Media Review: November 11 2026

Leave a Comment / All articles, Bulgaria / By България Новините

The national day of mourning following the Trakia Motorway pile-ups dominates Wednesday’s media coverage, with questions raised about road safety, institutional failures and the lack of electronic warning systems. Political commentary focuses on Bulgaria’s security policy and support for Ukraine following European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Varna, while economic coverage centres on criticism of the 2027 budget and proposed changes to labour and social assistance rules.
DAY OF MOURNING
Trud leads with the report that 11 people were killed and 51 injured in two massive pile-ups involving 86 cars, buses and lorries on the Trakia Motorway near the southeastern town of Yambol. The crashes occurred in dense fog, with visibility falling to as little as 10-20 metres and the road wet and slippery. A driver with 30 years’ experience told the paper that he had slowed to around 50 km/h when visibility suddenly deteriorated when he heard vehicles crashing one after another, while others continued passing him at 80-90 km/h. All 11 fatalities occurred in the carriageway towards Burgas, where the initial collision triggered a chain reaction; a lorry driver reportedly blocked the path of a bus carrying passengers, while a grain truck stopped abruptly to avoid hitting it. Nine investigators arrived at the scene, where inspections continued until dusk, with the entire crash site and the positions of the vehicles documented in detail, including by drone footage; the fog had lifted completely by late morning, providing clear images for the investigation.
Health Minister Katya Ivkova told Bulgarian National Television (BNT) the response by the healthcare system and the Interior and Defence Ministry systems showed that, by working together, more lives can be saved. A Romanian national at the Heart and Brain Hospital in Burgas is in the most critical condition, according to Prof. Asen Baltov, head of Orthopedics and Traumatology.
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24 Chasa examines whether the 11 deaths in the two collisions could have been prevented, given that drivers had alerted emergency services to dense fog before the crashes, but no police patrol was dispatched immediately. The daily highlights delays in the procurement of electronic warning signs: although the Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) launched a tender in 2017 for 40 variable-message signs (VMS) at 20 locations, the contract was not signed until 2021. Worth just over BGN 7 million, it envisaged designing and building the system, but changes to the planned locations drove up costs and the project ultimately fell through.
Capital.bg recalls that the Road Infrastructure Agency launched a procurement in 2017 and signed a BGN 7.261 million (excluding VAT) contract in March 2020 for an intelligent transport system on the Trakia Motorway, including 40 VMS at 20 locations to warn drivers of hazardous conditions. After the planned locations had to be changed and the technical design revised, the contract was terminated in 2022, with the contractor paid BGN 508,000 for design work. No new procurement for the supply and installation of the signs has followed. As a result, the EU funding earmarked for the project was not used and the system was never built. According to capital.bg, this was the only road-intelligent-systems project under the 2014-2020 operational programme, and it failed.
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Segabg.com, mediapool.bg and other media report that the Romanian truck driver who is believed to have caused the pile-up has been detained and questioned, telling investigators that he slowed down because of the dense fog; he is due to be questioned again on Wednesday, while 44 eyewitnesses have also been interviewed.
Dimitar Dimitrov, President of the Chamber of Bulgarian Road Hauliers, told Nova TV that according to RIA representative an SUV had broken down in front of the first lorry, which is alleged to have triggered the pile-up on the motorway.
A Nova TV panel of road safety experts discussed the pile-ups, citing poor infrastructure, inadequate warning systems, driver behaviour and failure to adapt to weather conditions as contributing factors. They called for electronic warning signs, better road markings, stricter winter-tyre requirements and improved driver training. Suggestions also included rerouting lorry traffic and restructuring the RIA. Vladimir Todorov of the Bulgarian Association of Road Accident Victims said money collected from traffic fines should be used to fund electronic road-safety systems.
Interviewed by Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), Road Safety Institute Chair Bogdan Milchev said fog could contribute to a road accident but was never its actual cause. He argued that two hours before the pile-ups, the road situation centre should have dispatched the motorway maintenance contractor, Avtomagistrali, to inspect the stretch and treat the road against icing if necessary.
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Political analyst Lyubomir Stefanov told BNR politicians should have remained silent for at least three days during the national mourning for the victims of the pile-ups, rather than trade accusations. He argued that successive governments share responsibility for failing to make road safety a national priority and ensure that officials are held accountable. Calling for sustained public pressure across the political spectrum, he said citizens must demand their right to live safely in the country. “All politicians, regardless of their political colour, should guarantee this first,” he said.
POLITICS
Following Tuesday’s visit to Varna by Ursula von der Leyen, 24 Chasa reports that the European Commission will provide EUR 50 million to speed up the establishment of a joint maritime security hub by Romania and Bulgaria, while Bulgaria will receive EUR 10 million for search-and-rescue operations in the Black Sea. Von der Leyen said the hub would protect shipping and the EU’s maritime border, with Bulgaria responsible for countering hybrid and cyberattacks, risk analysis and environmental security. Efforts are also under way to involve Turkiye.
