Parliamentary parties in the 42nd National Assembly of Bulgaria have no common candidate for head of the National Bank, which is why they decided not to nominate a candidate, the BANKER found out from the representatives of the largest parties.
Speaking to reporters at the Parliament’s building in Sofia on 22 July Boyko Borissov urged the current governor Ivan Iskrov to stop imposing conditions and simply resign. He was indignant that the Central Bank Governor has chosen the epistolary form of communication without depositing his resignation. However, ex PM Borissov expressed doubt that the 42nd Parliament will have enough – in his words – „power“ to elect a new governor. This will have to be done by the next National Assembly. The former prime minister pointed out that unfortunately the reputation of the National Bank for the last month has collapsed and the least thing Mr. Iskrov could do was resign.
„It is too late to admit failures in the control activities – there is nothing to admit, it is relentlessly clear that there was no control. It does not depend on Iskrov how the new governor may be selected; and it is not his job to set conditions to our work,“ said Borissov.
On the same July 22, Borissov’s GERB party announced on the national radio BNR that their MPs will enter plenary session if the resignation of Iskrov is filed in the Parliament. Several hours earlier, they were adamant that they would participate in a session of Parliament only if they have to vote for the resignation of the Cabinet of Mr. Oresharski.
For his part the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Aliosman Imamov of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) expressed doubts whether the National Assembly will vote on the resignation of the governor now. „I personally believe that the current Parliament can not solve this issue due to lack of time and lack of consensus among the parliamentary groups for possible new members of the Bank’s management. It is more likely that the resignation will not be accepted because I guess it will provoke discussions that will engulf almost the entire time of the National Assembly in that day,“ Imamov added.
President of the Parliamentary Group of the leftist Coalition for Bulgaria, Atanas Merdzhanov, asked BNB Governor Ivan Iskrov to fulfill his obligations under the Constitution and the law and defy corporate and foreign influences. „Right from the start – Merdzhanov said – we posed the requirement the C-Bank to provide objective and accurate information on the state of the Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB) and carry out all procedures as required by law. If the Bank and its information require and there is the necessary data for a rescue operation for CCB, of course the bank should be rehabilitated in the fastest way so that the sector itself may be strengthened. According Merdzhanov such „resignations, in conditional modes, depending on a consensus of the political parties – are not serious.“ The head of the parliamentary group of the leftists regretted that the C-Bank was one of the last institutions in which confidence was high enough. „After these inconclusive actions of the board, the governor’s image was badly shaken and as soon as possible all those responsible statesmen, I hope, have to get to their actual duties, functions and responsibilities. They primarily have to do their job, provide the information, and be strict and not succumb to foreign and corporate influence,“ said Mr. Merdzhanov.
Otherwise, the procedure for selection of a new central bank governor is quite cumbersome. It starts from nominations of candidates from all groups. The Board of the C-Bank is also elected by quota, which will take time.
Curiously, the socialists will not appoint their representative to the position of a head of the National Bank, but will not support Kalin Hristov, whose name was mentioned as almost certain for the position. The motives of the leftists are that Hristov was in favour of the introduction of „the bank holiday.“
The BANKER
