The week: Season 8 of Bulgaria ain’t got talent, Solar wins the day, Factory of the Year competition is opened

The epic battle between bad and worse.

The 8th consecutive elections

The struggle for one man (or woman, more likely) to get a 25 thousand euros salary. Should've been a reality format, a TV blockbuster called "The Commission".

So, take your popcorn.

But before that, a look at what's happening while all this is going on.

Take a more shady figure, rarely mentioned. Hristoforos Amanatidis-Taki is best known for two things: drug dealing in the late 90s and early 00s and being the right-hand man for Ruja Ignatova, the Missing Cryptoqueen. Having spent many years in Dubai, far from the prying eyes of local competitors, he is now taking up more and more of the space, cleared by the political battles. One good example of that is a company linked to him, which has entered the winning bids for the waste management of 2 of the biggest Bulgarian cities - Plovdiv and Burgas. The bids are worth more than 220 mln.levs and are obviously a good choice: waste collection is a messy and hard-to-trace business, with lots of people, trash and trucks involved. In one of the bids, he is a partner with the once untouchable and now arrested Rumen Gaitanski, the Wolf. It's clear a new player is entering the procurements and is looked upon favorably.

Another example is the borders.

This week, the Bulgarian transport chamber explained that global organizations like IRU and BSEC-URTA will try to find a way to circumvent Bulgaria, because of the border chaos. With the repairs on the Danube Bridge, the dismal road network and the absurdly long lines, aggravated by the unilateral decision to impose disinfection fees, the country doesn't seem to want to do anything to make it easier for the commercial flow to pass, says the chamber.

Here, interestingly, Taki also has a thing or two to say, since there are connections to be found with the newly built TIR-parkings and the way public authorities help private companies control the flow and tax the foreigners more.

But what's more important is that Turkey now seems ready to work with Greece to deal with this issue, which tells you something about the ability of the Bulgarian state to offer solutions. Not that it will happen soon but unless we manage to look like a functional country again, we're stuck.

There is no one to take decisions, no one to enforce them and we're just floating in space. How long can this vacuum continue?

This newsletter is helped by

Martin Dimitrov

Politics this week:

Two of the major parties, the Turkish MRF and the Socialist BSP, split apart in the middle and might not even take part in the upcoming 27 October early vote with their own names. The liberal coalition - WCC-DB - almost followed suit after one of the factions - Yes Bulgaria - asked for a more democratic internal election of candidate MPs. Yeah, that's not happening. But the split was avoided, because who cares about more democracy anyway?The Peevski-Dogan mayhem

The civil war reignited with vengeance. On Monday, the two warring factions - those of the ideologue and creator of the MRF Ahmed Dogan and of Magnitsky-sanctioned mogul and co-chairman of the movement Delyan Peevski - attempted to outplay each other during the registration process in the Central Electoral Commission (CEC).

The supporters of both factions almost physically assaulted each other, just like they have been doing in the past week since Peevski began an all-out campaign against Dogan, kicking him out of his two well-known palaces near Sofia and Burgas.

Why?

Well, CEC works on the First come, First serve basis. So whoever of the two registers their party first, will probably get the name and be recognized as the brand amongst the voters.

In the end, CEC took a Solomonic approach and registered the two movements as members of wider coalitions of smaller parties with very similar names. This means that the second largest party in the current parliament will appear as two separate factions in the 27 October vote.

What now?

Expect vote-buying to reach its zenith. Peevski will use every possible lever in his power to maximize his result. Whether the others leave him to do so will depend very much on the Internal Ministry. Wouldn't be wise to pin too much hope on that.

And as for the socialists, they disintegrated

The National Council formally ousted the former leader Kornelia Ninova over the weekend, just to find out that without her signature the party can't really register with its current name in CEC for the vote. Which means that it might have to take a back seat in a wider coalition, too.

The implications

• First of all, boosted by the potential BSP fallout, Vazrazhdane might become the second largest party in Parliament (yeah, scary, we know).
• Secondly, the dissolution of the big parties might pave the way to new, unpredictable radicals.
• And lastly, those will be by far the most interesting elections we have had in quite some time.

