site.btaBulgaria's Parliament Opens Autumn Session

Bulgaria's National Assembly opened its autumn session on Friday morning. Out of a total of 240 MPs, 188 registered for the first plenary sitting. Traditionally, declarations were read on behalf of the parliamentary groups by their floor leaders, identifying their priorities and intentions for the new political season. The statements reconfirmed the divide over planned revisions to the Constitution and the inception and performance of the government of GERB-UDF and Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB).

The October 29 local elections figured prominently in most declarations, and the speakers were clearly addressing their voters rather than their fellow MPs in the debating chamber

Recently murdered controversial businessman Alexey Petrov was also tangibly present in the declarations, likely prompted by remarks by GERB leader Boyko Borissov in Parliament's lobby who confirmed that Petrov had a role in putting together the incumbent cabinet.

GERB-UDF

Floor Leader Dessislava Atanassova: GERB made a compromise when, being the largest parliamentary group, it agreed to be part of a cabinet formed by the second largest group, Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria. That compromise was not an act of weakness but of strength. We backed Denkov's cabinet fully aware of the scale of the compromise for GERB-UDF. We put our partisan interests behind us, and this is the only reason why Bulgaria has a regular government now. Our commitment was to restore political stability, stop the war of institutions and end Bulgaria's international isolation. We remember our commitment to voters, and we believe that the first prerequisite for honouring this commitment is to have a working government. But for this government and majority to make sense, we need to adopt a number of bills to make up for the delay in the Recovery [and Resilience] Plan, reform the anti-corruption commission, and ensure an in-depth judicial reform. As part of that, we commit to GERB-UDF's promise to be an active part of a majority for constitutional amendments. One of our group's key political intentions, as the 2024 budget is being drafted, is to ensure predictability for people and businesses. For GERB-UDF, power is not an end in itself but a means to solving problems. We have put behind our party interests but will not accept unconditionally every decision of every minister. GERB want to make sure that party affiliation is not the key consideration in personnel policy. We do not seek revenge on political opponents and want to see Bulgarian society overcome the dividing lines. We need a positive agenda, we need to start hearing the different opinion and understand its reasoning. That calls for less arrogance and a sense of infallibility.

CC - DB

Co-floor Leader Atanas Atanassov: The local elections will lead to escalation of political confrontation, but this should not endanger the legislative process. The adoption of constitutional amendments and judicial reform are the top priority, so that the law can apply equally to all. Public attention has shifted to the proposal to move Bulgaria national day from March 3 (Liberation Day) to May 24 (Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slavonic Literature Day), but this is not the core of the bill - it is the need to radically change the rules under which the Bulgarian justice system operates. The adoption of the State Budget is another important issue facing Parliament. The Finance Ministry is already working on the draft. Bulgaria's Schengen entry and accession to the euro area as the main foreign policy issues. The war in Ukraine is a major challenge, and we are only 300 km away from it. It is very important to have a functioning security system by increasing the capacity of the bodies related to national security. The election of the Denkov-Gabriel cabinet was a compromise, driven by the danger that the political crisis in Bulgaria would turn into a decline of the institutional system because of the frequent elections. The most important decision that we all took together is to form a regular government so as to cut off the caretaker cabinet that has been in place for too long.

Vazrazhdane

Floor Leader Kostadin Kostadinov: The State has become devoid of meaning. The power-holders are betraying national interests and even commit high treason. The Bulgarian State has failed to do anything to protect a Bulgarian, who is facing trial in Greece and extradition to the US on charges of violating US sanctions against Russia. This case is symptomatic of how the Bulgarian State has developed over the past 34 years. The British Ambassador had no right to visit the Central Election Commission. This visit was a brutal interference in Bulgaria's internal affairs and high treason by the power-holders. Continue the Change co-leader Kiril Petkov should have been remanded to explain Alexey Petrov's role in the formation of the cabinet, as exposed earlier on Friday by GERB leader Boyko Borissov. In a recent case, people took justice in their own hands a fatally stabbed a driver who ran over a boy because they do not trust the judicial system. The country is faced with a national catastrophe, is about to be embroiled in a war, and all this will result in the demise of Bulgarian statehood.

Movement for Rights and Freedoms

Floor Leader Mustafa Karadayi: The security of citizens must be ensured amid rising prices of staple consumer goods. The upcoming local elections are important and require a responsible attitude. We urgently need to adopt the laws related to the Recovery and Sustainability Plan and Schengen, starting with the Commission for Anti-Corruption and Illegal Assets Forfeiture Act. Even though today's society is still divided on many issues, a clear majority wants Bulgaria to be part of the EU and NATO, wants Bulgaria to be a democratic and financially stable country, wants to live by European standards. All of us, as political parties, have a responsibility for this to happen. We, from the MRF, reaffirm our commitments to stop progressive impoverishment, ensure effective and targeted use of all EU resources earmarked for Bulgaria, effective and targeted support for vulnerable groups of the population, affordable healthcare, quality education, a predictable environment for business development, sustainable legislation, judicial reform. The constitutional amendments are one of the most important issues on Parliament's agenda. Let this debate be the basis for assessing the achievements of democracy over the past 33 years, including the Bulgarian ethnic model. We must remember that any change in the Constitution makes sense only if it meets the requirements of the present and improves the environment, the living conditions of citizens.

