakov, the problem began two months ago when he submitted an alert that resulted in the arrest of a mayor of GERB from Stamboliyski (South Central Bulgaria). “Then Belishki began sending me threatening messages. I did not respond in any way. All I did was go to the police and submit an alert like a regular citizen,” Taslakov explained. In his words, last week the same person threatened him in the street in front of Iskra Mihaylova MP of Vazrazhdane; Taslakov once again submitted an alert.

***

On Bulgarian National Television’s morning show, Ivaylo Vulchev of There Is Such a People (TISP) explained why his party has launched a petition on a referendum aimed at convening a Grand National Assembly to make Bulgaria a presidential republic. “This idea has long been in the making, but the last parliament showed that at the moment the system is reproducing in one and the same way, without giving birth to something functional. The system allows for long periods of misunderstanding leading to caretaker governments,” he commented. The only way to have a working state is to change the system, he argued. In a presidential republic, the President immediately appoints a prime minister from the party that won the general elections, which leads to the quick formation of a government and a functioning parliament; no time is wasted  and no unprincipled deals are made. This is not an end to parliamentarianism, because the National Assembly remains in full control of the government and can at any time make it resign via a no-confidence vote, Vulchev explained.

On Bulgarian National Television’s morning show, Constitutional Court judge Yanaki Stoilov commented on TISP’s petition for a referendum by saying the Election Code as amended in 2020 allows for a referendum on constitutional matters; however, changes to the Constitution still require a Grand National Assembly. In Stoilov’s words, whoever wants a Grand National Assembly to be convened should bear in mind that the regular parliament’s support is needed to that end, with enough influence and allies to get the process going. “People are saying that the current parliament does not work as it should and, perhaps, a Grand National Assembly would work better. However, both types of parliament are elected by the same people,” Stoilov noted. In his words, to get to the priest’s house you first need to be able to enter the village.

***

Trud has an interview with Union of Bulgarian Artists (UBA) head Hristo Mutafchiev, who talks about the internal conflict at the Ivan Vazov National Theatre and their problem with caretaker Culture Minister Velislav Minekov. The UBA has backed a letter by the artists at the National Theatre to the President asking for Minekov’s removal from office over what Mutafchiev describes as interference in a conflict “that is none of his business” and damaging the image of cultural institutions. Mutafchiev also talks about the lack of dialogue with the Culture Minister, who “managed to smash the sector in a way that no one has done in the last 15 years”. 

***

Segabg.com writes that following its inquiry, the US Embassy in Sofia said that the US government has nothing to do with the forthcoming visit of Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev to Washington, D. C. The inquiry was prompted by 24 Chasa reporting that Geshev will attend the 71th National Prayer Breakfast hosted by the US President on February 2.  The US Embassy told Sega that despite the National Prayer Breakfast being attended by many US government representatives from various parties and units of governance, the event is not organized by the US government. Geshev last visited the United States as deputy prosecutor general in March and in April 2019.

ECONOMY

24 Chasa’s front-page article reads that BGN 48 billion will pour into the Bulgarian economy by 2027 under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the approved operational programmes for the 2021-2027 period. Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU funds Atanas Pekanov described this speed as unique for Bulgaria. On Tuesday, he took part in a forum organized by 24 Chasa in partnership with the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria to bring companies and power holders together. 

***

Capital.bg reports that Bulgaria and five other EU Member States (Romania, Hungary, Poland, Italy, and Greece) will be subjected to an audit by the European Court of Auditors, aimed at assessing the European Commission’s actions in protecting the EU’s financial interests and the sound financial management of the EU budget against rule of law breaches. The audit will focus on the measures provided by the Conditionality Regulation and by the Regulations in force for the 2021-2027 cohesion policy funds and for the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The report is expected to be ready within one year.

***

Duma quotes Lyuboslav Kostov, head of the Institute for Social and Trade Union Research with the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria, as saying on Bulgarian National Television that the goods Bulgarians buy the most (bread, cheese, yogurt, and eggs) have appreciated by much more than the average inflation rate: by 50 to 120%. In Bulgaria, an average income does not equal an average living standard. In most countries in Europe, the incomes increase at a higher rate, he noted.  

Telegraf has an interview with Violeta Ivanova of the Institute for Social and Trade Union Research, who says that the salary of two-thirds of working Bulgarians is too low to cover their expenses. 

Dnevnik.bg presents expert opinions on the expected decrease in the inflation rate. According to Petar Ganev of the Institute for Market Economics, the first group of goods to start depreciating are food products, because they appreciated the most in Bulgaria in the past year. If the market follows this logic, the last to depreciate will be the goods and services in the culture and entertainment sector, because they were the last to appreciate. Georgi Angelov, chief economist at Open Society Institute, said that the normalization will be felt the most where the prices rose the fastest and the earliest.

***

24 Chasa writes that according to its check, as at July 1, 2022 Bulgaria was eight in the EU for early retirement. At the same time, Bulgarians receive some of the lowest pensions in the Union. The Member State with the lowest retirement age is France (62), while Germany, Italy, and Denmark are at the other end of the spectrum (65). In Bulgaria, the retirement age last year was 64.5  for men and 61.10 for women, with the age gradually increasing to reach 65 in 2037.