Economy:

Bulgaria will produce its smallest maize crop in more than a decade due to the severe drought affecting the region, the US Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS USDA) predicts in a report dated late August. FAS expects domestic corn production to fall to 2.2 million tonnes from 2.45 million in 2023-2024. The area planted to corn is estimated at 484,000 hectares in 2024-2025, down 9% from the previous year.

The FAS report said that gloomy prospects for the new 2024-2025 crop have forced farmers to virtually halt exports and as of early August, maize exports were around 693,000 tonnes, mainly to non-EU countries, compared with 950,000 tonnes at the same time the previous year.

Figures:

1.6 billion levs

The increase of the budget deficit in August. VAT revenues are growing at a faster pace than projected, pension and wage spending, the Finance Ministry says.

850 thousand

people were receiving the minimum wage for 2023, say new data, published by the Revenue Agency. Many of them probably received more, though, since those are the figures on which they paid taxes and social security.

62 million euro

The amount spent by Bulgarians abroad for the three months between May and July via the Revolut platform - marking a 46% rise compared to a year earlier.

20

E-trains will be delivered by Skoda as part of the intercity network of trains that Bulgaria should have for the longest rides. They will cost around half a billion levа, and are part of the 3 billion levs Recovery and Resilience package for trains that we were supposed to spend up until 2026, but somehow still are not.

Business:

Rezlov energy

China's CMC Europe and Bulgaria's Solarpro and Green Solar Energy will construct the 229-megawatt St George solar park near Silistra on behalf of the Prague-based Rezolv Energy, which is a subsidiary of the British fund Actis, the company announced this week.

Tourism

Resource Partners

The leading private investment fund acquires majority stake in ITH Group - owner of Romanian online travel agency Vola.bg, alongside other similar businesses from the CEE region.

Manufacturing

M+C Hydraulic

Over the next three years, the Kazanlak-based plant will invest 45 million levs in a second plant in the Balkan town. The new plant will increase hydraulic motor capacity by 30% and will have a high degree of automation, the company announced.

Energy:

Bulgaria recorded the longest period in recent history in which it produced more energy from renewable energy sources than from coal. From March to August, or during the last 6 months, the electricity generated by solar, wind, water and biomass is 44% more than that from thermal power plants.

This is a radically new situation for the country's energy system, but it is a clear signal of the trends afoot. For comparison, during the same period last year, electricity from coal exceeded that from RES, and only in two months - June or July - was green electricity more.

Interestingly, this is despite a rise in electricity exchange prices over the past two months, which has allowed coal plants to operate more and export their energy to the region. The data of the association of electricity transmission operators ENTSO-E shows that in August Bulgaria was again a net exporter of electricity, taking in more than 220 mln. euros worth of electricity export.

Brussels:

Which is a rather sad way to remind us that what we really need is not a strange puzzle of political loyalties and gender affiliations, but a Commission that can fight (and win) the battles on the world stage with the likes of China and the US. Seems like we're not getting that this time, either.

Watch out for:

Zoran Đorđević

The former Serbian minister is rumored to be the new ambassador in Sofia. This triggered a scandal in Belgrade, as he has been rejected by Slovenia recently. Đorđević is mostly known to be a very loyal soldier for the president Alexander Vucic. Bulgaria still hasn't said anything.

Miroslav Petrov

The Sofia regional court judge decided not to confiscate the vehicle of a drunk driver although the new law stipulates such. This, according to the judge, is an "extreme measure" which contradicts the Constitution. Since hundreds of vehicles have been taken away under this measure, it will be curious to see how this progresses.

Location

Dubai

Where suddenly the Bulgarian consulate has been robbed. Or at least, it seems like it. The authorities claim it was an inside job and a technician wanted to make it seem so, in order to steal some money. Yet it's worth noting that many shady figures from the Bulgarian political and business establishment reside in the Emirate, and this news probably triggered some panic attacks.

Date:

9 September

Is the date on which the Prosecution committee in the Supreme Judicial Council will restart the procedure for the election of a new Prosecutor General. Needless to say, with what's going on with their overlord Peevski, this promises to be a shitshow.

Company Factory of the year

The third edition of the annual competition, organized by Capital weekly alongside Plovdiv Municipality and TrakiaTech, with the aim to award the most innovative and sustainable manufacturing enterprises in the country, has started. Applications are open until the end of September and the winner will be announced at an official ceremony on 5 December.