14 October 1993

Doc. 6944

       Revised (2)

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION

on the legitimacy of the institutions in Bulgaria 1

presented by Mr F. PROBST and others

1.       On 17 June 1990 a Great National Assembly was elected in Bulgaria with a communist majority. In 1991 the parliament adopted the Constitution of Bulgaria which was the basis for establishing the new Bulgarian institutions.

2.       That constitution was not adopted legitimately due to the following reasons:

      i.       At the first, second and the third vote it was adopted with the majority of two-thirds of the members of parliament present but not two-thirds of the total number of the parliamentarians as the procedure requires.

      ii.       The Supreme Court of Bulgaria considered and accepted these arguments, stated in a complaint by the jurist Mr Ivan Blagoev, and passed Resolution No. 1152 on 21 July 1993 which states that it is not within the competence of the Supreme Court to pass any judgement on the legitimacy of the Constitution. That could be done only by the National Assembly itself.

      iii.       The Great National Assembly of 1990 dissolved itself in 1991 without final judgement on the lawfulness of its election.

      iv.       On 23 March 1993 the members of parliament from the Special Committee on the documents relating to the elections of the Great National Assembly put forward to the National Assembly a report (ref. No. 102-11-150/23 March 1993) with some appendices attached. The conclusion of the report states that the documents relating to the election failed to justify the resulting parliamentary membership.

      v.       The report of the Special Committee on the documents relating to the election of the Great National Assembly and the appendices, written in the original Bulgarian, have been transmitted to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, for conservation and investigation.

3.       Considering those facts the Parliamentary Assembly:

      i.       Requires Bulgaria to give the necessary explanations concerning the legitimacy of the Constitution, the state system and institutions in Bulgaria;

      ii.       Appeals to the Bulgarian state authorities to refrain from any acts which could prevent restoring legitimacy in Bulgaria, which was scorned after the Soviet occupation of the country in 1944;

      iii.       Looks forward to the development of these processes in Bulgaria and will watch this closely in accordance with Document 6882 (honouring of commitments by new member states).

Signed:       F. PROBST, TOSHEV, BÜCHEL, TERNAK, WILLOCH, ASTGEIRSDOTTIR, KELCHTERMANS, D.THOMPSON, FISCHER, LOCKWOOD, FENNER, LANDSBERGIS, CUMMINGS, TIURI, NOVÀK, DROMBERG

1 ¹ 1. This text only represents the views of the individual members who have signed it. It does not reflect a position adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly.