Bulgaria

General information about the policy process

The Republic of Bulgaria is a parliamentary unitary state.

The legislature on national level is in the hands of the Parliament (the National Assembly) – a permanent one-chamber body consisting of 240 directly elected deputies.

There are no legislative powers at the sub-national level having a national impact. Municipal councils are empowered to adopt ordinances with local application field regulating relations of local importance in line with the statutory acts of higher degree.

The political system of the state is based on a multi-level governance model – on central / national and municipal level.

The national executive authority is the Council of Ministers. The Government is also the main political actor in regards with exercising the right of legislative initiative. The Council of Ministers is controlled by the Parliament.

Districts authorities have administrative functions. Their main task provided by the Constitution is to implement the state governance policies on site within the district territories and to ensure coherence between national and local interests.

The Bulgarian Constitution recognises the principle of local self-governance, exercised by the municipal authorities. The process of decentralisation at the municipal level in Bulgaria started as early as the 1990s. Since then, municipalities have acquired many competences on local level complemented by some financial autonomy.

The President of the Republic has rather limited competences in the policy processes. In the legislative process on national level he is empowered to act as a veto player, although he has the right to impose at his/her discretion only a dilatory veto to laws adopted by the Parliament. In this case the Parliament is obliged to consider the veto and vote again the legislative act. If adopted again with the required qualified majority, the law shall be promulgated by the President with no right to impose a new veto on it.

Bulgaria joined the European Union (EU) on 1 January 2007. The country elected 17 members of the European Parliament (EP) in the 2019 elections for the 2019 – 2024 EP session.

Main national actors

The Council of Ministers is the main authority of the executive power in the Republic of Bulgaria. It consists of the Prime Minister of Bulgaria and all the specialized ministers. On the basis of laws and in order to implement them, the Council of Ministers adopts decrees, orders and decisions. By means of decrees, the Council of Ministers also adopts implementing rules and regulations. The Ministers issue implementing rules, regulations, instructions and orders.

Regional or local actors involved

The relationship between actors

References:
 * 1) Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria. Available at: https://www.parliament.bg/en/const.
 * 2) Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria. Available at: https://www.gov.bg/en.
 * 3) National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria. Available at: https://www.parliament.bg/en.
 * 4) President of the Republic of Bulgaria. Available at: https://m.president.bg/bg/index.