In my opinion, the ruling party, regardless of how many percentage points they won the elections, has a commitment to provide space for the opposition. Currently, this is the only place where a different point of view from that of the ruling party can be heard. This was said by Toma Bykov from GERB-SDF on the occasion of changes to the Rules of Procedure and Work of the National Assembly, proposed by "Progressive Bulgaria", BTA reports.
We observe two main trends in the changes to the Rules, which in our opinion are negative. The first is the strong limitation of parliamentary control, which in a situation of an absolute majority is unnecessary and even dangerous. In second place is the reduction of a number of procedures regarding the legislative process, which risk turning the parliament into a “rubber stamp of Mr. Radev“. I have heard him call the parliament a rubber stamp, but with these rules, practically, this approach becomes official, said Bykov.
We hope that the colleagues from “Progressive Bulgaria“ will make sense of these ideas, the parliament is neither a Komsomol assembly nor a barracks, in order to have a similar approach towards the opposition and to find a consensus, because so far a huge part of the regulations of the National Assembly have been adopted by consensus, added Bykov. Our approach has always been to preserve as much space as possible for the opposition, because we were in power for a large part of these years, Toma Bikov also said.
When asked whether the Rules should remain in their current form, Bikov replied that they want parliamentary control not to be limited and that obstacles should not be placed for ministers so that they do not answer questions. I think that Radev, in his capacity as president, has consistently appealed in this direction and we expected him to continue as prime minister, Bikov noted.
Regarding the proposals of Finance Minister Galab Donev for the budget for this year, Bikov said that they have familiarized themselves with the ideas and are expecting written proposals with specifics.