BSP for Bulgaria

Floor Leader Korneliya Ninova: The ruling majority has proved unable to govern and incompetent to legislate. The State is not merely in stagnation, but is moving back and is at risk. There is a long catalogue of bills which need to be revised soon after being adopted. Legal incompetence brings chaos to people's lives. I was not surprised to hear from GERB leader Boyko Borissov that the late Alexey Petrov was involved in putting together this cabinet. This government is a government of the backstage dealers and personal interests. Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria, GERB and Alexey Petrov formed this government. [Addressing the ruling majority] You boast of a judicial reform, but what is the result of it? The closed cases against Boyko Borissov - Barcelonagate [for money laundering] and Nightstandgate [over leaked photos of the Prime Minister's bedroom with a nightstand full of EUR 500 notes and gold bars]. The only result of the judicial reform is laundering Boyko Borissov. Congratulations to my colleagues from Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria! You managed perfectly with the first item on your plan: you laundered him well! Now go for the second item you are talked about: to take full control of the State, to control the institutions. The ruling majority prioritizes amending the Constitution, but what does it target: changing the national day, allowing dual nationality to Bulgarian politicians, taking control of the prosecutorial quota in the Supreme Judicial Council, and encroachment on the caretaker cabinet. In the energy sector, a contract with Botash, which is harmful for Bulgaria, is still in effect and the people who signed it were in charge of the energy sector. The concession for the Rosenets oil port terminal was terminated by the Cabinet without any thought and analysis of what the consequences will be for the Bulgarian people and the Bulgarian economy. Tensions continue over the Green Deal in both the Maritsa East and Bobov Dol coal mines. The liberalization of energy prices for household consumers will have dire consequences. The Government wants to buy 1.3 million vaccines against smallpox. This money could have gone into actual health care. The new political season will be dominated by the local elections on October 29. The Socialists' priorities in Parliament include the country's accession to Schengen, the state budget, and the laws required by the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The topmost political task for BSP for Bulgaria is to fight the backstage deals, the deep state and the corruption model which ruled for 12 years under Boyko Borissov, and now under Borissov with the added decoration of Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria.

There Is Such a People

Floor Leader Toshko Yordanov: Today's is a disgraceful day because the National Assembly begins work in the former Communist Party House rather than in the real Parliament building. Nobody in this country calls this building the National Assembly, everybody calls it the 'party house' because it is just that - the Communist Party House. The building is once again full of communists [pointing to GERB-UDF, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria and BSP for Bulgaria]. But I can understand you: you are back home. It is a disgraceful day also because a harmful Parliament is back to work. The majority has been adopted inadequate laws, including a bill against domestic violence, revisions to the Penal Code and a terrible budget that put the country's finances in the hands of a finance minister who brought the country to the brink of a financial crisis. The constitutional amendments that the majority is determined to push through are not called for by any real needs but by a political fear. It is a disgrace that the government continues to exist and it is all GERB's fault because they have known all along that Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria are endlessly greedy, immoral, arrogant, incompetent, and yet you allow them to play with the life and future of Bulgarian people.

New Venue

The legislature has changed the venue of its plenary sitting from its historic building to a building that used to house the Communist Party Central Committee a few blocks away.

The decision on the relocation was announced in August 2023 by National Assembly Chair Rossen Zhelyazkov, who explained that the historic building needed a thorough refurbishment. He also said that the change of venue would be for three years and that no decision had been made to convert the historic building into a museum.

An earlier attempt to move the legislature out of the historic building was made five Parliaments ago, by the 44th National Assembly, which opened its 10th Session at the St Sophia Hall of the Party House after a BGN 18 million refurbishment. But it turned out that these were the first and last lawmakers to sit in this building, as the next Parliament resolved to move back to the historic building which, it was argued, "is an embodiment of the spirit of parliamentarianism". 

One reason for the controversy over the move to the Party House was that it offered the media limited access to the MPs. The rooms where the deputies will be working will be off-limits to the press, and they can only talk to the legislators at two spots in the lobby after the central entrance and outside the debating chamber on the third floor.

Now, 890 days later, the 49th National Assembly holds its plenary sittings in twelve rows of benches for MPs under the glass dome of the St Sophia Hall.