The papers today highlight a survey by Alpha Research according to which the electoral support for ABV – the civic initiative of ex-President Georgi Parvanov has been shrinking considerably. Precisely because of the appearance of ABV, the formerly ruling GERB party is now ahead of the Bulgarian Socialist Party for the European Parliament elections, Sega newspaper writes. According to Monitor this triggered an avalanche of discontent against Parvanov among the socialists. This is corroborated by Standard daily, which writes “Comrades want Parvanov out of the BSP”.

Standard writes about the continuing student occupation of the St. Kliment Ohridski University demanding the resignation of the government and of Rector Ivan Ilchev under the headline Turn occupiers over to prosecutor’s office. The paper cites the Rector as saying that seizing the building is a crime and the matter should be referred to the prosecutor’s office; Prime Minister Oresharski is quoted as saying that he is prepared to meet with the protestors. Dnevnik quotes Ivan Ilchev who said for Nova TV, in answer to a question what the differences are between this occupation and the previous blockades and why he was seeking the assistance of the state: “During the first occupation the leaders were much more intelligent. Now we have come up against a wall.”

Crisis drives Bulgarian doctors - alumni of three consecutive years abroad, reads a headline in Sega newspaper. Half of the doctors who have emigrated from the country are aged 20 to 50. According to the Bulgarian Medical Association they are the best qualified, still young but with a sufficient amount of experience. But the country is also losing doctors who are very young – those aged under 32 comprise 32 percent of all doctors who have left the country, the newspaper adds. 35 percent have emigrated because of the better pay, 8 percent for family reasons but more than half because of organizational shortcomings within the health system, lack of professional prospects, lack of opportunities to specialize and gain qualification, Sega adds.

Emigration is highlighted by Trud daily from a different angle. Under the headline Bulgaria imports bartenders from Ukraine and Moldova , the paper writes that politicians in the countries of Western Europe are not the only ones worried by the lifting of EU labour market restrictions for Bulgarians on January 1. Bulgarian hotel and restaurant owners are apprehensive that waiters, bartenders, chefs, chambermaids will head for Germany and Great Britain because of better pay and will strip the Bulgarian tourist industry of staff.

  Trud writes that the government will allocate more funding for mother tongue education for Bulgarians living abroad and for people in other countries who identify themselves as Bulgarian. A proposal for amending the activities of the Bulgarian Sunday schools abroad suggests financing Bulgarian language and literature, history and geography courses for applicants to Bulgarian universities. Open tuition is also proposed for children of pre-school age as well as distance learning for those unable to attend. 

  24 Chassa devotes considerable space to the anomalies among birds caused by the unusually warm weather in Bulgaria until recently. The birds which traditionally migrate south in winter did not do so this year, and those that usually spend the winter in Bulgaria remained in the North where it was warmer, the paper writes, quoting the chair of the Bulgarian Bird Protection Society. No birds for hunters, writes 24 Chassa.

Balkans may prove to be latest wine vogue, says in an interview for Standard newspaper Radoslav Radev, head of the Bulgarian National Vine and Wine Chamber. According to the expert, the tendency of 20 years ago when the positions of Bulgarian wines were affected by the wines from Chile and Argentina is now coming to an end and a new top wine region is now being sought. Radev says he hopes this region will be the Belkans, because judging by many specialized publications and presentations at international competitions, the wines from Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Macedonia have been attracting widespread interest. 

English version: Milena Daynova