site.btaParliament Starts Procedure to Elect Financial Supervision Commission Chair

Parliament Starts Procedure to Elect Financial Supervision Commission Chair

Sofia, July 15 (BTA) - The National Assembly on Friday started a procedure to elect a new chairperson of the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC). Parliamentary groups and individual MPs have five days to nominate candidates for the job in written proposals to the Budget and Finance Committee. The legislature voted 108-39, with 28 abstentions, to approve the rules of the nomination procedure.

It has become necessary to elect a new FSC chairperson because the term of the most recent holder of the post, Stoyan Metodiev, expired on June 18.

The original intention of the incumbents was to postpone the election until after the summer recess of the National Assembly because the legislature current agenda is too busy, but eventually it was obviously decided that the process should be sped up.

During Friday's plenary debate, several MPs said the incumbents are in a hurry to get the election done because the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has sent a letter to Prime Minister Boyko Borissov expressing its concern about the current organization of the process of selecting auditors for the companies which the FSC will put to a stress test.

Yordan Tsonev (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) noted that the usual duration of the nomination procedure is 14 days, not 5. Tsonev said the ESMA letter to the Prime Minister should not be a cause for haste.

Zhelyo Boichev (BSP-Left Bulgaria) said the rules which were proposed (and eventually adopted) would compromise the election procedure. Boichev believes the outcome of the election is predetermined. He accused the ruling GERB party of trying to evade responsibility for the FSC's performance up until now.

Delyan Dobrev (GERB) said the opposition is concerned with rules and deadlines, but what really matters is the capital market, and this is one of the reasons that the election must be conducted as quickly as possible. "The FSC chair should have been elected months ago; you should have been prepared to make nominations," Dobrev said.

He observed that the terms of two deputy chairpersons of the FSC have expired as well and the chairperson should propose replacements for them.

Radan Kanev (Reformist Bloc) warned that if pension funds are stress-tested by the current FSC, the results will not be recognized by the European Commission and the international investment community. Yordan Tsonev countered by saying: "You should know better than to brandish a European Commission letter like a bat."

Roumen Gechev (BSP-Left Bulgaria) said Bulgaria will be the first country to conduct stress tests on pension funds, which is why the European Commission cannot provide written guidelines for that.

According to the rules for electing the FSC chairperson which were adopted on Friday, eligible candidates must possess good professional reputation and must have worked in the field of law, economics or finance for at least five of the last 10 years. Candidates will be checked for possible affiliation with the former secret political police and military intelligence of the Communist era.

Candidates who obtain initial approval will be given a hearing at the National Assembly Committee on Budget and Finance, and then the full Assembly will vote on each of the nominations in alphabetical order. A candidate must receive more than half of the votes of the MPs present in the chamber in order to be elected.

In a comment in the National Assembly lobby, Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov said the European Commission's position was not the reason to start the process. Goranov said it is important for the FSC to have a legitimate mandate and enjoy the confidence of EU partners.

Discussing the fact that his deputy Karina Karaivanova has been tipped to chair the FSC, the Finance Minister said it is not up to him to elect the FSC chairperson and there will be consultations among the political forces. Various potential candidates have been discussed and it is too early to judge Karaivanova's chances, Goranov said.