The week: The best place to start fighting the corruption, Don’t count a coalition before it’s hatched, Crypto collapse

Maybe this was his first accident, one might say. It was his forty-eighth! He appears to have been involved in violations spanning the entire gamut of the Road Traffic law.

After his car had its number plates removed, he had simply used counterfeit Swiss plates and a foreign driving license ever since, driving undisrupted and wreaking havoc - including on the fatal day, where he was caught by a road camera speeding at 160 (!) km per hour on the Sofia ring road, and plowing through heavy traffic elsewhere, mindlessly brushing against other vehicles.

And if it is still not obvious that Semerdzhiev was someone special for the police, the rear half of his demolished SUV hid a police light and a police stop sign, which belonged to a young female police officer, who was accompanying him at the time of the crash - something that Internal Minister Boyko Rashkov confirmed on Thursday. She allegedly even made her colleagues from the nearby Police Department help him make it into his nearby apartment! Moreover, according to the Anti-Corruption Fund NGO, the killer was a "protected witness" in a drug distribution ring. Apparently this had guaranteed him impunity for all fifty "minor" transgressions that had preceded the carnage.

The scene of the crash site at the European Union metro station. The elevator booth is shattered from the impact

Photographer: Velko Angelov

Somewhere between 500 and 600 people die on Bulgaria's roads each year - it is one of the few EU countries which has seen no decrease over the years - sadly, it has gone up even since the 2000s. Although many incidents can be blamed on road conditions, many others spring from this type of negligence from the authorities - although the case cited here is definitely an exception.

But it is particular exceptions like Semerdzhiev that expose the deep rottenness of the system.

Road fatalities happen everywhere. There is also a lot of corruption involved in lots of places. Yet this is the easiest place to root it out. And also one of the most visible. If we are to change one thing fast, we might as well start with that.

1. Politics this week:

After outgoing Finance Minister Assen Vassilev accepted the first mandate to try to forge a new coalition from President Rumen Radev last Friday afternoon, he quickly met the BSP and Democratic Bulgaria leadership and received their support. Then they met in three-way meetings over the first two days of the week, set up government priorities (effectively repeating promises for rushed judicial and anti-corruption reform, social measures and expedited changes in the regulators) and probably agreed who takes which ministry.

The only problem was that WCC never made much progress in finding additional MPs to back the proposed cabinet. On Thursday, palpably exasperated, Mr Vassilev told journalists that he wouldn't comment on the names of those in the cabinet he is supposed to propose to the National Assembly today, because, all things considered, it looked unlikely to secure the 121 votes needed to pass. "We are obliged to try until the end. From there on, every MP who has a head on their shoulders, and has a conscience, has to decide whether to support the program we have presented," Mr Vassilev pointed out.

The verdict: the cabinet is unlikely to be approved and will pass to GERB, maybe as early as Monday.

This newsletter was helped by: Anina Santova and Evgeni Ahmedzai

Alpha Research: WCC regains ground, GERB and Vazrazhdane stagnate

And as early elections become more certain by the day, the most recent poll from Alpha Research agency gives a glimmer of hope for the battered ruling WCC party, as well as for its Democratic Bulgaria allies. According to the poll, published on Wednesday, WCC appears to have regained support (18.4 to 20.2 from April) after the fall of the cabinet and the dismissal of Parliament Head Nikola Minchev. Democratic Bulgaria, which has consistently lost support in recent months, has also regained ground, nearing the 7.5 percent mark.

Meanwhile, the results of their main opponents from GERB are virtually unchanged (21.7 percent in April compared to 21.5 now) and the party that caused the rift in the ruling coalition, TISP, is already projected to fall below the 5 percent threshold for entering the next Parliament. The radical Russophile Vazrazhdane faction is also losing momentum, down from 9.4 percent to 7.9 percent.

