site.btaParliament's Spring Session Begins

Parliament's Spring Session Begins


Sofia, January 14 (BTA) - On the first day of Parliament's
spring session the parliamentary groups spelled out their
law-making priorities and plans.

GERB

The MPs of GERB will back the government's proposal for an
Updated Strategy to Continue the Reform of the Judicial System.
Other priorities are legal amendments in the security sector,
education, health care and social policy and amendments to the
National Audit Office Act, Floor Leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov said.
GERB is in favour of holding a referendum on changes in the
Election Code at the same time as the local elections in the
autumn. "We will restore the President's balancing role to
appoint the Interior Ministry's chief secretary and the
chairpersons of the State Agency on National Security and the
State Agency for Technical Operations on the government's
proposal. The power holders will work to prevent any repeats of
the Corpbank case.

The bank suspended operation after a run on deposits in June
2014 and depositors had no access to their money until early
December.

Looking back at the past year, Tsvetanov said stable governance
was possible without the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF),
but stressed that compromise and dialogue amid strong political
confrontation are possible.


BSP-Left Bulgaria

BSP-Left Bulgaria suggests that a parliamentary ad-hoc committee
check the state of pension funds and the effectiveness of
financial supervision, Deputy Floor Leader Yanaki Stoilov said.
He recalled that GERB politicians had promised an international
investigation into the missing capital of Corpbank, which had
not materialized.

The government was to present its programme in December, but it
did not. Such a programme may not be necessary after all if the
cabinet is to respond to claims from the influential circles
which helped it come to power, said Stoilov.

BSP-Left Bulgaria insists that a decision to discontinue dozens
of Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) trains be reversed, and
objects to the privatization of BDZ Freight Services, which will
further weaken the company. Stoilov said that since the
government bragged that it found nearly 4 billion leva to pay to
Corpbank depositors, it should be able to finance BDZ with 40
million leva.

Regarding the refugee problem, Stoilov said Bulgaria had reached
the limit of its capacity and should work to integrate the
refugees in its territory instead of taking in new refugee waves
without complaint or control.

Stoilov noted that the world and Europe had entered into a new
phase of instability and a new transition, this time to a
multipolar world, so the risks of growing religious, ethnic and
political extremism were increasing. Stressing that the Paris
March on January 11 showed the majority did not want to lose
democracy and live in fear, Stoilov called for a radical change
in politics and for dialogue among the nations and civilizations
against violence and double standards.


Reformist Bloc

Co-floor Leader Radan Kanev said that putting Bulgaria back on
the reform track would take an effort. The Reformist Bloc wants
the adoption of the judicial reform strategy to start
immediately, the Judicial Power Act to be amended, and a
majority in favour of amendments to the Constitution to be
formed.

Kanev added that reforms in health care, energy and education
brook no delay.

He also called for a lasting, future-oriented evolution of the
pension system, adopted with the largest possible consensus by
the majority, the opposition and the social partner. The
existing model is bound to plunge the National Social Security
Institute and the national budget into unmanageable deficits,
and most piecemeal solutions have aggravated those risks.

Kanev said: "Our priorities in the spring session should not
have anything to do with the local elections in the autumn.
Those elections will not solve the Bulgarians' pressing
problems, although they might solve many difficulties of
political parties. If we think only of the local elections and
the presidential elections [in 2016], we risk having
parliamentary elections before them."


Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF)

Floor Leader Lyutvi Mestan said that late in 2014, the MRF
expressed the view that if the Patriotic Front remained part of
the government coalition, it would be best to hold early
parliamentary elections. He said that such a marked
incompatibility of the partners making up the majority took
Bulgaria to an even higher level of populism. Reforms in health
care, education, the pension system and the judiciary are
impossible in such an environment, said Mestan, calling the
present government model "an unhealthy political compromise". He
said the new quality of political dialogue ruled out the use of
anti-Roma and anti-refugee rhetoric by Reformists and national
populists. Mestan said that restoring the balances of democracy
was of vital importance for Bulgaria.

