Bulgarian MPs override presidential veto of Renewable Energy Act amendments
Bulgaria’s National Assembly voted on June 4 to overturn President Roumen Radev’s veto on amendments to the country’s Renewable Energy Act, meant to transpose amended EU rules into national legislation.
There were 133 votes in favour of overriding the veto, 35 against, and eight abstentions.
In his motives for the veto, Radev argued that the bill did not correctly transpose the EU directive, both by failing to include all provisions of the directive and by adopting provisions that contradicted the directive.
Additionally, parts of the bill would bypass rules on public procurement and environmental protection, Radev said.
Bulgaria’s constitution grants the head of state a limited power of veto, through enabling the President to return legislation to the National Assembly for further discussion.
The National Assembly may overturn the President’s veto through a simple majority vote or accept the veto and review the vetoed clauses. Since taking office in January 2017, Radev made liberal use of the power and this was his 38th vetoed bill.
The National Assembly overturned the veto on all but eight occasions – seven times the veto was accepted by MPs and, in the other case, the government coalition at the time failed to muster the support needed to overturn it.
(Photo: parliament.bg)
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