site.btaPM Glavchev: Cabinet’s Decision to Nominate Georgi Yordanov for Order of the Balkan Range, First Class, Is Lawful

The decision of the Council of Ministers to propose Georgi Yordanov to be awarded the Order of the Balkan Range, First Class, is lawful, caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev said during Question Time in Parliament on Friday. He was answering a question by Atanas Atanassov from Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria, regarding the decision of the Council of Ministers to nominate Georgi Yordanov for the Order of the Balkan Range, First Class.

The awarding of the Order was carried out in accordance with the conditions and procedure stipulated in the Orders and Medals of the Republic of Bulgaria Act, Glavchev said.

The proposal for the award is for Yordanov’s overall activity for the spiritual uplift of the nation and in connection with his 90th anniversary, the Council of Ministers said. Under his leadership, one of the symbols of the capital - the National Palace of Culture - was built, a number of large-scale celebrations were organized for the 1,300th anniversary of Bulgaria's founding as a state, which received a huge international and national response.

The communist regime in Bulgaria was declared criminal by a law adopted in 2000 and promulgated in issue 37 of the State Gazette, Atanassov said in his question. "Don't you think that this decision contradicts a law in force in the country and by this act the Council of Ministers, under your leadership, is participating in dishonouring the victims of the criminal communist regime in our country?" Atanassov asked.

A check has been carried out and no documents have been found that establish Georgi Yordanov's affiliation to the State Security and intelligence services of the Bulgarian People's Army, Glavchev explained.

As for the law on declaring the communist regime in Bulgaria criminal - it is declaratory in nature and does not legally contain lustration provisions that would constitute a normative obstacle to honouring deserving figures for their indisputable contribution to Bulgarian culture, as is the case with the awarding of Georgi Yordanov, Glavchev said.

He added that the proposal came from an initiative committee of cultural activists and was supported by the permanent committee of the Ministry of Culture for examining proposals for bestowing State awards on prominent Bulgarian artists.