The rule of law starts with the rules, i.e. to some extent with the members of parliament who adopt the laws. It starts with them for one more reason. When members of parliament are addressees of legislation, they must set an example of exemplary compliance with it. When they do not observe the rules they have adopted, they send an extremely bad signal to the whole of society, leading to nihilism, disrespect for the law and institutions, and a sense of impunity and irresponsibility. Then their negligence is transferred to the state, and instead of a state governed by the rule of law we can speak of a negligent state.
Members of parliament from the Reformist Bloc, GERB, BSP Left Bulgaria and the Patriotic Front jointly decided to try to circumvent the Law on Normative Acts (LNA) by submitting on 9 December 2016 the first draft of an entirely new law since the amendments of November 2016, called the Bill on the Old Capitals of Bulgaria – http://www.parliament.bg/bg/bills/ID/66499/. Yet since 4 November 2016, in such cases the LNA requires a full ex-ante impact assessment and public consultations.
The bill is accompanied by one page of text entitled “Ex-ante impact assessment of the bill”, which has nothing to do with what is called a full ex-ante impact assessment worldwide and in the EU. The report with the results of a full ex-ante IA should refer to data and evidence collected by applying sociological data-processing methods and through public consultations. It must describe the problem solved by the proposal and the objectives and results it pursues. A full IA must include an in-depth, evidence-based economic, legal and highly specialised analysis, according to the area of intervention, which, using quantitative and qualitative indicators, compares the potential economic, social and environmental impacts of at least three different options for solving the problem and makes a recommendation on the optimal option.
In our view, this bill is a test for members of parliament of how the system would function within the Bulgarian National Assembly after the introduction of the mandatory IA and public consultation mechanism, and of whether the regulatory reform will work effectively or fictitiously. In this case there is simply no information either about a full ex-ante IA having been carried out or about public consultations having been held on the bill.
This, however, is also a test of how far our state is governed by the rule of law. Because under the LNA and the Rules of Organisation and Procedure of the National Assembly, such bills should not be assigned to parliamentary committees and should not be considered by Parliament until their irregularities are remedied. Yes, but the bill in question has already been assigned to the Committee on Culture and Media as lead committee and to the Committee on Economic Policy and Tourism, the Committee on Budget and Finance and the Committee on Regional Policy, Public Works and Local Self-Government as participating committees.
The question from now on is what kind of state Bulgaria is, since it is obviously not one governed by the rule of law