The Bulgarian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe provides us with an opportunity to once again reaffirm our commitments in support of democracy, the rule of law and human rights protection. This is what the President of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva stated at a meeting with the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Anne Brasseur.
Anne Brasseur is in Sofia to take part in the sitting of the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, hosted by the Bulgarian parliament.
Bulgaria takes very seriously its second chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Tsetska Tsacheva said noting that clear evidence to that effect are the priorities of the Bulgarian Chairmanship.
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Anne Brasseur noted that the Bulgarian Chairmanship allows for more intensive personal contacts between parliamentarians and better knowledge of our country. She extended an invitation for participation of Bulgarian parliamentarians in the meeting of Chairpersons of the Committees on Foreign Affairs of the Council of Europe member states, which is scheduled to take place in Paris in December and will discuss issues related to migration.
National Assembly President Tsetska Tsacheva stressed that the Bulgarian parliament is working seriously on the topics still subject of post-monitoring. She informed Anne Brasseur that in connection with the continuation of judicial reform, the Bulgarian parliament has adopted on first reading draft amendments to the Constitution by a qualified majority. The amendments will be voted on second reading in December, Tsetska Tsacheva explained. As regards the Election Code, which is among the post-monitoring topics, the National Assembly President noted that all political forces are in the process of drafting analyses of the legislation currently in effect and that she expects early next year legislative motions to be tabled for amendments to the Election Code. Tsetska Tsacheva stressed that despite the fact that at the beginning of 2013 the number of topics subject to post-monitoring was reduced to three, the time has come to revisit the monitoring on Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian Chairmanship of the Council of Europe is very timely, because it provides you with the opportunity to remind us what you have done and continue doing on the topics included in the post-monitoring dialogue, pointed out PACE President Anne Brasseur. In her opinion, everything accomplished by Bulgaria should be taken well into account when deciding on the post-monitoring.
The meeting was attended by the Chairperson of the National Assembly Delegation to PACE Dzhema Grozdanova.