The Bulgarian civil society is focused on the establishment of a fair judiciary, the freedom of the media and an adequate election legislation and it will demand efficient decisions, irrespective of whether these sectors are subject to monitoring by PACE or not. This is what President Rosen Plevneliev said today at the meeting held with Frano Matusic, Rapporteur of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
At the meeting the Head of State emphasized that Bulgaria expects that the post-monitoring dialogue with PACE will soon be completed. “Although we do not conceal our problems, we insist that the efforts Bulgaria has put in so far will be objectively assessed. Although I believe that good communication lies at the basis of achieving results, I cannot accept Bulgaria’s becoming a convenient excuse for the domestic problems of other European countries,” the President said.
Rosen Plevneliev also said that the presidential institution will continue to support the efforts the civil society puts in ensuring more transparency in the work of the state institutions, as well as in having a high-quality election legislation adopted. As for the reasons for the President’s proposal for conducting a referendum, together with the elections for European Parliament, on the issues of introducing a majority vote election system, mandatory voting and an opportunity for distance voting, the Head of State commented that these issues have been debated by the civil society and therefore he expects that the National Assembly will soon take a stance on the proposal made.
The President thanked Frano Matusic for the good cooperation between Bulgaria and the Council of Europe, which, together with the process of European integration has become an engine of the reforms on building democratic institutions and civil society in the past 20 years.
Frano Matusic told the Bulgarian Head of State that the Monitoring Committee of PACE highly appreciates not only Bulgaria’s achievements, but also the political will to complete the processes of the reforms undertaken. Frano Matusic also voiced his positive opinion on Bulgaria’s contribution to encouraging the integration between the Balkan countries and on the country’s support for the European prospects of the countries from the region.