Bulgarian Parliament Launches Winter Session

Wednesday marks the start of the 2013 parliamentary season in Bulgaria. File photo

The Members of the Bulgarian Parliament are gathering Wednesday for their first session for 2013.

According to the tradition, the meeting will start with all parliamentary groups presenting their priorities in the new political season, which will be dominated by the January 27 referendum on the future of nuclear energy in the country and the summer general election, to be held, most likely, on July 7.

The opposition, left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, already stated their priority as winning the election and ending the rule of the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB.

It is further expected that as early as Wednesday, the MP from the right-wing Blue Coalition, Lachezar Toshev, will table a proposal to annul the referendum, while the far-right Ataka party will put on the agenda amendments to the Referendums Act to ease their organization and participations of citizens.

The ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, plans to ask the MPs to debate amendments to the Bulgarian Citizenship Act to give more rights to expats in reinstating their citizenship.

BSP is going to propose amendments to the Corporate Taxation Act to give tax breaks to employers who offer stipends to college students with the commitment to hire them after their graduation.