site.btaPM Zhelyazkov Expects Imminent Presidential Decision on Senior Appointments

Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said during Question Time in Parliament on Friday that President Rumen Radev stated earlier in the day he would soon make a decision on the coordination procedure for the Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior.

Zhelyazkov noted he hopes a similar resolution will be reached regarding the procedures for ambassadors and the Chair of the State Agency for National Security.

Zhelyazkov responded to a question from Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria MP Atanas Atanassov regarding the government's actions in appointing a new Chair of the State Agency for National Security and the expected timeline for the Council of Ministers to submit an official nomination to the President.

Several public appointments are made through an interdependent institutional process established by relevant legislation. In this context, Zhelyazkov explained that the law on the State Agency for National Security requires the Council of Ministers, within one month of a vacancy, to adopt a decision proposing that the President issue a decree appointing the Chair of the Agency.

Zhelyazkov noted that the decree removing Plamen Tonchev from his position was signed on June 4, so the Council of Ministers must decide on the proposal by July 4.

The appointment of the Chair of the State Agency for National Security follows a mixed procedural approach formally established in the rules of organization of the Council of Ministers and consistently applied for decades. This process includes preliminary coordination to ensure that every act of the Council of Ministers carries institutional consequence, Zhelyazkov said.

At the end of May, the National Assembly elected Plamen Tonchev as Chair of the Committee for Disclosing the Documents and Announcing Affiliation of Bulgarian Citizens to the State Security and intelligence Services of the Bulgarian National Army. He was elected with 120 votes in favor, 78 against, and five abstentions. On June 6, Zhelyazkov told Parliament that President Radev had issued a decree dismissing Plamen Tonchev as Chair of the State Agency for National Security.