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On BNR, journalist Hristo Rimpopov said the government’s actions, rather than its more cautious public statements at the meeting with Ursula von der Leyen in Varna, would reveal its actual policy on Ukraine. He argued that national security should take priority, saying Bulgaria had failed to develop into a strong NATO defence hub in the Black Sea region, unlike Romania, and had instead become its weak link. He criticized what he described as a tendency to avoid preparing for potential security threats. Rimpopov backed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s call for additional EU funding for Ukraine, arguing that Europe must remain firmly committed to supporting Kyiv and take a more active role in the conflict. He said Russia posed a threat to Europe and that continued support was essential while Moscow was still unable to achieve its objectives in Ukraine. He also stressed the potential benefits for the West, including Bulgaria, of maintaining close ties with Ukraine as it develops its military capabilities.
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On the domestic politics front, Dilyana Tsenova argues in an opinion piece in 24 Chasa that political manoeuvring around Prime Minister Rumen Radev is part of a longer-term plan by former and current communist-era elites to restore a two-bloc political model. In her view, the socialists and Russophiles have already gravitated towards Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria, while Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria figures are promoting Andrey Gurov, the former caretaker prime minister, who lost the presidential runoff to Iliana Iotova, as a potential unifier of the right wing, hoping to attract disillusioned GERB voters and eventually draw them away from Boyko Borissov.
ECONOMY
In an interview with 24 Chasa, GERB MP and former finance minister Vladislav Goranov argues that the government’s 2027 budget reflects a lack of political courage to take unpopular decisions and a fear of losing public support. He criticizes the planned EUR 8.6 billion in new debt, higher taxes and social security contributions, and continued deficit spending, saying these policies postpone necessary reforms and leave ordinary taxpayers to foot the bill. He also warns that rising interest payments – from around EUR 320 million in 2020 to a projected EUR 1.4 billion next year and nearly EUR 2.3 billion in 2029 – point to a worrying debt trajectory, although he says Bulgaria is not yet in a debt spiral.
Goranov says the budget contains no adequate buffers against further inflation or external shocks, while one-off revenue measures, such as a windfall profits tax and state-company dividends, offer only temporary relief. He argues that the government should stop blaming its predecessors and take responsibility for the public finances. He also criticizes the lack of progress on infrastructure concessions and the problems at district heating utility Toplofikatsiya Sofia, and says that although he does not expect a negative assessment of the 2027 budget by the European Commission, he questions whether it provides a sound basis for fiscal consolidation in the years ahead.
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Interviewed by BNR, economist Georgi Vuldzhev said he hoped the Government would stand firm and avoid changes to next year’s spending plans, but said it should have proposed deeper spending cuts and more substantial structural reforms. He described the 2027 budget as relying largely on one-off measures, with no detailed reform plan and an unclear, in his view unrealistic, long-term fiscal trajectory.
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24 Chasa reports that Progressive Bulgaria has introduced amendments to the Labour Code under which length of service will be calculated in hours rather than days from January 1. The change is expected to affect around 280,000 people working part-time for at least half the statutory working day (four hours or more), whose service is currently counted as a full day. This means they will no longer automatically enjoy the same employment rights as full-time workers, including 20 days of paid annual leave, seniority supplements and severance payments upon retirement; these will instead be calculated in proportion to the hours worked. The change will not affect unemployment, maternity or pension benefits, which are based on contributory service, already calculated in hours.
The amendments seek to align the calculation of employment service with that of contributory service, which currently differ. The discrepancy has led some workers to assume that they have accumulated sufficient service for retirement, only to find that they have not. The ruling party argues that the new rules will help bring undeclared employment into the open by exposing cases in which workers are officially employed for only two or three hours but actually work full days, enabling them to demand that their contracts reflect their actual working hours. The more than 100,000 people working less than half the statutory day will not be affected, as their employment service is already calculated proportionately. This is the government’s second attempt to introduce the change: a previous provision in the 2026 budget was struck down by the Constitutional Court because the measure was due to take effect in 2027 and therefore did not belong in the 2026 State Budget Act.
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Mediapool.bg says Progressive Bulgaria MPs have proposed amendments to the Personal Assistance Act, to take effect in January 2027, decoupling personal assistants’ hourly pay from the minimum wage. Their pay would remain at the 2026 level of EUR 5.24 per hour, instead of rising to EUR 5.57 in line with the 6.4% increase in the minimum wage. The proposal, submitted without prior public consultation, is expected, together with changes to the medical assessment system, to save the public purse EUR 228 million in 2027.
