Parliament Adjourns Thursday's Sitting after Scuffle in Debating Chamber

UPDATED Parliament Adjourns Thursday's Sitting after Scuffle in Debating Chamber

Bistra Roushkova

Vazrazhdane parliamentary group at the briefing following the adjournment, leader Kostadinov in the centre (BTA Photo)

Sofia,

01.06.2023 11:43 | UPDATED 01.06.2023 13:17

(BTA)

Parliament passed the motion of National Assembly Chair Rossen Zhelyazkov to adjourn Thursday after declarations of Vazrazhdane and Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) coalition led to tension in plenary.

When some of the deputies crowded around the parliamentary rostrum, the glasses of Veselin Veshev, an MP from Vazrazhdane, were broken, and Manol Peykov of CC-DB was scratched on the face.

The scuffle was occasioned by a statement by Iskra Mihaylova from "Revival", who said, addressing the CC-DB MPs: "Representatives of the embassy and embassies, you have no moral right to be here today in this hall, you never had it, but it has been clear to every Bulgarian citizen for several days." Mihailova called this parliamentary group "traitors not only to their own words and voters, but far worse - traitors to Bulgaria".

"The seemingly petty and ugly name-calling in this hall is just the tip of the iceberg because it seems that an extremely populist pro-Russian party just wants to take us to elections again", said Yavor Bozhankov (CC-DB).

According to him, the events of the past few days are part of an orderly plan. "Now they are talking about national traitors and when they talk about national traitors, they should know that according to the logic we have seen so far, it is precisely they who are the national traitors," the MP added, referring to Vazrazhdane.

At a briefing of the Vazrazhdane parliamentary group later, party leader Kostadin Kostadinov called the CC "a party of betrayal, of the embassy", and its deputies "a disgrace to the human race who have no moral right to be in the National Assembly." "These people disgraced the National Assembly, they should be in jails for national treason," Kostadinov continued.

"Every time from now on, when someone tries to disgrace the institution of the National Assembly, to shame Bulgaria and to dirty the name of the Bulgarian Parliament, we will react firmly and uncompromisingly, we will never allow these people to come to the parliamentary rostrum again. Let them come out – we, too, will come out promptly," the Vazrazhdane leader said. In his words, these people have delegitimized themselves and this behavior must be stopped. New elections are the best option for Bulgaria's future, the party believes.

Kostadinov repeated what he said earlier from the parliamentary rostrum in a declaration: that if a government is formed between the first two political forces, they will call their supporters and the disappointed supporters of GERB-UDF and Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria to protest.

"In recent days there have been attacks against the parliamentary republic," said Kiril Petkov, co-chair of Continue the Change, at another briefing in Parliament in connection with the scandal that broke out in the plenary and Kostadinov's subsequent statement to the media.

"Let us be clear - Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic, a European country, a democratic country. We will be a guarantor that regardless of the provocations, these aspects of Bulgaria will remain. Today we will work to have a democratic, working, regular government," Petkov declared.

/LG/