November 17, 2008

The Chairman of the National Assembly Georgi Pirinski opened on November 17, 2008, an international conference dedicated to the topic of “Human rights – the promised land of law, but also of justice”.
The conference which is organized by the Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria, Mr. Ginio Ganev, is attended by the European ombudsman Nikiforos Diamanduris and the ombudsmen and their representatives of 42 member states of the EU and the Council of Europe.

In his speech chairman Pirinski welcomed the guests on behalf of the Bulgarian National Assembly and said that the subject to be discussed at the conference evokes serious reflection and discussions. The subject is of great importance to parliaments and to their responsibilities and their functioning. He expressed his satisfaction that such an important forum concerning the ombudsman’s figure in contemporary societies, takes place in Sofia.
He emphasized the efforts of the Bulgarian ombudsman, Mr. Ganev to bring together such a great number of his European colleagues to discuss the important issues of human rights.

He pointed to the fact that Bulgaria was and is still facing the issue, to establish the legal grounds of a state, where the different powers are separated and the leadership of the country is taking upon its responsibilities according to the expectations and the will of the constituency. In this very moment, the feeling is that the changes of the last twenty years have created new horizons, new opportunities for the country and the individuals, but at the same time a serious confusion about what is just and what is not. In this respect the legislature of the country is the first to meet the challenge, to create rules capable of balancing the interests between the different social groups and individuals, as well as to provide people with enough legal defenses. Here exactly is where the difficulty comes up, to create such a legislation, which will not be satisfactory to particular social groups or private interests but will meet the common interests and expectations of the society as a whole, i.e. of the great majority of people.