site.btaParliament Approves Replacement of Stenography with Audio Records for Secret Police Files Committee Sittings

On Wednesday, MPs approved on first reading amendments to the Act on Access to and Disclosure of Documents and on Declaring Affiliation of Bulgarian Citizens to the State Security and the Intelligence Services of the Bulgarian People’s Army. A total of 122 MPs voted in favour, 39 voted against and 14 abstained.

The bill was submitted by Snezhanka Trayanska (There Is Such a People) and MPs from the ruling coalition.

Under the current provision, a stenographic transcript must be prepared for every meeting of Parliament’s Committee for the disclosure of documents and the declaration of affiliation of Bulgarian citizens to the State Security and Intelligence Services of the Bulgarian People's Army, which is commonly known as the secret police files committee. The amendments propose replacing the shorthand transcript with an audio recording. The reasoning states that there is currently a shortage of stenographers, and the required number cannot be secured for the needs of the Committee. The proposal does not affect the process of certifying the content of the meetings, as audio recordings are already stored together with the transcripts under the rules set out in the Committee’s Rules of Procedure, the sponsors of the bill note.