Bulgarian President announces names of invitees to first ‘public council’ meeting
Bulgarian President Rossen Plevneliev has announced the names of 35 people – including protest organisers, leaders of professional associations, trade unionists, employers associations and nature conservation groups – that have been invited to the first meeting of the “public council” intended to have input to the forthcoming caretaker government.
The first meeting is to be held on March 1 2013 at the President’s office, a day after Plevneliev announced in the National Assembly that ahead-of-term parliamentary elections would be held on May 12.
The first business of the meeting would be to discuss the future tasks and draft rules of procedure of the council, the Presidency said.
The list is topped by nine organisers of the nationwide protests that have been at the centre of Bulgaria’s current political crisis: Yanko Petrov, Mariana Hristova, Angel Slavchev, Yanko Andreev, Doncho Dudev, Lyudmila Manova, Georgi Arsov, Svetlin Tachev and Ivan Petrov.
Also on the list are Angel Georgiev, of the national body representing student councils, Dr Tsvetan Raichinov, of the Bulgarian Doctors Union, representatives of patients’ organisations, Bogomil Nikolov of the Bulgarian national association of active consumers, Georgi Rusanov of the national committee on problems of the elderly and Elka Todorova of the national council for the integration of people with disabilities.
The list continues with Konstantin Stamenov, of the Bulgarian Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers, Ivan Milov of the Rakovski Officers Legion, Valentin Popov, head of the association of employees of the Interior Ministry, Georgi Bogdanov of the national network for children, Plamen Dimitrov of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions, Konstantin Trenchev of the Podkrepa labour federation and Toma Belev of the Preserve the Nature in Bulgaria coalition.
Other invitees are Ognyan Donev of the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria, Bozhidar Danev of the Bulgarian Industrial Association, Tsvetan Simeonov of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vasil Velev of the Association of Industrial Capital of Bulgaria, Antoaneta Tsoneva of the Institute for Public Environment Development, and Georgi Ganev of the Centre for Liberal Strategies.
Others are Ginka Chavdarova of the National Association of Municipalities of the Republic of Bulgaria, Boyan Kulev, president of the Bulgarian communities abroad, Biliyana Gyaurova-Vegertseder of the Bulgarian Institute for Legal Initiatives, Georgi Stoev of Industry Watch, Dr Daniel Smilov of Sofia University and Dr Antonii Gulubov of New Bulgarian University.
