17/04/2024 An exhibition dedicated to 145 years since the adoption of the Tarnovo Constitution was opened at the National Assembly

17/04/2024

An exhibition dedicated to 145 years since the adoption of the Tarnovo Constitution was opened at the National Assembly. On 20 boards with text, documents and photos, the exhibition tells about the work of the MPs from the Constituent Assembly on the adoption of the Constitution, which has been the basic law of the Third Bulgarian State for more than 68 years.

The Vice President of the National Assembly Rositsa Kirova opened the exhibition and stressed that the constitution adopted in 1879 reflects the fundamental changes that occurred with the Liberation of Bulgaria, regulates the political and state legal organization of the Principality of Bulgaria and creates conditions for the upward development of the country.

We define the adopted Tarnovo Constitution as one of the most democratic of its time, taking as a model the Belgian Constitution, the Vice President of Parliament said. Our first basic law proclaims a number of rights and freedoms - freedom of the individual, compulsory and free primary education, freedom of speech, assemblies and associations, privacy of personal correspondence, universal suffrage for men who have reached the age of 21, and others, Rositsa Kirova noted. Slavery is forbidden, and it is stipulated that titles of nobility or other honours cannot exist in the Principality, she added. All this is an expression of democratic attitudes among Bulgarians who have achieved their freedom after centuries of foreign rule, yearning for their own country, part of the modern, civilised world, the Vice President of the National Assembly said.

The first people's representatives who with responsibility, honour and wisdom resolved the task set for them by history - to lay the foundation of the resurrected Bulgarian state, were notables - spiritual leaders of Bulgaria, Rositsa Kirova recalled. She specified that many of the MPs had already had political experience, had participated in the educational movement, in the struggle for church independence, in the national liberation revolution, in the Russian-Turkish war. More than 140 people supported the Interim Russian Government as governors, vice-governors, presidents, members and associates of district and city councils, courts, etc., the Vice President of the National Assembly added.

The group of 30-40-year-olds predominated among the MPs in the Constituent Assembly, followed by the 40-50-year-olds, Rositsa Kirova said. The deputies, regardless of whether they have been elected, whether they received the right to sit by title or according to their position, or were appointed by the Russian Imperial Commissioner, Knyaz Dondukov, carried the Revival impulse towards freedom and equality, which was expressed in the basic law they adopted, she added.

The Vice President of the National Assembly emphasized that today the work of the first Bulgarian deputies is honoured because they showed political maturity and adopted a basic law that reflected the interests of the Bulgarian people. The discussions they had were heated and stormy, often even making the work of the Assembly difficult, but both liberals and conservatives were driven by thought and care for Bulgaria, Rositsa Kirova said. The achievements of our predecessors remind us of our responsibilities and motivate us to seek solutions to the challenges we face, she added.