Parliamentary group of "Velichie" party broke up after six MPs left it

The parliamentary group of "Velichie" party broke up after six MPs left it this morning, July 5. The dissolution of “Velichie” group was announced from the parliamentary rostrum by Deputy Speaker of Parliament Rositsa Kirova. Thus, six parliamentary groups remain in Parliament.

Victoria Vassileva was also dismissed from the post of Deputy Speaker of the Parliament. Darin Georgiev, who is among the MPs who did not leave "Velichie", said that this was the end of the party.

The MPs who left are:

Krasimira Katincharova

Yuliana Mateeva

Pavlin Petrov

Irena Neginova

Larisa Savova

Rositsa Kalinova

Their main motive was loss of confidence in the leadership of the parliamentary group, which started on the first day with Nikolay Markov's delay for the oath, continued through the votes in the plenary chamber and reached Markov's allegation that MPs from "Velichie" had handed over blank checks.

"The reason for leaving is loss of trust on out part in the leadership of the parliamentary group . We learned from the media that they gave us blank checks. This is not true. There has been a disconnect between words and deeds. The position of support for a programme government, which we learned about from the media, the social media posts of Markov that he dissociates himself from "Velichie", said Krasimira Katichnarova from the group of breakaway MPs.

Katincharova added that she would not jump to conclusions about the end of "Velichie".

Seven MPs remained in the group:

Etienne Levy

Victoria Vassileva

Georgi Kukov

Darin Georgiev

Nikolay Markov

Radostin Kolev

Hristo Borisov

However, their number is not enough to form a parliamentary group.It is required to have at least 10 MPs in order for a parliamentary group to be formed. Thus, dropping to 7, the existence of the "Velichie" group was terminated, and all MPs - both those who left and those who remained - are now independent MPs.

On the sidelines of the Parliament, Darin Georgiev, from the until recently existing group said that this was the end of "Velichie".

"We continue to work with what is left as resources. You know that we are currently deprived of participating in committees, officially, but we will participate as an observer there. We are following the processes. What we are mandated to do by law, that is what we can do from now on," he said.

With these changes, the number of independent MPs in Parliament is now 17.

At the beginning of the 50th Parliament, "BSP for Bulgaria" excluded Kaloyan Metodiev from its parliamentary group. In recent weeks, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms excluded Aysel Rufad, Ramadan Atalay and Jeyhan Ibryamov.