Doctor Hasan Ademov, MRF MP, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Labor and Social Policy: If parliamentary activity is at a standstill, then there are problems in the GERB Cabinet

- Mr. Ademov, we are having this talk during a working day of the National Assembly on which the plenary session was closed for about 45 minutes. Does Parliament not really have enough tasks to implement?
- When the activity of the National Assembly comes to a standstill, it means that there are problems in the GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) Cabinet, within the ruling majority. These result from the lack of drafted bills and the absence of elaborated policies that must be followed as legislative provisions. In practice, any gap in the work of the National Assembly is a forerunner of disturbances in the government. It seems that there is an increasingly obtrusive impression that this Parliament has already outlived its existence. This is because it could be in no way considered normal when the National Assembly ends its working day at 10 am. The parliamentary programme has always been a problem for the government, while the responsibility for what is happening is entirely their own.

- On Wednesday, the leader of the Ataka party warned that his group might support the vote of no confidence in the GERB government, while MRF (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) and the Coalition for Bulgaria also prepare two such votes. The Blue Coalition demands the resignation of the Social Policy Minister, Totyu Mladenov ... To what extent is the process of redistribution of political powers advancing in the 41st National Assembly?
- The problem refers not to what is happening in recent weeks and days, but to the wrong scheme of governance that was imposed at the very beginning. Leave aside the fact that the Cabinet was declared a minority government since there are such democratic procedures and other countries ruled by such governments. However, over the past two and a half years we have witnessed that the GERB government ruled with the support of extreme nationalists in the face of the Ataka party. This interdependence between political forces in practice predetermined the current political course of events: GERB have become hostage to definite political demands of Ataka by virtue of the received support.

The observed tension in recent months and weeks has escalated not by coincidence but as a result of the approaching presidential and local elections, Ataka began aggressively seeking its political identity and it is impossible for this not to affect the parliamentary majority and GERB's government.
Had Bulgaria had clearly stipulated priorities, had there been a real programme for an exit from the crisis, our state might have not been in such a desperate state. In fact, the controversial statements of the government not only confuse the public but also Bulgarian politicians. Besides, it stirs up commotion and tension between separate authorities and institutions.

- Could you give specific examples?
- The last example is related to the increase in the minimum wage and pensions. So far as pensions are concerned, it proved that nothing has been decided yet after 5-6 months of debates on this topic. Actually, the Social Minister delivers some decision today before noon, then in the afternoon the Finance Minister refutes it, while the next day, the Prime Minister makes a third statement and even on the next day it is still not clear what the issue is all about. Can it be denied that at the moment nobody knows who will receive an increase in their pension as of July 1? Ultimately, this is another example of the accumulation of distrust in this government. It is not accidental that we requested a motion of censure.

- Bulgaria is a Parliamentary Republic. Is it not proper for lawmakers to know what will happen to the growth in incomes?
- Naturally, in a parliamentary republic, the National Assembly must be the dominant institution, at least under a normal separation of powers. Unfortunately, in Bulgaria, as regards the authorities, instead of monitoring, supporting and complementing each other, the executive office dominates, I would say rather roughly. Paradoxically, the fact is that, as in the case of pensions, the government adopts decisions, while the MPs of the parliament majority do not know what it comes down to. I hope the latter is not due to the fact that the Chairman of the Social Policy Committee, Dragomir Stoynev is a lawmaker of the oppositional Coalition for Bulgaria. Besides, it is our Committee, which learns last about the decisions of the Government. As to the increase in pensions and wages, we have nothing to decide since no proposal has been submitted on that matter by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.

It is true that the realisation of incomes is concentrated in the Ministry of Finance, in Revenue Agencies and in the NSSI (National Social Security Institute), which are all institutions of executive power.
However, is it not precisely the three-year budgetary outlook of the Ministry of Finance which states that there will be no increase in pensions and salaries up to 2013? In the next moment, probably because of the upcoming elections and tempted by the opportunity to attract voters in this way, the Cabinet decided to ignore its own forecast and raise some earnings.

- You are a lawmaker in the fourth generation National Assembly but you are rumoured to run for mayor of the town of Razgrad. Will you replace the post of lawmaker with the mayoral chair?
- This possibility remains purely hypothetical. The MRF Municipal structure in Razgrad, as well as our municipal councillors have really no inclination towards such a proposal. It is true that I have accumulated abundant experience as lawmaker during all these years as MP, but acting as Mayor of the Razgrad Municipality, is also a huge challenge. And should the standpoints of local MRF structures and my understanding of the role of local government meet, then I could stand as candidate for mayor. The truth is that I know in detail the problems of the town and region, and I have no worries meeting the challenge of solving these.

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