Parliament Cuts Short Sitting Due to MPs' Disorderly Conduct

UPDATED Parliament Cuts Short Sitting Due to MPs' Disorderly Conduct

Lyubomir Gigov

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov addresses Parliament as protesting MPs block access to the rostrum, disrupting the plenary sitting, Sofia, December 14, 2023 (BTA Photo)

Sofia,

14.12.2023 11:57 | UPDATED 14.12.2023 14:17

(BTA)

Bulgaria's Parliament cut short its plenary sitting on Thursday because order in the debating chamber proved impossible to restore. The legislature will convene next at 9 a.m. on Friday.

Earlier in the day, MPs of the Vazrazhdane, BSP for Bulgaria and There Is Such a People (TISP) parliamentary groups disrupted the National Assembly plenary sitting after Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov called on the lawmakers to block access to the rostrum so as "to show clearly and categorically that they will never tolerate lawlessness and totalitarianism governing our country."

National Assembly Chair Rosen Zhelyazkov adjourned the sitting and called a meeting of the deputy chairs and floor leaders. After two such meetings, the MPs of the three parliamentary groups again blocked access to the rostrum.

Before that, Kostadinov read a declaration on behalf of his parliamentary group, describing the ongoing dismantling of the Soviet Army Monument in central Sofia as "an apotheosis of the lawlessness we are witnessing in the centre of Sofia". He accused the "so-called constitutional majority of GERB, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms" of "gross tramping on the laws" and insisted that the protest against the dismantling must enter Parliament.

"Without any legal act, without an order, without a decision, certain people armed with angle grinders have gone on the rampage in central Sofia," Kostadinov commented.

The Vazrazhdane leader said that the National Assembly will not proceed with its business until this matter is addressed.

TISP Floor Leader Toshko Yordanov said that his parliamentary group is blocking the rostrum because of the "sheer brutality" to which the majority is subjecting the Constitution.

Borislav Gutsanov MP of BSP for Bulgaria asked that the Minister of Culture and the Minister of Regional Development be given a hearing in connection with the dismantling.

After the the meetings with Zhelyazkov, Kostadinov said that Continue the Change Co-Floor Leader Kiril Petkov had said that the relocation of the monument is documented. "He continues to claim obstinately that the monument will be relocated, the present cutting is absolutely criminal and lawless, and he said that the pieces will be put together after that," the Vazrazhdane leader said, adding that it is not clear where, when and how this will happen. As he put it, "the only thing that must happen is to end this lawlessness."

It transpired on Thursday that the BSP-led coalition and Vazrazhdane will submit a report to the Sofia Municipal Council demanding a repeal of the Council's resolution on the relocation of the Soviet Army Monument and on conduct of a referendum on leaving the monument in its present location.

Commenting on the adjourned National Assembly sitting, Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said in Brussels that Parliament must work because it has to address exceedingly important matters. "This is not a way of protesting against a completely lawful action that has been delayed for years," he said. "This action has to be taken one way of another. Putting at stake the budget on which wages, investments and everything depends for the sake of that monument is inhuman," the PM argued.

/LG/