site.btaParliament Decides on 24 Standing Committees Instead of 25

Lawmakers decided on Thursday that the standing committees in the National Assembly will be reduced from 25 to 24 with the adoption of texts from the draft parliamentary rules of procedure.

There will no longer be a separate Demographic Policy Committee. Instead, a Labour, Demographic and Social Policy Committee will be established. The former Electronic Governance and Information Technology Committee will become a Committee on Innovation and Digital Transformation. Parliament will also have a Committee on Economic Policy, Investment and Industry, while the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee will be renamed the Legal Affairs Committee.

The Committee for Oversight of the Security Services, the Use of Special Surveillance Means and Access to Data under the Electronic Communications Act will be formed on a parity basis and chaired on a rotating principle for one parliamentary session according to the size of parliamentary groups.

Anna Bodakova of Democratic Bulgaria urged lawmakers to reconsider scrapping the Demographic Policy Committee, arguing that demographic policy requires a range of measures that cannot be limited to social policy alone.

The chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Draft Rules of Organization and Procedure of the National Assembly, Dimitar Zdravkov of Progressive Bulgaria, said demographic issues would remain a focus of Parliament. According to him, demographic policy should be addressed across all parliamentary committees, making a separate committee unnecessary, while its inclusion in the social policy committee was "entirely natural". He also noted that the ruling majority had appointed a deputy prime minister responsible for demographic issues.

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov argued that the Demographic Policy Committee should not be merged, describing demographics as Bulgaria's biggest problem. He criticized what he called "completely inactive and unnecessary" committees, such as the Committee on Innovation and Digital Transformation, and said a separate ministry should be created for demographic policy instead.

Vladimir Nikolov of Progressive Bulgaria said his party was deeply concerned about Bulgaria's declining population and would soon propose concrete legislative measures in several areas.

Rositsa Kirova of GERB-UDF said the Demographic Policy Committee was extremely important, adding that the heavy workload of the social committee would make it difficult to devote sufficient attention to demographic issues.

Continue the Change Floor Leader Nikolay Denkov said abolishing the Demographic Policy Committee was a mistake. He argued that one of Bulgaria's two biggest problems was the lack of coordinated policies supporting children and families.

Lawmakers also reduced the number of deputy chairs of standing committees from four to three.

Parliament additionally decided to remove the ban preventing the Parliament Chair from taking part in debates while chairing a sitting.