He also said that a country where certain groups of citizens are
viewed as second rate people has neither strength nor dignity.

Mestan said that being a mature party, the MRF did not view the
parties of the government coalition as an enemy but as a
political opponent.


Patriotic Front (PF)

The PF binds its support for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Boyko
Borissov with the PF priorities, including tax reliefs for
families, settlement of the demographic problem and energy. "We
keep on insisting to remove fully the Movement for Rights and
Freedoms from power," PF Co-Chair and Internal Macedonian
Revolutionary Organization leader Krassimir Karakachanov said
from the parliamentary rostrum.

The Government's first 100 days in office are going to expire
soon. Unfortunately, the National Assembly has again become an
arena of inter-party bickering, demagogy and insults, while the
Bulgarian people expect responsibility adequate laws and more
patriotism, Karakachanov pointed out. Already during the current
week PF expects that the tenure programme would be presented
and clear steps for its implementation be undertaken.

PF also attaches priority to legislative changes in the fight
against monopolies, the completion of the fence along the border
with Turkey in order to limit the refugee flow, the adoption of
a programme on countering petty crime, extension of the scope
of inevitable defence, lifting restriction regimes applicable to
small and medium-sized business and elimination of racketeering
by big foreign trade chains.


Bulgarian Democratic Centre (BDC)

Already during the first months of the functioning of the 43rd
National Assembly, BDC got convinced that, sometimes, the ruling
coalition sacrifices its determination for reforms in the name
of their survival, BDC Co-floor Leader Krassimira Kovachka said
in a declaration on behalf of the group. According to BDC, the
dynamic majorities within the incumbent Parliament unveil
possibilities for important legislative changes that would
improve people's lives and change the political model towards
dialogue, consensus and reasonable compromise.

BDC has prepared legislative changes that would support the
Bulgarian business and the establishment of a competitive
economy based on knowledge and modern technologies. The group
suggests amendments to the Energy Act, the Waste Management Act
and the Environment Protection Act. According to BDC, the
decisions taken within the pension system create mistrust with
the citizens, while the state does not provide guarantees for
security and predictability of their income. Kovachka also said
that BDC insists on clear regulation of the operation of private
pension funds, a reform of the judiciary, a reform of the
healthcare and urgent measures in emergency care, clear
prospects for young doctors, a firm commitment of the state for
their future and dignity. There is an acute need of changes in
the cultural area as well, Kovachka pointed out.

Ataka

"I do not expect anything else from the incumbent Government but
pole methods, colonialism, misery and increasingly worsening
tenure of Bulgaria," Ataka leader Volen Siderov said at the
opening of the new session.

Siderov urged the incumbents "to decline the proposal that US
Secretary of State John Kerry would make tomorrow". "You should
keep Bulgaria sovereignty and tell him that we do not want to
wage a war with Russia, we do not want sanctions against Russia,
we do not want a trans-Atlantic agreement or shale gas
exploration," said Siderov.

"I would not support someone who ridicules the Holy Trinity, the
nationalist said commenting on the terrorist attack against
Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris last week. "I cannot say 'Je
suis Charlie' even if I am dying," said Siderov adding he is
"anti-Charlie" because mocking the religion constitutes "the
greatest sin".

"I do not justify terrorism but we should ask whose this
terrorism is: it is not of the Koran but of the US and Israeli
services," Siderov stated.

ABV

The Charlie Hebdo case is an eloquent example of what the
absence of tolerance can bring, ABV Floor Leader Borislav
Borissov said. He appealed for tolerance during the new
political season and dialogue between the partners.

There have been several "not so good" examples of
decision-taking in the hitherto cooperation of the governing
coalition and the political forces supporting the Cabinet, said
the ABV MP. The first example concerned the changes of the
Taxation of Natural Persons Income Act restoring the old
practice of absence of tax threshold. The second example is
related to the hasty adoption of the changes concerning the
pension fund legislation. "Our disapproval concerns not only the
essence of the changes but the manner in which they were
adopted," Borissov explained.