site.btaGERB-UDF: No Accession Agreement, Bulgaria Has Joined Peace Board Charter

Georg Georgiev MP of GERB-UDF, who was foreign minister of the Rosen Zhelyazkov government, said there is no agreement on Bulgaria's accession to the Board of Peace. Bulgaria has supported and joined the Charter of the Board of Peace, he said, adding that the EU does not have a unified position on the matter.

On Friday, Parliament voted, 100-54 with three abstentions, to adopt a resolution requiring the caretaker Cabinet to submit a bill to ratify Bulgaria's accession to President Trump's Board of Peace. The resolution was backed by GERB-UDF, MRF-New Beginning, There Is Such a People, and five unaffiliated MPs.

The draft resolution was submitted to Parliament by MRF-New Beginning on March 11. 

On January 22, then prime minister Rosen Zhelyazkov announced that Bulgaria joined the Board of Peace under the patronage of the United States and President Trump. The act of joining is yet to be ratified by the Bulgarian Parliament, the government information service said at the time.

On January 25, outgoing foreign minister Georg Georgiev said the government would leave the ratification of Bulgaria's Peace Board accession to the next National Assembly. Georgiev said he believes the next Parliament, with a new majority and renewed legitimacy, and possibly a newly elected regular cabinet, would be able to decide whether to take up the option. His comments followed remarks by Rosen Zhelyazkov on January 22 that a draft ratification bill would be submitted to the National Assembly as early as the following week.