September 2, 2009



The National Assembly adopted at the sitting on September 2, 2009 the structure of the National Assembly’s permanent delegations to various international organizations. The Permanent Delegation of the National Assembly to the Inter-Parliamentary Union will consist of five members - two of PG GERB , who will also be the leader and deputy leader of the delegation, and one each of PG MRF, PG Ataka and PG OLJ.

The delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO will have six members - two of PG GERB , one of PG of Coalition for Bulgaria, one of PG MRF, one of the Blue Coalition PG and one of PG OLJ. The Head and Deputy Head will come from PG GERB. The representation of the National Assembly to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will be implemented by five members and five alternates. The PG of GERB political party will nominate 3 members and 2 alternate members of the delegation, including the head and the deputy head among them. The PG of Coalition for Bulgaria will have one member and one alternate member in the delegation, the PG of MRF one alternate, the PG of Ataka – one alternate and the PG of the Blue Coalition one member.

The National Assembly decided its delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to include six representatives and six substitutes. PG GERB will be represented with two representatives and four substitutes, PG Coalition for Bulgaria – with one representatives and one substitute, PG MRF – with one representative, PG Ataka one representative , the Blue Coalition PG - one representative and one substitute.The Chairperson and his Deputy are to be members of PG GERB.

Five deputies will make for the Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (PABSEC) - three of PG GERB, one of PG of Coalition for Bulgaria, one of PG MRF. The Head and Deputy Head will be designated by PG GERB. Four MPs will join the delegation to the Parliamentary Dimension of the Central European Initiative. Two of them are PG GERB members, one PG of Coalition for Bulgaria member, one PG OLJ. This delegation will be led by the PG OLJ member.


Permanent Delegation to the European Security and Defense Assembly / (Assembly of WEU) will include six members and six substitute members. PG GERB will have three members and three substitute members, PG of Coalition for Bulgaria - one member and one substitute, PG MRF - one member and one substitute, PG Ataka - one substitute, and the Blue Coalition PG - one member, who will also be leading the delegation.


The Permanent Delegation of the National Assembly to the Francophone Parliamentary Assembly will consist of four members. PG GERB will designate two representatives, and the PGs of MRF and Ataka each - one. The delegation president and vice-president will be designated by PG GERB. The Permanent Delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy will have five members. Two of them from PG GERB and one from PG of Coalition for Bulgaria , one from PG of MRF and one from PG Ataka. The representative of Ataka will lead the delegation. The permanent delegation of the National Assembly in the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly will have three members - one from PG GERB, one from PG of Coalition for Bulgaria and one from PG of MRF, the representative of Coalition for Bulgaria is to become also the head".

The National Assembly adopted a resolution establishing an ad hoc committee of inquiry to inspect the expenditures, appointments and transactions made in the last year of the mandate of the government of Sergey Stanishev. The proposal was submitted by 70 MPs from the parliamentary groups of the Blue coalition, GERB, Ataka and Order, Lawfulness, Justice. The decision was backed by 174 MPs, 8 were against and 22 abstained.

According to the decision movers, it is imperative for the 41st National Assembly to undertake a full revision of the terms and conditions of the transactions and the appointments made by the previous cabinet and to rule on their legality. The ad hoc Committee is established on a parity basis and will consist of 12 MPs. The committee’s term of office was fixed to two months.

The National Assembly appointed MP from PG GERB Stoyan Mavrodiev to chair the Committee and Plamen Nunev /PG GERB/ with Nikolay Pehlivanov /PG Ataka/ as deputy chairmen. The Parliamentary Group of MRF will be represented by Jordan Tsonev and Aliosman Imamov, whereas the PG of Coalition for Bulgaria - by Rumen Ovcharov and Plamen Oresharski. Other committee members are Peter Hlebarov / PG Ataka /, Dimo Ghiaurov and Ivan Ivanov of the Blue Coalition PG and Todor Velikov and Darin Matov from PG OLJ.


By 139 votes for, 40 against and two abstentions, parliament decided to establish another temporary committee of inquiry to probe the signals for alleged violations of the elections for 41st National Assembly, held on July 5, 2009. The resolution was submitted by MPs from the PGs GERB, the Blue coalition, Ataka and OLJ. The committee is to cease the Prosecutor's Office in any case of presumed distortions. The Committee will consist of 12 members on parity principle - two from each parliamentary group.

The movers base their arguments on the multiple signals received for irregularities in the conduct of votes for the 41st National Assembly, proven also by the findings of the international observers of the OSCE and PACE missions and point that these are sufficient grounds for the Bulgarian Parliament to establish a Temporary Committee of Inquiry. The deadline for the committee's work was set to two months.

At the beginning of the plenary sitting, the National Assembly Chairwoman Tsetska Tsacheva announced that lawmaker Ventsislav Varbanov has applied to leave the parliamentary group of the Blue coalition.