site.btaNational Assembly Adopts Too Many Bills, Often of Bad Quality

National Assembly Adopts Too Many Bills, Often of Bad Quality

Sofia, April 18 (BTA) - A total of 1,628 bills were presented to the National Assembly between 2010 and 2015, of which 739 were moved by the Council of Ministers and 889 by MPs, Nikolai Dimitrov, Chairman of the non-governmental Centre for Legislative Assessments and Legislative Amendments, told a news conference here on Monday.

"Bulgarian legislation is amended at a feverish pace, but the large quantity rarely correlates to high quality," Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) President Bojidar Danev told the same news conference. "The MPs' shoddy work leads to an uncertain legal framework and, accordingly, to a deterioration of the business environment, reduction of investments, erosion of competitiveness and, hence, a lack of well-paid jobs and emigration of labour force," he pointed out.

"The first who break the laws are the MPs themselves because they do not comply with the law-making rules," Danev argued. "The National Assembly considers draft legislation without a mandatory impact assessment and public consultation," Dimitrov said. "Parliament's budget was increased significantly during that period, far more than the GDP growth. The MPs' salaries have also been raised substantially. In the 43rd National Assembly, there are 2.24 part-time assistants per MPs, but they do not make an impact assessment of bills. The Statutory Instruments Act is not observed, either," Danev said.

During 130 days of business in Parliament in Bulgaria, the MPs pass 137 laws annually, compared to 142 days of business and 31 laws in the UK. A law enters into force six months after its adoption in Britain and far earlier in Bulgaria, the BIA President said.