site.btaUPDATED Government Coalition Partners Agree to Rotate Parliament Chairmanship

The Joint Governance Council has decided to introduce a rotational chairmanship of the Parliament, Council Chairman Kostadin Angelov told a news briefing in Parliament on Tuesday. The announcement followed a meeting of the coalition partners. “We have decided to implement a rotational chairmanship of the National Assembly. Tomorrow, this will be formalized as an annex to the joint governance agreement,” he said.

When asked about the timing of the rotation, Angelov explained that the annex will be drafted on Wednesday, and once it is signed, the rotation is expected to take place. He clarified that today’s discussions did not involve the resignation of Parliament Speaker Nataliya Kiselova, but focused solely on introducing the rotational chairmanship as stipulated in the coalition agreement.

At the briefing, in addition to representatives of the three governing political forces, GERB-UDF, BSP-United Left, and There Is Such a People, was Yordan Tsonev from the parliamentary group MRF-New Beginning, which supports the government. When asked whether MRF is now part of the Joint Governance Council, Tsonev responded that the MRF does not participate in governance, nor will it take part in any discussions concerning personnel matters related to the authorities. He added that the Movement participates only in policy discussions, which are important for citizens and the party’s political line, but clarified that they do not have voting rights.

On the question of whether the MRF would have a deputy speaker during the parliamentary rotation, Tsonev said: “No, neither a deputy position nor jobs on committees, no participation at all.”

Angelov also said that the Council discussed salaries for young doctors. He described Tuesday’s extraordinary parliamentary session as unnecessary, since the decisions made by the Council will be formalized in the budget laws.

Regarding the levels of remuneration that have been publicly discussed in recent months, including salaries for young doctors, Kostadin Angelov said they will be achieved through the budget laws, which will be submitted within the legal deadline, by the end of this month. He added that there will be no salary levels lower than those previously discussed.

Angelov further said: “We consider that what Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria together with Vazrazhdane are doing is an attempt at political propaganda and gaining political credit at the expense of Bulgarian medical professionals. We consider this unacceptable. You can see that it is again just words aimed at collecting political dividends, while the decision comes once more from the governing coalition.”