Every chitalishte is a separate legal entity, and the law on chitalishte is in force, Prof. Ventsislav Velev told parliament's culture and media committee today.

Velev is a university lecturer and a member of the Public Council of the Union of Bulgarian Chitalishte. He spoke at a discussion titled "Bulgarian chitalishte – state of play, problems and prospects for development".

He said the problems facing chitalishte fall into four groups: funding, which should be tied to their work and to the direct benefit to society. Control over public money. Public reporting. And public disclosure of funding.

"The Law on People's Chitalishte may not be the most perfect law, but it is the oldest law still in force in the field of culture," Velev said.

The law has had two major revisions so far, the latest in 2009. The professor thinks it is a good law overall and said different circumstances made the changes necessary.

Velev said the law gives chitalishte very wide powers that no other organisation has. Under the law, they receive money to carry out the tasks assigned to them.

He added that the register of people's chitalishte is on the Ministry of Culture's website.