Sofia, December 3 (BTA) - Addressing the inaugural sitting of the new, 47th, National Assembly, on Friday, President Rumen Radev said that the hopes pinned on the new Parliament are huge while the stakes for its work are momentous.

Welcoming the MPs, Radev said it is time for a national consensus which needs to be underpinned by important priorities to return to the people of Bulgaria the freedom, rule of law, and fairness. "These values are a preliminary condition for overcoming poverty, for ensuring Bulgaria's prosperity and modernization," Radev said.

The President also said that this country needs "a political consensus of the reformist-minded political formations on the need for a sustainable, reformist, social government". In Radev's words, Bulgaria's having a new government depends on this consensus, which will also determine the life of the new Parliament and "the faith of this country's political system, which cannot withstand yet another early elections in the middle of winter".

Radev also spoke about the need and importance of consensus regarding Bulgaria's foreign policy. "The Bulgarian diplomatic work should be put in the hands of career professionals; we need a consensus on all important foreign policy issues, all the more so when the Bulgarian identity is at stake," Radev said.

The president stressed the importance of a consensus on economic and social policy at the beginning of the winter season amid the pandemic.

Bulgaria's drastic lag in all critical European Union indicators, and the need to accelerate the country's modernization, require Parliament to undertake long-delayed reforms and legal changes so that Bulgaria succeeds in education, healthcare, social affairs, the economy, culture, sport, and public order and security. According to Radev, reforms and changes will not give the desired effect unless the transparency and predictability of the legislative process are guaranteed.

Radev said it is high time to halt the corrupt practice of quietly amending key legislation through transitional and final provisions in laws that are not in the public spotlight. "That is the door to lobbying, that must be shut," Radev said.

The removal of the "prosecution service's umbrella" over corruption and abuse should be a priority, according to Radev, because otherwise it gives impunity to both domestic offenders and players in large corruption schemes. The President expressed a hope that all left and right-oriented democrats, part of the National Assembly, are convinced that this is the key to the future. Radev added that any good intentions are destined to fail in the absence of fairness and legitimacy.

The President quoted political scientists saying that the 47th National Assembly is the one that will see the end of the transition process, referring to the process of democratization that started with the fall of the totalitarian rule back in November 1989. Radev is convinced that Bulgaria cannot afford to waste more historical time and national resources and that the youngest Parliament so far has the capacity, energy, and determination to bring back optimism to Bulgarians and lead the country on the road to liberty, development, and modernization.
ZH/YV