The deputies should discuss today the request for early release of Miroslav Ivanov as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly (NA), according to the parliamentary rules.

The draft decision will be on the agenda, the press center of the parliament confirmed to BTA.

Yesterday, representatives of the three opposition parliamentary groups - GERB-UDF, MRF and Vazrazhdane - submitted a draft decision to dismiss Miroslav Ivanov ("We Continue Change") from office.

According to the parliamentary rules, the proposal is put to the vote at the first sitting after the day of its receipt, giving the person the right to be heard. 

The Speaker and the Deputy Speakers of the National Assembly may be released early upon a written proposal of at least one third of all Members of Parliament, when there is an objective impossibility to fulfill the obligations or systematic exceeding of rights or systematic non-fulfillment of obligations within their competence.

The proposal is accepted if more than half of the MPs present have voted for it, according to the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly.

The reason for the request for resignation of Miroslav Ivanov is the withdrawal of the speech of the chairman of the PG of GERB-UDF Desislava Atanasova last Friday (May 13th).

Then Desislava Atanasova and Deputy Prime Minister Asen Vassilev got into a dispute after a declaration by GERB-UDF. 

According to the proponents of the draft decision, Miroslav Ivanov's behavior is particularly unfair to representatives of the three opposition parties, but mostly to the largest opposition parliamentary group, the GERB-UDF PG, and its chairman.

The reasons for the request also state "systematic violation of rights - imposing a penalty on an MP without arguments and depriving the opposition of the opportunity to speak, as well as systematic non-fulfillment of the obligation - ensuring order in the plenary hall and observing parliamentary rules."

Last Friday, Desislava Atanasova announced that they would seek talks with other parliamentary groups on Miroslav Ivanov's resignation and called on him to vacate the parliamentary rostrum.

He replied that he saw no reason to resign.

"Your arguments are to resign because I am not tolerant of the opposition. To which of the opposition? To the fact that I follow the rules, that I follow the rules?" Ivanov said, adding that he has always had "the same yardstick" for everyone. 

In addition to the draft decision on the early release of Ivanov as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, the deputies will consider at first reading amendments to the Law on Protection of Competition.

The amendments are the first item on parliament's agenda today.

They reduce the term of office of the members of the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) from seven to five years.

The mandate is thus restored as it was in the period 2010-2021. The Commission is expected to consist of a chairman, two vice-chairmen and four members.

The bill also introduces additional guarantees for independence and professionalism with regard to CPC members.