Balgarianovinite.com Parliament decided on Thursday that the prime minister, a deputy prime minister or a government minister may postpone an oral response to a question from MPs due to illness, a mission abroad or in urgent cases. The previous limit of two postponements was dropped. The move comes as lawmakers are debating and adopting the Rules of Organization and Procedure of the National Assembly.
The provision under which a prime minister, deputy prime minister or minister who has failed to answer a question or interpellation within the statutory time limit was obliged to appear in person at the National Assembly within ten days and explain the failure to fulfil this obligation was also dropped. Questions for parliamentary control are submitted in writing through the National Assembly Chair no later than 72 hours before the start of the sitting at which ministers are to answer them. The time limit for a written response is ten days.
Parliament resolved that the time allowed for presenting questions will be up to two minutes, and the answer will be up to three minutes. The MP who has asked the question has the right to a rejoinder of up to two minutes, and the prime minister, deputy prime minister or minister has the right to a counter-rejoinder, also of up to two minutes.
The National Assembly decided that a MP may table, within one week, no more than two questions, two interpellations, or one question and one interpellation requiring an oral response. A MP may not ask a question or interpellation that has already been answered, or one that is a variant of, or identical to, a previously asked question.
Parliamentary question time is preserved. It is held during the first up to two hours of the sitting on the first Friday of each month. The prime minister and deputy prime ministers answer topical oral questions concerning the government’s overall policy, put by MPs during the sitting itself.
The opposition disagreed with the removal of the restriction on representatives of the executive branch failing to appear for parliamentary control.
Continue the Change (CC) MP Stoyu Stoev said the aim was to make the format of parliamentary control more convenient for the executive branch. “Do not downgrade the National Assembly and the Constitution. Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic and the executive is subordinate to Parliament,” he said.
Progressive Bulgaria (PB) MP Anton Kutev commented that in the last several parliaments the legislature’s approval rating had fallen to 7%. According to the latest survey, however, the 52nd National Assembly already has 20% approval, he added. “Our aim is to free ourselves from the low rating because, if Parliament’s rating is low, power cannot be stable, regardless of how high the prime minister’s rating is,” Kutev said.
GERB-UDF’s Rositsa Kirova said that MPs “are not taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest or in a beauty pageant”. She said that the ten-day time limit within which ministers had so far been required to appear before the National Assembly and explain why they had not attended parliamentary control had been stillborn from the outset, as it had not been applied, but at the same time it had had an exceptional effect on the executive branch, regardless of who held it. “You could make a deviation and provide for three absences instead of two, but by removing this text altogether, you are removing the responsibility of the executive branch to feel accountable,” Kirova said.
CC Chair Assen Vassilev said that it is extremely unhealthy for the executive branch to be isolated from the debate in the plenary hall. “The moment the executive runs away from the debate, the debate moves to the square,” he warned.
PB Floor Leader Petar Vitanov explained that no changes are being made either to interpellations, debates or question time. According to him, the hearings that were dropped from the first Wednesday of the month may continue to be part of parliamentary control and may be held in all kinds of other ways. In more than 30 years of parliamentary practice, they were not part of the range of options available to the opposition on the first Wednesday of the month, Vitanov said. The aim is to give the opposition an opportunity to defend more bills precisely on the first Wednesday of the month, the PB floor leader stressed.
PB MP and Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Rules of Organization and Procedure, Dimitar Zdravkov, said that his entire parliamentary group would be a guarantee that ministers would be present in the plenary hall. Parliament Allows Ministers to Postpone Oral Answers to MPs’ Questions without Previous Two-Time Limit 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-05-28 18:41:50 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law