Geshev's SJC hearing - no surprises here

After a 13-hour debate that extended until the late hours of Thursday, the majority of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) unsurprisingly voted against Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev's dismissal by 16 to 2 in a show of hands. Unsurprisingly, because the representatives of the judiciary's self-governing organ have been trying to dismiss, suppress and ignore the reports of two consecutive justice ministers listing a lengthy catalog of Mr Geshev's transgressions and inactions that have repeatedly obstructed justice over the past two-and-a-half years. The hearing was uneventful - the majority of SJC magistrates were clearly on the Prosecutor General's side and did not probe him (with the notable exception of judges Atanaska DIsheva and Olga Kerelska, who later voted for his dismissal), and the few he got, he simply brushed aside.

2. Economy:

According to preliminary data from the Finance Ministry, the state's budget surplus almost doubled in June, reaching over 1.1 billion levs. State finances are in the black to the tune of 0.8% of the estimated GDP despite expectations of a deficit of 6.2 billion in 2022.

Figures:

is Bulgaria's expected GDP growth this year, according to Unicredit Bulbank's forecast. The bank revises its expectations upwards but lowers those for 2023 to 2%, or 1.5 percent.

60 million levs

is the turnover of shares of foreign companies traded on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange in just one year since its introduction.

From the week: KInsights overview of the budget revision

And how the political crisis puts the allocation of Resilience and Recovery Plan cash in peril

3. Business:

Bulgarian-founded crypto bank Nexo is on track to acquire Asia's Vauld, which on Monday froze customer withdrawals after announcing that it has received an outflow of nearly 200 million dollars since June 12.

The big crypto layoff

In recent weeks, the Bulgarian office of cryptocurrency exchange company Crypto.com has laid off hundreds of people, even though it grew from 0 to 2900 people in two years. The reason is the collapse of the crypto market, which is already causing many companies in the sector to rethink their aggressive models.

Deals

"Karcher Bulgaria" - the company specializing in cleaning technology - expects 17 million euros in revenue this year - equivalent to their results the previous year. In 2023, the company will open a new company site in Sofia, which will include a training and demonstration center, service base, and a car wash.

Startups

"Webit Investment Network" (WIN) has announced the list of companies in which it will invest. They are EcoTree from Denmark, 360VUZ from the United Arab Emirates, WechselGott from Germany, Alver World from Switzerland, and CAKE from Sweden. Each will receive 500 thousand euros.

BEAM

"Bii Smart Technologies" plans to raise up to 1.2 million levs on the BEAM. This is expected to happen in the middle of the month, with the exact date still undisclosed. The company offers technologies for remote monitoring of beehives and an innovative model for trading bee products.

Machine equipment

concrete technologies". The new factory produces assembly parts, and concrete truck barrels and assembles concrete trucks. The investment is 17 million euros of which 15 million euros are devoted to the plant and premises and 2 million euros for the transfer and the purchase of new equipment.

4. Energy:

Bulgargaz, the largest Bulgarian natural gas distribution company and a subsidiary of the Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD, finally pitched a proposal about July's natural gas price. The company suggests 187 lv per mgw/h and it is likely that the Energy regulator will obey and accept this estimation. The new price is 32% higher than last month's and the highest so far this year. It was justified through the lack of LNG in the region and the volatile TTF hub.

To the gas fields!

After four years of appeal on July 5, 2022, the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) finally canceled the ban on producing natural gas near General Toshevo. The project, led by Sasho Donchev's "Rusgeocom BG", was halted back in 2018 with many controversies. The idea is to use conventional extraction technology in the region of northeastern Bulgaria. The proven reserves are over 1 bln. cubic meters.

5. Watch out for:

Kalina Konstantinova - for being the minister daring to take away the lunch break from employees in more than 90 branches of the state administration and even prolong their working hours (from 8:00 to 18:30)! Watch out for those nervous desks.

Places:

Koral - the Black Sea bay, which has been the target of many shady real estate developers through the years, has finally been designated a "protected water area" by outgoing Ecology Minister Borislav Sandov, which is a small - but symbolic - victory for Bulgarian environmentalists (it is also the favorite sea spot of the PM Kiril Petkov).

Rosenets - a bit further to the north of Koral, we have news from MRF Honorary President Ahmed Dogan's infamous cove. Two years after Democratic Bulgaria leader Hristo Ivanov disembarked at the beach, illegally occupied by Mr Dogan's constructions, the Construction Control Agency (DNSK) declared its pier illegal.

Company: