Parliament's Speaker Kiselova refuses to include Security Cooperation Agreement with Ukraine in the parliamentary agenda

Nataliya Kiselova, Speaker of the Parliament, announced on December 19 that she would not submit the draft Agreement on Security Cooperation with Ukraine for a vote.

The plenary sitting was interrupted after MPs from the 'Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning' party asked Kiselova to include their draft as an additional item on the agenda. If adopted, the draft law would mandate the caretaker Prime Minister to sign the document.

PM Glavchev: I will sign the security cooperation agreement with Ukraine only after a decision of the National Assembly

The agreement with Ukraine once again stirred tensions in Parliament. Earlier, from Brussels, caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev confirmed that he would not sign the agreement without the support of the Parlaiment and suggested that it would be best for the document to be approved by a regular government.

In her reasoning for not adding the item to the agenda, Kiselova pointed out that the agreement falls within the competence of the government. According to a decision by the Council of Ministers on November 4, 2024, the draft Agreement on Security Cooperation with Ukraine was approved as a basis for negotiations.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs was authorized to conduct the negotiations, and the prime minister was authorized to sign the agreement, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tasked with taking the necessary steps to implement this decision, Parliament's Speaker explained.

Kiselova emphasized that, under the Constitution, the government is responsible for conducting foreign policy, and since there is an explicit decision by the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister should comply with it rather than seek parliamentary support or transfer responsibility to the National Assembly, she further stressed.