site.btaParliament Changes Appointment Rules for Security Agency Heads

Parliament resolved on Thursday that the Chair of the State Agency for National Security (SANS) will be elected by the National Assembly on the proposal of the Council of Ministers. Similar changes received initial approval for the State Intelligence Agency (SIA) and the State Agency Technical Operations (SATO).

With amendments adopted at a single sitting, Parliament approved the new procedure for appointing the Chair of the State Agency for National Security, moving the responsibility from the President to the National Assembly.

Changes to the laws covering the SIA and SATO were approved on first reading, after Zlatan Zlatanov of Vazrazhdane said he would table comments between readings. These changes also provide for the heads of those agencies to be elected by the National Assembly on a proposal from the Council of Ministers. Currently, the heads of all three agencies are appointed by presidential decree.

The amendments were supported by GERB-UDF, Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) – New Beginning, Bulgarian Socialist Party - United Left, There Is Such a People (TISP), and three independent MPs. Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), Morality, Unity, Honour, and Velichie [Grandeur] opposed the changes, while the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms abstained.

The main sponsors of the amendments, There Is Such a People MP Aleksandar Rashev and MPs from the ruling majority, also proposed that the chairs of the State Agency for National Security and the State Agency Technical Operations should have three deputies instead of the current two. The same would apply to the head of the State Intelligence Agency, with deputies to be appointed for five-year terms on the chair’s proposal.

Rashev argued that the constitutional arrangement for dividing powers between constitutional organs already gives Parliament the authority to appoint and dismiss the heads of the Bank of Bulgaria and other bodies under the law, and that the proposed changes do not upset the balance between Parliament, government, and Presidency.

Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria MP and Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria Chair Atanas Atanassov said this would undermine the political neutrality of the security services, as the National Assembly, as the most political body in the country, would elect their leaders by simple majority. GERB-UDF MP Hristo Terziyski, addressing Atanassov, asked what should happen when the State Agency for National Security has been headed by an acting chair for over four months.

Vazrazhdane and MECh also criticized the distribution of the bills to various committees. Vazrazhdane MP Dimitar Gyurev recalled that in 2013, GERB had opposed similar changes and accused the current majority of seeking control over the security services. Vazrazhdane MP Tsoncho Ganev added that this was being done to accommodate Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) – New Beginning Chair Delyan Peevski.

MECh MP Nikolay Radulov argued that the sole purpose of the amendments was to weaken the Presidential institution, and said that Parliament as a political body would appoint political leaders to the agencies.

Krasimira Katincharova said Velichie would not support the bills, calling the changes “perverse”. She argued there should be balance, and accused the majority of trying to strip the Presidential institution of what little authority remains. Katincharova also commented that no leader among the ruling majority could hope to run for President, claiming they would not attract a sufficient individual vote.

On September 2, 2025, PM Rosen Zhelyazkov said the Government had formally asked President Rumen Radev to appoint acting SANS head Denyo Denev for a full term, noting the law’s one-month window and the ongoing institutional deadlock.

On September 19, 2025, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee warned that draft amendments across several security-service laws would strip the President of decree powers for appointing the heads of SANS, the State Intelligence Agency (SIA), and the State Agency Technical Operations (SATO), transferring appointments directly to Parliament. The NGO framed this as a response to the President’s refusal to appoint Denev and as a move with implications for checks and balances.

Earlier on Thursday, GERB leader Boyko Borissov later backed legislative solutions to “beheaded” services, explaining that two bills on Parliament’s agenda would move the nomination/appointment mechanism for SIA, SANS, and SATO from presidential decrees to parliamentary election upon a government nomination. Borissov stressed that it is important for Bulgaria to have strong and well-organized security services in view of the current geopolitical situation.

In the same legislative context, the Parliamentary Committee on Internal Security advanced amendments to the National Service for Protection (NSP) Law (e.g., curtailing transport functions for the presidential administration), signalling a broader recalibration of powers across the security architecture.