site.btaParliament Halts Procedure for Election of Chairman, Members of Secret Police Files Commission

Sofia, October 4 (BTA) - The National Assembly Wednesday suspended the procedure of election of a new chairman and members of the so called Secret-police Files Commission, which is responsible for disclosing and announcing affiliation of Bulgarian citizens to the Communist-era State Security and Military Intelligence services. The vote was supported by 165 MPs, three were against and 13 abstained.

In the beginning of this week, the GERB parliamentary group moved for revoking a parliamentary decision of September 20 concerning the rules of procedure for electing a new commission chair and members. The motion was motivated by the need of a broad public discussion on the subject.

MP Anton Todorov, who was expected to be nominated for commission chair, asked Wednesday "when did the idea to undo the rules of procedure for election of new members and chair dawn on his party?".

Todorov admitted that he had asked the Prime Minister to be put at the helm of the commission because "it was his childhood dream".

His nomination, however, prompted an outcry both in Parliament and among NGOs and GERB gave up the idea.

So far nobody else has been nominated as chair or members of the commission, GERB floor leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov told journalists. He said that a public discussion is required because the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) argues that the commission has fulfilled its function and should be disbanded.

The Socialists in Parliament saw an opportunity to lash out against the ruling party. Alexander Simov (BSP) said that "after acting against its leader Boyko Borissov by rejecting the resignation of Delyan Dobrev, now GERB is acting against its own nominee to chair the [secret police files] commission without explanations". "It makes me wonder whether GERB is really a party or just an episode of 'The Walking Dead'," he said.