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© Nadezhda Chipeva, Capital
Boyko borisov
The government and Prime Minister Boyko Borissov have committed with the country’s Reporters Without Borders organization to create a board to monitor the media environment and work to improve freedom of expression. This happened last year, but since then there have been no comments from the cabinet or the prime minister.
This was stated by Pavol Salay of Reporters Without Borders, who joined a video link from Paris at the press freedom conference, hosted by MEP Elena Yoncheva on Monday (October 12). Bulgaria collapsed in the Reporters Without Borders ranking to 111th in press freedom. Due to the government’s inaction and the organization’s unsuccessful attempts to contact Borissov’s cabinet representatives for over half a year, Reporters Without Borders has decided to make its proposal public to the Bulgarian authorities.
The silence of Borisov’s cabinet
“Bulgaria accumulates all the problems with the media that we see in the Balkans and in other countries of the European Union (EU). There have been protests for three months in Sofia and Bulgaria. I remember the protests in 2019, when journalists protested against the removal of BNR presenter Silvia Velikova. At that time, the Bulgarian government joined a major Reporters Without Borders initiative. Then we started communicating with the cabinet, because at that time there were signs that we wanted to improve the environment. But a year later, we must point out that the current government does not have the will to change and improve the media environment and does not fulfill its international commitments, “said Salay.
He said that in December 2019, representatives of the organization met with Boyko Borissov. At this meeting, the Prime Minister and Reporters Without Borders agreed that the organization would propose a roadmap for changes in the media environment in Bulgaria. The Prime Minister promised to consider the proposal. For six months we have no sign of the cabinet and our efforts to contact the prime minister failed. We decided to make this proposal public, “Salay explained.
The essence of the organization’s proposal was in Bulgaria to establish an “independent, national and pluralistic commission to improve freedom of expression”.
“This committee will work to improve legislation and regulation of the media. Amendments will be proposed for debate in parliament. This body will be chaired by an independent figure from the international media or the human rights community and will be composed of by experts in the country The Commission will guarantee the freedom of the print media, television, the right to security of sources and correspondence, concentration of ownership of the media, financing, distribution, organization of public financing and journalistic, ”the representative of Reporters Without Borders also explained.
According to Salai, the European Commission should make separate recommendations to member states on the state of the media. The even proposals for sanctions in countries where fundamental values are not respected. “Meanwhile, the European Commission delegation in Sofia can play a more active and vocal role,” Salay said.
The conference opened with a statement by the Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Justice, Vera Yourova. He announced that the commission had launched a series of pilot projects to show where the risks and threats to the freedom and pluralism of the media lay. support investigative journalists and offer legal aid and practical assistance to journalistswho need such support.
“We want increase funding for these types of projects in the next budget, and at this moment, as we are still negotiating (the budget), we are talking about 61 million euros, ”Yourova said.All his speech, read here).
Journalism was slowly killed
Yoncheva, who is the host of the conference, opened the forum and said that she hopes the event will not become a denomination of free journalism, but rather focus on concrete solutions. As an MEP, she is one of the rapporteurs for a future resolution on the state of the media.
“As Europe witnessed the brutal murders of journalists, in Bulgaria, journalism itself was assassinated. It was slowly and systematically destroyed. The 111th position does not concern the ruling party. They refuse to take any action, seeking reasons beyond their control. The systematic refusal to discuss the problems in Bulgaria worsens democracy in Bulgaria, “Yoncheva added.
According to her, a comprehensive mechanism should be established at European level, through legislation, to strengthen the protection of investigative journalists and to provide funding that is not redistributed nationally, and through organizations to ensure that this money does not reach “our people”.
In the conference room were the BSP deputies: Alexander Simov, Ivan Chenchev, who are members of the media committee in parliament, his colleague Dragomir Stoynev, former minister and former MEP Ivaylo Kalfin, journalists Velislava Dareva, Martin Karbovski, Valya Ahchieva, Ivan Garelov, Anna Zarkova, representatives of the Union of Bulgarian Journalists and others.
