Bulgarian Parliament to Track Spending of Independent MPs' State Subsidies

Bulgarian right-wing leader and former Prime Minister, Ivan Kostov, has demanded a probe into the spending of independent MP`s state subsidies. Photo by BGNES

The Bulgarian Parliament will task the Audit Office with tracking the spending of state subsidies for political parties granted to independent MPs'.

The aim is to make sure whether the money, directly or indirectly, eventually returns to the renegade MPs who support the government.

The suggestion will be tabled by the right-wing Blue Coalition, announced Ivan Kostov, leader of Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) and Co-Chair of the Blue Coalition, in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).

The idea was inspired by Dimitar Glavchev, an MP of ruling party GERB, who reminded that the Bulgarian Parliament was entitled to assign five such checks per year to the Audit Office.

"In a new vote, GERB will have to make a clear-cut decision", Kostov said, explaining that it was the first time that defector MPs were used to form the parliamentary majority.

Last week, right-wing parties asked Valeri Dimitrov, Chairman of the Audit Office, to check which parties had accepted money from independent MPs and whether the spending of the sums was accounted for.

Bulgarian right-wing parties also initiated a legal amendment to the Political Parties Act banning independent MPs from redirecting state subsidies to another party.

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