Professor Ognyan Gerdjikov, National Assembly Chairman:

The national assembly plays a key rolein Bulgaria’s way to democracy and market economy

The 125th anniversary of the adoption of the Turnovo Constitution is an excellent occasion to look at what the National Assembly has done for the building of the modern Bulgarian state. What are the highlights of this recapitulation?
The celebration of the 125th anniversary of the Turnovo Constitution gave us an occasion to express our recognition for the grand achievement of the 1879 Constituent Assembly, which laid the foundations of the modern Bulgarian state. In its address to the Bulgarian people, which was unanimously adopted at its solemn session on April 16, 2004, the 39th National Assembly justly declared “the 125th anniversary is a celebration for all Bulgarian citizens, all state and religious institutions, which have their share in the building of the state”. The speeches at the Parliament anniversary session and the address to the Bulgarian people highlighted the historic role of the Constituent Assembly and its offspring, the Turnovo Constitution, for the resurrection of the Bulgarian state on the basis of constitutional and parliamentarian principles and universal democratic values.

The constitutional structure of the Third Bulgarian State, set in 1879, laid the foundations of Bulgarian parliamentarism. The contemporary reader of the records of the Constituent Assembly is amazed by the life wisdom and statesmanlike vision manifested during the stormy disputes at that forum, which had gathered representatives of the different strata of the Bulgarian people.

The development of the Bulgarian parliamentarism under the Turnovo Constitution was not smooth. It had its ups and downs. The National Assembly played a major role, especially in the first decades after the Liberation, when the country achieved a considerable economic, social and cultural advance. On the basis of the Turnovo Constitution a solid legislative base was set, as well as an efficient system of institutions of the young Bulgarian state. The National Assembly played a worthy part in such crucial events for the Bulgarian state as the Union of Eastern Rumelia with the Bulgarian Principality in 1885 and the declaration of independence in 1908.

With the collapse of the totalitarian system and the start of transition to democracy in the last decade of the 20th century, the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, adopted in 1991 by the Seventh Grand National Assembly, gave the parliamentary institution in Bulgaria a new, truly democratic face. Bulgaria was pronounced a republic of parliamentary rule. In compliance with the Constitution, through its legislative and monitoring activity, the National Assembly plays a key role in Bulgaria’s way towards democracy and market economy. The legislative work, which has been done, is of paramount importance also for our country’s preparations for integration into the European and Euro-Atlantic structures.