site.btaTension Arises over Failure to Invite MPs to Epiphany Blessing of Military Colours

Invitations to the traditional blessing of the military colours in Bulgaria on January 6 have caused tension between politicians and the Defence Ministry. On Sunday, Parliament Chairman Rosen Zhelyazkov, who is on official visit to Vietnam, said he would ask the Ministry why the MPs and the floor leaders had not been invited to the water blessing ritual. Only the Chairman and Deputy Chairpersons of the National Assembly had been invited, according to Parliament's administration.

Zhelyazkov said he would ask the Defence Ministry, which organizes the ritual, whether this was an oversight or a sign of a particular attitude. He added that so far all MPs used to be invited to the blessing of the military colours. "Being a Christian feast, Epiphany should bring us together," he also said.

Borislav Gutsanov MP of BSP for Bulgaria, who is on Zhelyazkov's parliamentary delegation, called the situation "absurd" and commented that if the MPs had really not been invited, Defence Minister Todor Tagarev should resign. Gutsanov went so far as to say that this situation proved once again that Tagarev posed a threat to national security.

Delyan Peevski, Floor Leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), urged Tagarev to appear before the MPs, blaming him for failing to invite all MPs to the ritual. Peevski also said Tagarev had humiliated Parliament, which elects every minister and cabinet, and had violated the Constitution. The MP, who is also the MRF's co-leader, said the Defence Minister had "chickened out of making any important decision he himself could have made" and had "shifted to Parliament the responsibility for meeting the country's Euro-Atlantic commitments".

For its part, the Defence Ministry said the Epiphany ritual had been organized according to the State protocol for over 20 years. Invitations are sent out based on a standard list which is updated periodically. A check ordered by the Defence Minister found that the procedure had been observed and the National Assembly Chairman and Deputy Chairpersons, as well as the whole Defence Committee, had been invited.

The expert tasked with the sending of invitations used a list which had not been updated. He himself alerted the Ministry's leadership to his omission to invite the floor leaders and volunteered to resign his position.