site.btaIn 2016 Parliament Adopted 158 Laws, 157 Decisions and 1 Declaration

In 2016 Parliament Adopted 158 Laws, 157 Decisions and 1 Declaration

Sofia, December 23 (BTA) - In 2016, the National Assembly adopted 158 laws, 157 decisions and one declaration, according to a report of Parliament's Press Centre and the Plenary Meetings and Final Texts Directorate covering the period from January 1 to December 22, reads a press release of the institution.

A total of 129 plenary meetings were held in the period under review, of which seven were extraordinary. As many as 267 bills were submitted. The draft decisions were 153 and the draft statements and declarations - 12.

The parliamentary time used for the exercise of the MPs' control function was 132 hours and 57 minutes. 1,976 questions and 96 inquiries were submitted during the year. The highest number of questions was addressed at Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov - 233, followed by Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova with 219, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Liliana Pavlova - 174, Minister of Education and Science Meglena Kuneva - 157, Minister of Agriculture and Foods Dessislava Taneva - 111 and Health Minister Peter Moskov - 95.

The national representatives, who asked the highest number of questions were: Peter Slavov /295/, Martin Dimitrov /233/, Metodi Andreev /147/, Nastimir Ananiev /145/, Valentin Pavlov /142/, Svetoslav Belemezov /113/, Villy Lilkov /111/.

One motion for a no-confidence vote in the Cabinet was submitted during the year and it was over the incumbents' policy in healthcare.

During its 7th session the National Assembly adopted 56 laws and 26 decisions. From August 29 to December 22, 2016 Parliament had 44 plenary meetings, of which three were extraordinary. Eight totally new laws were adopted: on countering terrorism; on the wearing of burqas; on the application of measures against market abuse of financial instruments; on independent financial audit as well as the laws on the national budget, the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund and the State Social Security for 2017. The MPs adopted amendments to the Administrative Procedure Code, the Criminal Code, the Protection of Classified Information Act, the Interior Ministry Act, etc.

The parliamentary time used for control during the 7th session was 36 hours and 35 minutes.

The highest number of questions and inquires were submitted by the parliamentary groups of: the Reformist Bloc - 315 questions and two inquires, BSP - Left Bulgaria - 114 questions and four inquires, GERB - 88 questions and two inquires, ABV - 48 questions, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms - 25 questions, Bulgarian Democratic Centre - Popular Union - 23 questions, Patriotic Front - 19 questions and five inquires and Ataka - 11 questions. Independent MPs asked 25 questions and had one inquiry.