site.btaProgressive Bulgaria MP Kutev Claims Ruling Coalition Does Not Restrict Opposition with Parliamentary Rules Changes

Progressive Bulgaria (PB) MP Anton Kutev argued Wednesday that the ruling coalition does not want to restrict the opposition’s rights through proposed amendments to the National Assembly’s rules of procedure. "Our goal is for Parliament not to deal with empty matters, not to engage in meaningless disputes and discussions, but to focus on drafting legislation that can pass quickly and effectively, so that we can adopt more than five bills a week, which is hardly possible under the current rules," he claimed in the corridors of Parliament.

On Tuesday, the opposition parties in Parliament accused PB of restricting their rights.

“I heard nonsense claiming that legislative initiative was being restricted – nothing of the sort. It is granted by the Constitution, they have the right to introduce as many legislative initiatives as they want,” Kutev said. “None of the rules we are proposing at the moment are new. These are rules that were in force in the National Assembly until four or five years ago,” he argued.

“The last four or five National Assemblies made a number of changes that eventually led to Parliament having a 7% approval rating. Everything we are doing at the moment is aimed at making Parliament more effective, raising its role and trust in it, because that is necessary,” Kutev said.

According to Kutev, the 48 signatures required to convene an ad hoc committee are not an insurmountable number at all. “Just today we have the same request for an ad hoc committee submitted by two parliamentary groups.”

“We believe that by tightening the legislative initiative and order in Parliament, we will restore its rating because we will make it focus on its actual work - legislation,” Kutev added. Asked whether the opposition was wasting parliamentary time, he replied: “I am not saying it is wasting parliamentary time, but that parliamentary time should be used for legislation.”