Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

Parliament votes in second reading to allow Bulgarians with dual citizenship to become MPs and ministers

Photo: БТА

MPs adopted amendments to the Constitution in the second of three readings. One of them limits the President's powers in choosing the composition of the caretaker government. The president will now have to appoint a prime minister from a list of people, and after criticism the head of the Supreme Court of Cassation was excluded from the list. The caretaker prime minister will therefore be chosen from among the speaker of the National Assembly, the governor or deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, the president or deputy president of the National Audit Office and the ombudsman or his deputy. If all of the above refuse to take office, the caretaker cabinet will be elected by the National Assembly.
The majority in the National Assembly also approved other important changes to the country's Basic Law, allowing Bulgarian citizens who also hold another citizenship to be elected as ministers and MPs. A requirement of having lived in the country for 18 months will apply to MPs, but not to ministers. 
"Of all the EU countries, Bulgaria is the only one that does not give Bulgarian citizens this right. The time has come," argued Antoaneta Tsoneva of Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB). "They have drilled a huge hole in the national security system," said Atanas Zafirov of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). The opposition said that it would file a complaint against the constitutional changes.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Weather forecast: Sunny weather, fog in some parts

During the night, the weather will be predominantly clear and calm. There will be fog or low clouds before midday in parts of the lowlands, valleys and around water basins. Minimum temperatures minus 4-1° C., for Sofia around minus 2° C. On..

published on 11/25/24 6:15 PM

Ursula von der Leyen mentions Bulgarian girl Debora on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Bulgarian Debora Mihaylova , who was brutally slashed with a mock knife by her boyfriend Georgi Georgiev , is one of the victims of violence mentioned by Ursula von der Leyen in her address on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of..

published on 11/25/24 5:09 PM
Rositsa Stelyanova

Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association demands a 3% increase in vocational classes

In a letter to Minister of Education Galin Tsokov, the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association expresses concern over the state plan for admissions for the 2025-2026 academic year, in which the number of vocational classes in schools are being..

published on 11/25/24 4:29 PM