site.btaUPDATED Election of New Parliament Chair Included in Legislature's Agenda

On Wednesday, MPs will discuss the procedural rules for electing a new Chair of the National Assembly. After that, they will proceed with the election of the Chair of the 51st National Assembly.

The new items were added to the agenda with 125 votes in favor, 47 against, and 42 abstentions, following consultations between the parliamentary groups at the Council of Presidents.

Earlier in the day, after opening the plenary sitting, Nataliya Kiselova announced that she had submitted a request to step down from the position of Chair of Parliament.

MPs dropped the agenda item , under which the National Assembly was to review the programme for the exercise of rights over State-owned property and property owned by state public enterprises, adopted by the Council of Ministers in 2025. The proposal by Bozhidar Bozhanov of the Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria (CC–DB) Parliamentary Group to include on Friday’s agenda a draft decision obliging the Council of Ministers to prepare a roadmap for ensuring transparent management of state and municipal property was not accepted.

The majority also rejected CC–DB’s request that Parliament hear the Prime Minister, and the Ministers of Energy, Economy, and Finance, as well as a representative of the Bulgarian National Bank, regarding the U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia’s two largest companies, their consequences for Bulgaria, and for fuel consumers.

“You have decided to keep your heads down until the storm passes - perhaps because you are in coalition with the Bulgarian Socialist Party - but that will backfire. People expect to hear what will happen to fuel prices, and the people of Burgas want to know what will happen to their jobs,” commented MP Radoslav Ribarski, calling for a re-vote. The proposal was again rejected. “These problems will catch up with you after November 21. The rejection of this hearing shows complete nihilism,” the MP added.

The majority also rejected Yavor Bozhankov’s (CC–DB) proposal to make the first item on Wednesday’s agenda a draft decision in response to the acting Prosecutor General’s request to lift the immunity of Yordan Todorov of Vazrazhdane. “For months I have been asking GERB why they are protecting the immunities of Vazrazhdane MPs, particularly in connection with the attack on the House of Europe in Sofia,” Bozhankov said, addressing the leading political force.

The majority did not accept proposals from Movement for Rights and Freedoms–New Beginning (MRF–New Beginning) to include other items in the agenda also related to lifting the immunity of MPs from Vazrazhdane.

A proposal by Maria Ilieva of Velichie to make the first item on Wednesday’s agenda a draft decision concerning the Veterinary Activity Act - to lift the bans related to the outbreak of small ruminant plague in the Pazardzhik region after the expiration of the restriction period - was also rejected.

The proposal by Stanislav Anastasov (MRF - Beginning) to include on the agenda a draft decision to establish a temporary committee to investigate the activities of George and Alexander Soros in Bulgaria and their connections with Bulgarian political organizations and media was likewise rejected. “The request is inadmissible because the National Assembly has already ruled on this topic and rejected it,” explained Raya Nazaryan, who was presiding over the sitting.

Hamid Hamid of MRF – New Beginning requested that the second item on the agenda be a bill to abolish the Commission for Anti-Corruption. The proposal was not put to a vote, as the required deadlines had not expired and there was no report from the lead committee.

Finally, the majority did not accept a proposal by Tsoncho Ganev of Vazrazhdane to include in the weekly program a draft decision obliging the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers to take action to end all sanctions against the Russian Federation and Belarus.