The Constitutional Court unanimously rejected the request of “Revival“ and the TIN to be “cancelled“ The law on the ratification of the financial contribution agreement between the Republic of Bulgaria and the European Commission pursuant to Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2463 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
It was adopted on December 13, 2023 at two readings in one day, "Lex" recalled.
Deputies of “Revival“ and ITN in the previous parliament claimed that this was done in violation of the Constitution. It allows the adoption of a law in two readings in one day, but only exceptionally. In their request, the two formations indicated that they wanted to make proposals between the two votes, but this right was taken away from them.
The contested law has one article that reads: “Ratifies the Guarantee Agreement between the European Commission and the Republic of Bulgaria pursuant to Article 10 of Decision (EU) 2022/1628 of the European Parliament and of the Council, signed for the Republic of Bulgaria on March 28, 2023 .and for the European Commission on May 17, 2023.“ and a final provision which stipulates that it enters into force on the day of its promulgation in the “State Gazette”.
The suggestion that the law be voted on twice in one day was made by Temenuzka Petkova from GERB.
Nikolay Drenchev from “Vazrazhdane“ makes a counter proposal: “Nothing will happen to Ukraine if we do not vote today on the second reading and the second bill and do not give another 20 – 30 million extra right today. Allow some time between the first and second reading, there is no point in taking everything in within a few minutes. You have a majority, you will probably have a majority next week – vote it up then. Give yourself some time to think about what you're doing, because then when you plead that you didn't know what you were doing, I don't know if the court will credit it. Thank you“.
Rositsa Kirova, chairing the meeting, answered him: “I just want to draw your attention to the fact that we are actually voting on a ratification in which there is no way to make changes to begin with, Mr. Drenchev. I think this is a flaw in our Rules, because it should be clear. Therefore, I will put the procedure proposed by Mrs. Petkova to a vote. The National Assembly will decide whether it wants to see the ratification in question at a second reading. Mr. Ganev, there is no way we can change the ratification between the first and second reading.
What the SC's motives are will become clear when its decision is published.