Bulgaria's Parliament goes into recess during the election campaign period

The Bulgarian Parlaiment will not have sittings during the election campaign ahead of the European Parliament and the early national parliamentary elections, sheduled to take place on June 9. The decision was taken on April 18 after two hours of fierce arguments in the plenary chamber, with the votes of GERB-UDF, Movement for rights and Freedoms (MRF) and “We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria” (WCC-DB).

The opposition was outraged that in this way Glavchev's caretaker government could not be controlled. The proposal of BSP for Bulgaria to at least hold the Friday parliamentary Question Time during the election campaign was also rejected. “Vazrazhdane”'s proposal that, instead of changing the rules, Parliament should vote on whether to be in recess during the election campaign, was not accepted.

The MPs also decided that the remuneration of the new MPs should start from the day of swearing-in as MPs. This clears up a contradiction in the constitutional amendments, according to which MPs receive remuneration from the day of their election, thus overlapping with previous MPs.