site.btaAmnesty of Religious Denominations' Debt Approved Provisionally

109 POLITICS - RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS - DEBT

Amnesty of Religious
Denominations' Debt
Approved Provisionally


Sofia, March 8 (BTA) - The National Assembly has granted first-reading approval for an amnesty of overdue financial obligations incurred by religious denominations in Bulgaria until December 31, 2018. The debt is to be written off through amendments to the Religious Faiths Act moved by Tsvetan Tsvetanov (GERB) and Mustafa Karadayi (Movement for Rights and Freedoms, MRF), which were approved on first reading Friday by 109 votes in favour, 24 against, and 3 abstentions. That was the result of a repeat vote after Tsvetanov complained that the electronic system had registered his vote as being "against."

The news comes two days after Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Kornelia Ninova accused the ruling GERB of striking a deal to help MRF push the Religious Faiths Bill through in exchange for MRF's support for overriding the President's veto of Election Code amendments. Ninova claimed that the Religious Faiths Bill is aimed to write off a debt of the Grand Mufti's Office to the state. The Socialists newspaper, Douma, puts the debt of the Grand Mufti's Office at 12 million leva while other sources say it is 8 million leva.

At Friday's parliamentary sitting, the United Patriots (the minor partner in the ruling coalition dominated by GERB) urged GERB to reconsider its support for the Religious Faiths Bill because it creates the impression that Islam is favoured over other religions. Iskren Vesselinov (United Patriots) said his group cannot accept the creation of privileges for the Grand Mufti's Office. According to him, much of the debt which is to be forgiven is owed for social and health insurance.

Pavel Shopov (United Patriots) said Friday's vote was like a "brotherly hug" which reminded him of the proverbial "kiss at Eagles Bridge" between two former leaders of MRF and BSP. Shopov urged BSP to give up its demagogy and admit that if its parliamentary group was not boycotting the parliamentary sittings, it would have helped to defeat the amendments to the Religious Faiths Act.

United Patriots Co-Chair Valeri Simeonov said: "We are again in a situation where the National Assembly is being racketeered by a parliamentary group, in this case the MRF group." According to Simeonov, "that 8 million leva" can easily be repaid by MRF and "the circles of companies" associated with it. "But this is about something else. The idea is to show the entire National Assembly and the entire Bulgarian society that MRF calls the tune in Bulgaria, that nothing gets done without MRF, and that MRF sets conditions which everyone else must fulfill," Simeonov said. He cautioned GERB not to take the bait, not even for some temporary gains like securing a voting majority.

GERB Floor Leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov said the Bulgarians should not be divided into Muslims, Christians and followers of other religions. "We should not trifle with ethnic peace," Tsvetanov warned. He explained that the amendments to the Religious Faiths Act are intended to ensure greater stability for the state and for religious denominations. Tsvetanov noted that his signing the bill as a co-sponsor and voting in favour of it was not the result of racketeering.

Stanislav Stanilov (United Patriots) said the bill is against the Constitution because only the President can write off financial obligations.

The amendments to the Religious Faiths Act are aimed to particularize some legal provisions about the possibility to provide state subsidies to overseas dioceses of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and overseas Bulgarian Orthodox congregations, as well as the ceilings on the base wages of religious officials. In order to finance the implementation of the latest amendments to the Religious Faiths Act which entered into force after the adoption of the 2019 state budget, the Council of Ministers is expected to set state subsidies for the Orthodox Christian denomination and the Muslim denomination for 2019 to be provided via the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Grand Mufti's Office, respectively.

MediaPool.bg says that, in addition to the Grand Mufti's Office debt of a little over 8 million leva, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church owes about 150,000 leva. LY/VE

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