January 26 (BTA) - Quality legislation and accountability of the executive to the legislature will boost trust in Parliament, Nikola Minchev, who was elected Chairman of the 47th National Assembly on December 3, 2021, told BTA on Wednesday. In his words, Parliament and the Continue the Change party, of which Minchev is a member, are prioritizing the legislation on judicial reform.

"We need to show people that Parliament does serious work in the public interest," Minchev said, adding that this will happen through draft legislation aimed at eradicating corruption, more specifically in the energy sector and the judiciary.

Minchev hopes that the Council of Ministers will table draft amendments to the Counter-Corruption and Unlawfully Acquired Assets Forfeiture Act as soon as possible. Amendments to the Judicial System Act and the Criminal Procedure Code, concerning the closure of the specialized courts and prosecution offices, are to be expected soon. The same goes for the Energy Act revisions, which started mid-January with the adoption of procedural rules for the election of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission chairman, he said.

According to Minchev, things have changed since the recent start of the new Parliament as the executive has been accountable to the legislature. "Prime Minister Kiril Petkov has been to Parliament several times in the past month. He has answered questions from MPs and last Friday he presented his views on the situation in Ukraine at the request of the opposition," he told BTA.

Commenting on Bulgaria's relations with the Republic of North Macedonia, Minchev said that a parliamentary delegation will pay an official visit to Skopje.

Minchev expects that he and Talat Xhaferi, President of the Assembly of North Macedonia, will lend a parliamentary dimension to the two countries' dialogue. The Bulgarian Parliament is yet to set up friendship groups, and the one with the Republic of North Macedonia will be a priority, Minchev added.

The 47th National Assembly will try to avoid the vicious practice of amending laws through the transitional and final provisions of other laws, which is a way of sneaking in lobbyist amendments in the short interval between first and second reading, Minchev told BTA.