Bulgarian MP Ready to Resign Over Conflict of Interest Scandal

The Bulgarian MP from the ruling party GERB, Genoveva Aleksieva (R), was ready to resign as a deputy chair of the Parliamentary Health Committee after it was made clear that she assessed her daughter in a competition for associate professors. Photo by BGN

The MP Genoveva Aleksieva, is ready to resign as a deputy chair of the Parliamentary Health Committee after a hearing in front of the executive committee of the Bulgarian ruling party GERB.

The statement was made Sunday by the Parliamentary Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva.

Earlier this week, it was made clear that Aleksieva, in her role as a member of the Specialized Scientific Council of Ophthalmology has assessed her daughter in a competition for associate professors.

“She had to file a declaration for conflict of interest,” Tsacheva said.

Aleksieva has stated that the lawyers of the Parliament have assured her that there was no conflict of interest. According to Tsacheva, however, she was asking about her participation in the Scientific Council and not about the specific competition.

The Parliamentary Speaker has assessed Aleksieva's decision to resign as “a decent way out of the situation”.

“It is unacceptable to have a relative of a participant to be in the council in any kind of competition,” Tsacheva said.

In her words, she spoke for 40 minutes with Aleksieva, in order to clarify the situation.

At first, the deputy chair of the Parliamentary Health Committee has assessed the situation as “manipulation” and “lie”. In her words, the goal was to smear her name, as well as the name of GERB, having suggested that the new ruling party was “making shady affairs” like the others.

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