Thursday the majority of the parties in parliament decided on the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus not to be invited to the official opening ceremony of the 48th National Assembly. Immediately afterwards, GERB upped the ante and suggested extending the invitation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to give a video speech.
The GERB proposal has been submitted to the register of the National Assembly, with which it proposes to discuss the invitation to Zelensky, as well as the technical details for the organization of this address.
Earlier that day GERB, “Let’s continue the change”, DPS and “Democratic Bulgaria” declared “against” by sending an invitation to the Russian ambassador Mitrofanova, as well as the ambassador of Belarus, a country that participated in the Russian war against Ukraine and against which also Russia sanctions have been introduced.
“Vazrazhdane” was against, “Bulgarian Rise” asked to join the common European position.
After the decision, the administration of the National Assembly has ensured that they will abide and that invitations to Mitrofanova and Leshkov will not be sent. In addition, a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was presented at the meeting, recalling that after the Russian invasion of Ukraine there is a common coordinated approach of the EU to prevent Russian and Belarusian representatives from participating in events organized by the EU and its member states. For example, a representative of the Russian Federation was not invited to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth.
The decision not to send invitations to the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus gives the possibility of a normal opening of parliament on October 19, after GERB leader Boyko Borisov threatened the day before that his MPs would not enter the courtroom if there was Mitrofanova.
Borisov, who after the elections tried to persuade PP and DB to negotiate with GERB on the “anti-Putin” theme and to form a Euro-Atlantic government together with the DPS, was sabotaged yesterday by his party’s parliamentarian. Vezdi Rashidov precisely on the “anti-Putin” theme. Rashidov, who as dean in the new parliament will open its first session, announced to BNR that if Mitrofanova is not invited, it will be a “declaration of war” and asked “Who will be responsible if a bomb is dropped tomorrow?”
Borisov justified this opinion of Rashidov with his “artistic nature”, but he prohibited GERB members from expressing public opinion on Russia’s war in Ukraine if it differed from the party’s position.
Already at the first working meeting in parliament, when DB proposed to Mitrofanova not be invited to the inauguration, GERB did not take a stand, but remained silent and only PP supported the idea. Subsequently, Boyko Borisov’s party declared that the Russian ambassador should not be invited.
Who was “for” and who was “against”?
Before the second meeting on Thursday, the DPS already had a position. “Our position is clear – There is no room for Ms. Mitrofanova at the meeting”he has declared Hamid Hamid.
From the statement of George Samandov from “Bulgarian Rise” before the start of the meeting it was understood that the training is behind the thesis of the BSP, that the invitations are sent to the whole foreign body in our country and that the protocol must not be violated.
“BSP’s position is that state protocol must be followed and all ambassadors, including Ms. Mitrofanova, must participate. And the arguments we heard above absolutely do not correspond to any arguments for which she should not be invited.”he said after the meeting Giorgio Developenski by BSP.
According to Mediapool’s information, during the meeting itself, Samandov of “Bulgarian Rise” first stated that this topic was not that important and, after a few more speeches, he still agreed that it might not be a bad thing for the company. Bulgaria adhere to the European position on the issue.
Like the BSP, the representative of “Vazrazhdane” also defended his position from the first meeting that Mitrofanova should be present.
