August 18 (BTA) - On Wednesday, Parliament discussed the
establishment of 22 standing parliamentary committees.

It was decided that the There Is Such a People (TISP party will
head seven standing parliamentary committees. GERB-UDF, BSP for
Bulgaria and Democratic Bulgaria (DB) received four committee
chair positions each, and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms
(MRF) received two.

The chairmanship of the Committee on Control over Security
Services, Implementation and Use of Special Surveillance Means
and Access to Electronic Communications Data will occur on a
rotating basis for every parliamentary session. Its chairmanship
 will be taken over first by Svetlin Stoyanov from TISP, then by
 Hristo Terziiski from GERB-UDF, followed by Filip Popov from
the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Ivan Dimitrov from DB, and
Elhan Kalkov from MRF.

The TISP party will head the following committees: Budget
Committee with Chair Lubomir Karimanski; Committee on
Constitutional and Legal Affairs with Chair Andrey Mihailov; the
 Energy and Climate Committee with Chair Ivan Hinovski; the
Foreign Policy Committee with Chair Dimitar Gardev; the
Committee on Agriculture with Chair Plamen Abrovski. The
Healthcare Committee will be headed by Silvi Kirilov Petrov, who
 was nominated for health minister in the party's second draft
cabinet. And Nikolay Radulov will chair the Committee for Public
 Order and Security.

GERB-UDF will head the Committee on European Union Affairs with
Chair Tomislav Donchev, the Transport Committee with Chair Rosen
 Zhelyazkov, the Committee on Culture and Media with Chair Toma
Bikov and the Human Rights Committee with Chair Radomir
Cholakov.

DB will head the Environment and Water Committee with Chair
Borislav Sandov, the Committee on Digitalization, Electronic
Government and Information Technologies with Chair Ivaylo
Mirchev, the Committee for Interaction with Civil Society with
Chair Tsetska Bachkova and the Committee on Policies for
Bulgarians Abroad with Chair Antoaneta Tsoneva.

The BSP will head the Defence Committee with Chair Atanas
Zafirov, the Social Committee with Chair Georgi Gokov, the
Education Committee with Chair Irena Anastasova and the
Committee on Children, Youth and Sports with Chair Ivan
Chenchev.

The MRF will head that Committee on Economic Policy, Innovation
and Tourism with Chair Yordan Tsonev and the Committee on
Regional Policy with Chair Halil Letifov.

At the beginning of the discussion, the Rise Up BG! Here We
Come! formation said that they did not want chairs and
vice-chairs in any of the 22 committees.

''This is not done in a parliamentary republic, if everyone
follows your example and withdraws their nominations for
chairmen and deputy chairmen, the committees will be left
without leadership,'' National Assembly Chair Iva Miteva
reacted.RY/DT

/DT/