On 11.11.2022 the amended Rules of Organisation and Procedure of the National Assembly (ROPNA) were promulgated. For the first time in the last 6 years, since the launch of the regulatory reform in Bulgaria, the Methodology for carrying out ex-ante impact assessment of bills submitted by members of parliament has been supplemented with a new stand-alone element, or more precisely a new aspect of the assessment, entitled “Equal treatment by the state and balanced demographic development”.
With the changes, members of parliament submitting bills are required, on a separate line or in a separate section of the ex-ante impact assessment, to describe how their proposals contribute to compliance with the principle of equality under Bulgarian legislation and to equal treatment by the state of Bulgarians and Bulgarian citizens living outside the country, including their inclusion in the state and socio-political life of Bulgaria. In addition, they must indicate the expected impacts of their proposals on balanced demographic development, including on the rate of population decline, the dynamics of migration flows and limiting the number of emigrating Bulgarians.
The objective rationale for these changes to the ROPNA, given in the ex-ante impact assessment prepared for them, is that according to data from the National Statistical Institute and the latest population census of 2021, the current number of Bulgarians living outside the country is between 1.5 and 2.4 million. This means a lasting continuation of the trend for the share of Bulgarians living outside Bulgaria to be equal to nearly 30% of the population living in the country. The current data on the demographic situation in Bulgaria from 2021 show that the process of accelerated population decline and ageing continues, the crude birth rate is falling and the crude death rate is rising.
Overall, the changes to the methodology for carrying out ex-ante impact assessment, which is part of the ROPNA, deserve admiration. On the one hand, they extend the scope of the assessment by, figuratively speaking, including in it 2 million new Bulgarians who until now have been excluded from our national legislation as if they did not exist – and this is nearly one third of all Bulgarians. On the other hand, they make the legislative process in the National Assembly more inclusive and reflective of the dimension of “fundamental human rights”, paramount at all times and particularly key today. Thirdly, for the first time the methodology, in a mandatory way, makes all MPs, whenever they decide to legislate, ask themselves a question of existential importance that is almost forgotten at present: will we Bulgarians still exist as a nation given our current demographic development?