site.btaVice President Comments on Current Matters

Vice President Iliana Iotova Friday commented that every member of the government and the majority in Parliament races to stress the importance of support coming from MRF-New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski.

Talking to the media, Iotova recalled that on July 5, she said the government would survive for as long as Peevski allowed. "The GERB party took great offence at me, and the present Parliament Chair, Raya Nazaryan, said that I love provocation. Now she is Chairperson thanks to that support."

GERB-UDF nominee Raya Nazaryan was elected to lead the National Assembly on October 29 under a rotation agreement signed by the government coalition. She replaced Bulgarian Socialist Party nominee Nataliya Kiselova. The rotation of the Parliament leader will take place every ten months.

Asked if this replacement was meant to add a new name to the list of candidates from which the President picks a caretaker prime minister, Iotova said: "There are other candidates as well; when we get there, we will decide."

Asked about Parliament's override of the President's veto on legislative changes concerning the special services, and whether the new provisions could be challenged before the Constitutional Court, the Vice President commented: "To my knowledge, the matter has been referred to the Constitutional Court. Of course, this will be assessed by our legal team and by the President. This is not about legal matters; it is a purely political decision. As far as I know, and I have considerable experience in European institutions, there is no other country that submits a bill targeting a single individual by name. Can we even talk of a rule-of-law state? These are political decisions aimed at securing next year's elections."

Iotova was referring to Parliament's override of a presidential veto on amendments adopted in October whereby the chairpersons of the State Agency for National Security, the State Intelligence Agency and the State Agency Technical Operations are to be nominated by the Council of Ministers and elected by Parliament, instead of being nominated by the Council of Ministers and appointed by presidential decree, as was the case until now.