Bulgaria’s Parliament to Convene in Emergency amid Summer Recess

Bulgarian Parliamentary Speaker Mihail Mikov initially scheduled an extraordinary parliament sitting over the veto for August 30. Photo by BGNES

Following persistent calls by the opposition, Bulgaria’s parliamentary speaker will convene all MPs next week to vote on the presidential veto of the budget revision.

Mihail Mikov himself announced he took this decision in an interview for Presa daily.

The news came shortly after Bulgaria’s formerly ruling party GERB pressed for an immediate extraordinary sitting of Parliament in two days over the presidential veto on the budget revision.

In a letter to the parliamentary speaker, Boyko Borisov, leader of center-right party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) and former prime minister, demanded that parliament convenes on 11-12 August at the latest.

"Public tensions can subside only by the immediate convening of an extraordinary session of the National Assembly,” the letter, circulated to the media on Saturday morning, reads.

“This is made all the more clear by the statements of representatives of the executive that the presidential veto of the budget revision puts at risk the functioning of the state,” it adds.

On Friday GERB tabled in parliament a motion to call an immediate extraordinary sitting over the presidential veto on the budget revision.

Under local regulations the parliamentary speaker is obliged to convene parliament within seven days if one-fifth of the MPs demand for that.

The parliamentary group of GERB party totals 97 people and account for nearly two fifths of all MPs.

The motion was signed by 77 of its MPs.

Bulgarian Parliamentary Speaker Mihail Mikov scheduled an extraordinary parliament sitting over the veto for August 30.

"Postponing the sitting for August 30 is throwing dust in the eyes of the people. The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) obviously finds holidaymaking and sunbathing more important than the budget. Yet again, the government has preferred to stay on holiday instead of handling affairs of national importance," Borisov stated.

"It is inadmissible to go on holiday at a time when the state faces such uncertainties. To us, the presidential veto is well-founded and it comes as no surprise. We drew attention repeatedly in Parliament to the uncertainties and doubts surrounding the new debt of BGN 1 B which the government wants to take. We must be very careful about spending the money of Bulgarian taxpayers and we must be even more careful about spending borrowed money because they will be paid back by the next generations," he added.

In a Wednesday statement, Bulgaria's head of state announced he had imposed a partial veto on the Law on Amending and Supplementing the State Budget Act for 2013, saying the Socialist-led coalition government had not shown enough transparency in its use of public money.

He explained that the package of social measures included in the budget update constituted a very small share of the earmarked expenses.

Plevneliev pointed out that there was insufficient information about how the new debt of BGN 1 B would be spent.

He noted that he failed to see serious plans about policies and reforms in support of competition and economic growth.

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