The day in 3 news: Prosecution harries a president’s advisor, Bulgarians remain sceptical of vaccines, ¼ less companies created in 2020

Bulgarians remain sceptical of vaccines, a Trend Agency survey claims

The day in 3 news: Prosecution harries a president’s advisor, Bulgarians remain sceptical of vaccines, ¼ less companies created in 2020

Bulgarians remain sceptical of vaccines, a Trend Agency survey claims

© Julia Lazarova


You will be reassured to know that no landslides occurred in Bulgaria today. This marks the first day in about a week without a rupture. Also, none of the previous landslides was the current government's fault. That is the conclusion of the Road Agency, explicitly underlined today at a special press conference.

After President Rumen Radev announced his bid for a second term on Monday, Tuesday has largely been dominated by analysts speculating about the repercussions and the possibility that it consolidates anti-GERB forces in the upcoming elections. This, however, is not the only piece of news indirectly linked to the Presidency.

OLAF sees abuse of power in Internal Ministry, Prosecution targets Radev's advisor

Late on Monday, the European Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF, notified Sofia that the country's Interior Ministry had breached the terms of its grant agreement by using EU money to buy 350 SUVs from older stocks instead of new all-terrain police cars in 2017-2018. The agency recommended that the EU recover 6 million euro from the Internal Security Fund grant it offered Bulgaria to boost security on its border at the height of the migrant crisis in 2016. OLAF also demanded that the responsible officials in the Internal Ministry be charged with abuse of power.

Media reports in government mouthpiece 24 chasa and the national BNT immediately linked the case to Presidential advisor and caretaker Interior Minister (January-April 2017) Plamen Uzunov. The Presidency responded with а rebuttal, saying that the problematic contract was signed a year after Mr Uzunov's stint in the ministry by GERB Interior Minister Valentin Radev.

Bulgarians still wary of Covid-19 vaccines, survey says

A survey carried out by the Trend agency found that 43 percent of Bulgarians say they would not get Covid-19 vaccinations, with 22 percent claiming they are not certain the vaccine is safe and 12 percent fearing potential side effects. About 1,5 million people, on the other hand, said they would take their shots when available. A similar percentage of people - 36-38% claim that they either are worried or not worried because the biggest names in the pharma business are the ones producing the vaccines.

Earlier on Tuesday, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova announced that 5,000 teachers and workers in the capital's educational institutions - or just over 20 percent of the total - have agreed to get vaccinated.

Almost 12,000 fewer companies are registered in 2020: Register Agency

The Bulgarian Register Agency has seen 11,608 fewer companies open for business in 2020 compared to the previous year, a 24 percent drop from 2019. The agency notes that the start of the pandemic in March and its second wave in October-November have marked the periods of the biggest quarter-to-quarter declines. At the same time, fewer companies have filed for bankruptcy in 2020 compared to the previous year. But this could simply be because courts remained closed for several months in the spring and a new upsurge in bankruptcy procedures may arise this year.

You will be reassured to know that no landslides occurred in Bulgaria today. This marks the first day in about a week without a rupture. Also, none of the previous landslides was the current government's fault. That is the conclusion of the Road Agency, explicitly underlined today at a special press conference.

After President Rumen Radev announced his bid for a second term on Monday, Tuesday has largely been dominated by analysts speculating about the repercussions and the possibility that it consolidates anti-GERB forces in the upcoming elections. This, however, is not the only piece of news indirectly linked to the Presidency.

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