The rules on primary net expenditure, which will be agreed with the Fiscal Council, must be set out in law. This was stated by Atidje Veli, a Member of Parliament from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and a member of the Budget and Finance Committee.
According to her, the lack of clear national regulations in the Public Finance Act and the Fiscal Council and Automatic Corrective Mechanisms Act is among the main reasons why the Movement for Rights and Freedoms will not support the proposed amendments in their current form.
“The requirements and rules that will be agreed with the Fiscal Council should be incorporated into the relevant law in order to guarantee transparency and effective parliamentary oversight,” Veli said.She pointed out that the existing mechanisms are outdated, while the new requirements stem from the reform of the European economic governance framework. However, she said that the necessary national rules have still not been regulated with sufficient clarity.
The amendments passed through the Budget Committee
The Budget and Finance Committee approved at first reading the bill amending and supplementing the Fiscal Council and Automatic Corrective Mechanisms Act. The vote ended with 14 votes “in favor,” two “against” and four “abstentions.”
The proposals envisage expanding the powers of the Fiscal Council, including in approving the Ministry of Finance’s macroeconomic forecasts. They also provide for strengthening the council’s institutional independence and expert capacity.
The bill provides for the abolition of automatic corrective mechanisms. The reasoning is that they are linked to outdated structural deficit indicators and no longer correspond to the changed European fiscal framework.
During the discussion, Fiscal Council representative Lyubomir Datsov pointed out that the national rules on net primary expenditure and the control account were not included in the bill. Veli identified this very omission as a problem.
The dispute is over the method of regulation
The MP criticized the approach of the Council of Ministers and the ruling majority of leaving part of the future regulation outside the legal framework and regulating it through secondary legislation or memorandums.
Veli’s position is that the rules for limiting and monitoring public expenditure must be visible in the law so that Parliament can exercise oversight over them. Following its approval by the committee, the bill is due to be discussed in plenary.
Sources: blitz.bg, eurocom.bg