11 August 2009

The full record of the press conference will be published on the web site of the National Assembly

At a special press conference held on 11 August 2009, the President of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva presented current information on the work of parliament and on the outcomes of the analysis held on the performance of its administration. The co-chairpersons of the political party GERB parliamentary group Iskra Fidosiva and Krasimir Velchev, the GERB parliamentary group member Ivan Ivanov and the new Secretary General of the National Assembly Ivan Slavchov took part at the press conference.

Tsetska Tsacheva reported that in the course of five consecutive plenary sittings the 41st National Assembly has adopted its Rules of Organization and Procedure and has elected the members of the parliamentary committees. She made comparison with the previous Assembly which had needed 13 sittings to establish the Rules and up to 23 sittings to select the committees’ membership.

The head of parliament informed that in the period between the 14th to 30th of July, 8 bills and 5 draft resolutions were submitted to the National Assembly as well as 2 draft documents – the first concerning the Internal Rules of the Committee on the Control of the State Agency for National Security and the second being the 2008 Annual report on the Bulgarian courts performance. They were all distributed for consideration to the corresponding parliamentary committees.

Iskra Fidosova reported that until the end of this week a new system securing the access to the building of the NA, located at “Knyaz Alexander I” will be installed. The system will provide information regarding everyone entering the premises of the Assembly with the exact date and time. Deputies and employees will be supplied with special cards, which would also be used for the voting in the plenary hall. Entering or voting with someone else’s card becomes impossible. In the future, special software containing personal biometric data will be added to the system.


All former deputies are expected to vacate the dwellings of the National Assembly, provided to them during their term of office next week, so that that the newly elected members could be accommodated.

Ivan Ivanov, Member of Parliament from the GERB parliamentary group added that the number of apartments needed for the MPs accommodation was 117. At the press conference the president of the NA also announced that the special public procurement procedure, investigated currently by the State Agency for National Security, concerning the repair works of the NA housing fund had been canceled and a new tender would be held soon.

Mrs. Tsacheva reported that the National Assembly was working on a new, optimized internal structure that will lead to about 5% lay offs. But she underscored that lay offs will be only taking place after a thorough review of the activity of each department – and would be based on the need of staff to do the work, not on convenient placements of people. She said that new appointments were also possible if needed. She confirmed that the National Assembly would be able to cope with the remaining funds of its 2009 budget, although it seemed difficult at first.

At the press conference the new Secretary General of the National Assembly Ivan Slavchov was introduced to the media.