The State Council of the National Assembly replaced the former presidium, to which the 1947 Constitution had given honorific titles but largely ceremonial functions. Conceived during a plenum of the party Central Committee in 1968 but not established until after the promulgation of the new constitution in 1971, the State Council was designed to be a powerful force, both executive and legislative, in the overall governmental structure. The best evidence to the power inherent in the structure of the new State Council was the fact that party leader Zhivkov chose to relinquish the premiership, which he had held for several years, in favor of the newly created position of president of the State Council. Zhivkov is one of a very few leaders of communist countries who continues to retain the top position in both the party and the government.
The State Council exercises a wide spectrum of authority that would theoretically be the responsibility of the National Assembly. In effect the State Council becomes the alter ego of, or a surrogate for, the National Assembly and arrogates to itself the constitutional prerogatives of the people and the elected legislature. Most members of the State Council are concurrently high-ranking members of the BKP.
Among the many duties and responsibilities of the council, the most important can be divided into two definite groups: those functions that are specifically defined and thereby permanent and those functions that the council assumes when the legislative body is not in session. During wartime, when it might not be possible for the assembly to meet, the constitution provides for the complete assumption of legislative and executive authority by the State Council.
The State Council's specific and permanent functions include, among others, calling the National Assembly into session, exercising the right of legislative initiative, determining bills that should be submitted to the people for nationwide discussion, interpreting the laws and decrees binding on everyone, creating and eliminating departments below ministerial level, appointing and recalling diplomatic representatives, granting Bulgarian citizenship, ratifying international treaties concluded by the government, and implementing the general direction of the defense of the country.
Figure 6. Bulgaria, Structure of Government, 1973
When the National Assembly is not in session, the State Council is empowered to promulgate decrees and other acts of legal validity dealing with problems arising from laws and decrees of the legislative body. Furthermore, these acts and decrees have the force of law and need no legislative confirmation at the next assembly session.
Additionally, the council exercises executive control over the Council of Ministers, its members, the local people's councils, and the Office of the Chief Prosecutor; it can repeal decisions of the ministries and other central departments, which in effect reduces the Council of Ministers to a grade below the State Council. In the event of war the State Council, in the absence of the National Assembly, is empowered to sign peace treaties, to amend the constitution, to grant amnesty, and to change the territorial boundaries of the country. In sum, the functions of the State Council can be categorized into executive, legislative, judicial, and police. In carrying out these multifarious responsibilities, six councils and two committees assist the State Council, (see fig. 7).
Council of Ministers