Young members of parliament and representatives of the executive government exchanged experience with Germany

29/01/10

From the 23rd to the 28th of January young members of parliament and representatives of the executive government exchanged experience with colleagues from Germany at the invitation of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS). The group consisted of members of parliament from the 41st National Assembly – Georgi Andonov, Dobroslav Dimitrov, Vladislav Dimitrov, Delyan Dobrev, Monika Panayotova, Lyubomila Stanislavova and Svetlen Tanchev. Together with them were Hristo Gadzhev – Parliament Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Kalin Zahariev - Expert to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Rozaliya Mitseva – Regional Coordinator of MGERB Plovdiv.

During the first day of their visitation the Bulgarian delegation met with Dr. Uwe Lehmann–Brauns – Deputy Chairman of the Municipal Council of Berlin. The Bulgarian delegates were introduced in an informal discussion. The main topics of the discussion were about the structure of the Municipal Council of Berlin, the decision making process and the authority of the institution. After the discussion the participants were introduced to the work of the Municipal Council of Berlin. The second meeting that the participants had was held in the Upper Chamber of Parliament where the main topic of discussion was the structure, functions and the work in general of the institution in the frame of the federal structure of Germany. The Bulgarian delegation also met with the Youth Organisation of the CDU in the headquarters of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. They were welcomed personally by the Chairman of the Youth Organisation of the CDU. During the meeting the representatives of the juridical and executive government familiarised their colleagues with the work of the organisation during the parliament election campaign in 2009.
During the late afternoon the headquarters of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation was visited by the Bulgarian Prime Minister – Boyko Borissov. The meeting went forth with great interest from the auditory in the headquarters. During the public lection, which was part of the official visitation of the Prime Minister and the delegation from Bulgaria, the anti-crisis measures taken by the government were introduced, as well as the concrete actions in the fight against corruption and organised crime and the future plans of the cabinet. The Bulgarian foreign policy was also discussed.

The second day started off with a visit to the Landtag of the province of Brandenburg. The participants were greeted by Prof. Dr. Johanna Wanka – Chairwoman of the Political Group of CDU in the Landtag. She introduced the participants to the work of the Landtag, as well as the decision making process, the complicated jurisdiction procedures, the relations between the parliaments on local and provincial level and the federal judicial government.
The Bulgarian delegation also met with colleagues from the local government and exchanged experience with how to keep in touch with the voting citizens. The day ended in the headquarters of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation where the Chairman position was officially handed over to Hans-Gert Pöttering (Former Chairman of the European Parliament).

The morning of the third day started off with a meeting with Norbert Beckman-Direcks – Coordinator of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation for Southeastern Europe. During the meeting the main topic of the conversation was set on the role of the foundation on the development and the work of MGERB in Bulgaria. Monika Panayotova – Chairwoman of MGERB expressed her gratitude and together with her colleagues introduced the work of the organisation during 2009. From the other side Mr. Direcks assured that MGERB will be supported, because the Youth Organisation of GERB is showing great results during campaigns, as well as part of the judicial and executive government.
After the meeting the Bulgarian group visited the Bundestag. There they met Thomas Strobl – Member of Parliament from the CDU and Chairman of the Commission on Elections, Immunities and Work regulations. The discussion was joined by Dr. Norbert Pashman – Secretary of the Commission on Elections, Immunities and Work regulations. He introduced the work of the commission in details. The discussion also familiarised the participants with the parliament system in Germany and the rights and commitments of the members of parliament in the Bundestag.
The next meeting was held in the Jakob-Kaiser-Haus and the Bulgarian group met with Hans-Joachim Falansky – Foreign policy Councillor to the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag. The Bulgarian foreign policy was discussed, as well as the achievements in the first six months of the new government. The delegates spent the night with Ivo Petrov – Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria in Germany.

During the last day of the delegation’s visit the young representatives met with young members of parliament from the Bundestag with which they exchanged experience. They found a lot in common – their similar age, as well as the fact that they were members of parliament for the first time. It turned out that the German members of parliament experienced similar problems to those of the Bulgarian MEP’s. The last meeting of the delegation took hold in the headquarters of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The participants were greeted personally by Dr. Gerhard Vallers – Deputy Chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. They didn’t forget to express their gratitude for the help and support of the organisation and expressed their hope that the good cooperation will continue in the future. Dr. Vallers expressed his support towards MGERB and the representatives in the judicial and executive government.
After the fourth day the cycle of meetings with representatives of the German government ended. The main target of the meetings was to exchange experience, as well as to become more familiar with the more complicated German legislation system and gaining approval from the MEP’s from Germany.
The meetings helped the Bulgarian delegation compare the legislation system in Germany and the legislation system in Bulgaria and to summarize solutions for improving the Bulgarian legislation system.