site.btaParliament's Sitting Discontinued over Lack of Quorum

Sofia, June 15 (BTA) - Friday's sitting of the National Assembly was discontinued over lack of quorum, with only 105 MPs out of the 121 required having remained in the plenary chamber. The opposition BSP for Bulgaria group left in protest to the inclusion of three additional items in the agenda by Parliament Chair Tsveta Karayancheva, one of which was the early discontinuation of the term of National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) head Kamen Plochev. A large part of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) group was absent because of the Muslim holiday of Ramazan Bayram.

The other two additional items on the agenda were second-reading amendments to the Waters Act and to the Interior Ministry Act.

At the start of the sitting, the BSP and the MRF requested the debate on the additional items to be postponed because of their importance and the lack of sufficient time for a proper discussion. The majority rejected this request, which led to the opposition MPs leaving the plenary chamber.

BSP for Bulgaria Deputy Floor Leader Dragomir Stoynev later told a briefing in Parliament that his parliamentary group left the sitting in protest to the authoritative style of management of the National Assembly imposed by the ruling majority. According to the BSP, Karayancheva violated the Rules of Procedure and Organization of the National Assembly, because she is allowed to change a sitting's agenda only in exceptional cases. "It is not normal to change Parliament's agenda in the last moment and thus deprive the opposition of an opportunity to conduct a constructive debate for the Bulgarian citizens' benefit," he argued. When the National Assembly's leadership is incapable of formulating the agenda for even a week ahead, how can the Government be expected to formulate a vision on the country's development, he asked rhetorically.

Stoynev also said that this was an attempt at diverting the attention from the removal from office of the NHIF Director, because Plochev put on the agenda scandalous information about the NHIF's debts to the health funds of other countries and, consequently, the impossibility of Bulgarian citizens to receive quality healthcare.

On Thursday, the parliamentary Healthcare Committee voted a draft resolution to discontinue early the term of NHIF Director Plochev, who submitted a notification that in the past three months due to illness he was unable to discharge his duties and will be unable to do so for another month at least. Under the Health Insurance Act the NHIF's chief may be released from office early when unable to discharge duties for more than three months.

Approached for comment, GERB Floor Leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov said that the BSP tried to sabotage Friday's parliamentary sitting and succeeded.