site.btaParliamentary Committee Backs on First Reading Draft Legislation Stripping President of Power to Appoint Heads of Three Special Services

The National Assembly Internal Security and Public Order Committee on Thursday backed on first reading draft legislation according to which the chairpersons of the State Agency for National Security (SANS), the State Intelligence Agency (SIA) and the State Agency Technical Operations (SATO) are to be nominated by the Council of Ministers and elected by Parliament instead of being nominated by the Council of Ministers and appointed by presidential decree, as is the case now.

The amendments to the three laws regulating the matter were moved by seven MPs of the government coalition: GERB-UDF, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and There Is Such a People (TISP).

President Rumen Radev said on Wednesday that he had sent a written refusal to a proposal by the Government to decree the appointment of Denyo Denev as chairperson of the State Agency for National Security (SANS). Denev, who is now acting SANS Chair, was nominated for the office in early September, when the Government asked Radev to issue a decree on his appointment.