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Trud reports that Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Poulev said the Bulgarian Development Bank is developing financing programmes for young farmers, agricultural cooperatives and other producers who have difficulty accessing bank loans due to insufficient business history or other constraints.
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Trud reports the European Commission’s proposal to raise minimum tobacco excise duties could increase cigarette prices in Bulgaria by nearly EUR 2 per pack. EU finance ministers failed to reach unanimous agreement, with only Malta opposing the changes, while Bulgaria and nine other EU Member States secured a longer transition period to avoid a sharp price increase. Bulgaria also secured an exemption for tobacco growers from reporting requirements under the excise goods tracking system.
RETAILERS
Trud reports that the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) temporarily closed a Lidl store in Vidin over food storage and hygiene violations, including 343 kg of meat and fish kept at improper temperatures and 270 kg of mouldy cabbage. The store reopened the following day. Lidl described the closure as a disproportionate measure and part of unprecedented institutional pressure involving multiple inspections of its stores, saying it would challenge the agency’s actions in court. Lidl said the substandard vegetables had been set aside for quality checks and removal, while the products kept at improper temperatures were stored in the backroom pending disposal and had never been offered for sale.
In a Facebook post reported by Trud, Rosen Karadimov, Chair of the Commission on Protection of Competition, defended the EUR 75.65 million fine imposed on Kaufland Bulgaria, saying the Commission must apply the law equally to all market participants without making exceptions for individual companies. He said the retailer was fined 1.5% of its turnover for each of two violations and 2.2% for the more serious third one, arguing that the penalties were at the lower end of the statutory range, which allows fines of up to 10% of turnover per violation. His remarks come amid criticism from the Association for Modern Trade that the fine was disproportionate.
In a similar vein, Georgi Vuldzhev comments in Trud that the fine imposed on Kaufland Bulgaria is not unprecedented or a threat to the business environment, citing Poland, where Biedronka was fined EUR 163 million in 2020 (later reduced to EUR 116 million) and Kaufland Polska around EUR 27 million in 2021 for unfair practices towards suppliers, including pressure to lower delivery prices and backdated contracts. He notes that Poland subsequently recorded strong GDP growth and a 34% increase in foreign direct investment in the year after Kaufland’s fine. He concludes that Bulgaria’s economic lag behind much of Eastern Europe stems partly from weak state institutions and regulatory oversight, arguing that the Kaufland fine could signal a move towards more effective enforcement rather than undermine the business environment.
Trud cites Commission for Consumer Protection Chair Maya Manolova, who warned that stronger farmer cooperatives would not lower retail prices unless excessive retailer mark-ups were curbed, citing margins of up to 200% on fruit and vegetables.
SOCIETY
BNR reported that Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev had again urged city councillors to approve an analysis of the financial state and prospects of Sofia’s municipal district heating utility. He said he saw a concession as the only viable option for securing the investment needed to modernize the company, restructure its debt of billions of euro and address its financial problems, noting that the State owes it more than EUR 150 million in payments under court rulings.
Meanwhile, residents protested on Wednesday over continued heating supply problems. Several neighbourhoods in eastern Sofia are experiencing repeated heating outages, protest organizer Alexander Tachev said. bTV reported that he warned that households were facing higher electricity bills as they relied on electric heaters, and raised concerns that a growing shift to alternative heating and electric water heaters could overload the power grid, particularly during peak evening hours.
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Trud reports on an inside page that the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) Supervisory Board on Tuesday backed the institution’s 2027 budget draft, which provides for increased healthcare funding while keeping the health insurance contribution at 8%. More than EUR 37.3 million is earmarked for child healthcare in primary care, covering prevention, immunizations, specialist paediatric examinations and follow-up care from birth through infancy. The budget also expands preventive check-ups for children aged 7-18 to screen for obesity and provides for cholesterol tests at age 16.
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A commentary in Trud says the case of six-year-old Angel from Belashtitsa, who died after a dental procedure under general anaesthesia at a private hospital in Plovdiv, is another painful example of how long and discouraging the pursuit of justice can be for victims’ families in Bulgaria. It describes the judicial system as a maze of procedural steps, repeated referrals back to earlier stages, delays and attempts to reformulate charges, which can make cases involving serious crimes drag on indefinitely.
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The book by Stefan Dechev and Keta Mircheva, The Three Against the Crushing of the Prague Spring, will be launched at the Czech Centrev, BNR reported. It tells the story of history students Alexander Dimitrov, Eduard Genov and Valentin Radev, who publicly protested against the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Speaking to BNR, Dechev said the book had faced many difficulties in coming to publication, as the story of the protest and the memory of the events at Sofia University in the final months of 1968 remained uncomfortable.

Media Review: November 11 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-11-11 01:58:21

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BULGARIA NEWS – NEWS AGENCY 2009–2026 2026-11-11 01:58:21