© Julia Lazarova
International Conference on Media Freedom in Bulgaria
“The media is held in a disgusting way”
“There are things happening in Bulgaria that are extremely unacceptable. In terms of media freedom, it is not in Europe, it is between African countries and has left the European Union with its media. Bulgaria contributes to the media crisis in the internet age Bulgaria is recognized as the most corrupt country in the European Union and the media cannot be separated from this model of corruption, “said Svetoslav Terziev, of the Sega newspaper. According to him, the media supports each other” in a disgusting way “.
According to him, the funding of the European Union’s communication strategies should be stopped because they are investing money in those who undermine media standards.
“The media are a victim and an instrument of the conquered state”
Mediapool editor-in-chief Stoyana Georgieva said good laws are the right step, “but not in a country like Bulgaria where there are people who are above the law and are dominated by people who enforce them.” The problem with the media in Bulgaria is not different from that of Bulgarian businesses. The problem is the rule of law. The media are a victim and an instrument of the conquered state.
He recalled how a few years ago the Czech businessman Petar Kellner asked to buy Nova TV, but the Commission for the Protection of Competition did not allow the deal. A few months later, the body gave the green light for the media group to be bought by brothers Georgi and Kiril Domuschievi. “This case did not raise the question of how the antitrust commission works,” Georgieva said. She gave another example of the businessman with more than 18 accusations Vasil Bozhkov and how he exported information from Dubai that over the years had to pay tens of millions of levies to the government and showed a memorandum signed by Kiril Domuschiev, to which he committed. to give full support to Bozhkov’s business in the sugar commission. “Of course, rules and regulations are needed. They must be realistic. But the influence and control are much greater,” Georgieva commented on the examples.
“Continuity of harassment and institutional pressure”
“It is necessary in Bulgaria to respect the rule of law. The state of the conquered state is a state in which the legislative, executive and judicial powers are strongly influenced by a center and their interests are reduced to their economic interests. What a paradox – Journalism, which was supposed to be the guardian of democratic institutions, became one of the first victims of political corruption., then the institutions also fell, “said the executive director of” Economedia “(editor of” Capital “and” Dnevnik “) Galya Prokopieva.
He recalled the reform of the judiciary in 2017-2018, which was armed with “powerful weapons”: an untouchable chief prosecutor, an anti-corruption commission for the confiscation of illegal assets and specialized courts. The Bulgarian authorities did not fight corruption with these weapons.
Prokopieva recounted her personal experience with these institutions: the seizures of her accounts, as well as her husband Ivo Prokopiev (founder of “Economedia”), requests for confiscation of assets, as well as the case of the sale of EVN’s minority stake, in which Prokopiev was accused of making a statement and that ended with acquittal for everyone in the case.
“For 10 years, we have been under constant institutional pressure, harassment and inspections. Our sin is that years ago we discovered the Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB) scheme: how a bank was inflated with deposits and state companies, and then inflated.” Prokopieva also remembered.
This harassment is also directed at the other founder of Economedia, Teodor Zahov, as well as citizens, journalists and other editors who “believe in the meaning of journalism.”
“We have become redundant”
“Horizon and radio are recognized by the authorities as critical, the Prime Minister does not give an interview to anyone from the Horizon program. The authorities and the Attorney General chose not to meet with the media. We have become superfluous,” said Silvia Velikova, BNR journalist. He recalled that for a year since it was briefly removed from the air, and the program “Horizonte” has not been broadcast for several hours, there is no answer as to how this situation occurred. Kadrinka Kadrinova, Barricade journalist and representative of the Union of Bulgarian Journalists, also recalled cases of inadmissible reactions from members of the CEM, its current president Betina Joteva and the president of the Culture and Media Committee Vezhdi Rashidov to journalists and the media. Communication.
Martin Karbowski demanded that specific journalists’ cases be brought to Europe and why they lost their jobs or had no access to the air. Valya Ahchieva asked Commissioner Yourova if a group of investigative journalists from across Europe would be created and funded to work on cross-border investigations.
More speeches, comments, questions – watch the video here.
