site.btaInterior Ministry Is Not Abdicating from Duties - Minister

Sofia, March 14 (BTA) - Commenting on amendments to the Private Security Business Act, Interior Minister Valentin Radev said his Ministry was not abdicating from its duties but was improving the rules of private security.

In separate petitions, Bulgaria's Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov and President Rumen Radev have approached the Constitutional Court to declare unconstitutional certain amendments of the Private Security Business Act, gazetted on January 30, 2018, as contrary to the principles of the legal State.

The amendments deal with urbanized area security as a new type of security business, regulating the essence and manner of implementation, the conclusion of security contracts and the detailing of teams for the provision of such security.

Radev told reporters that it is mayors, not the Interior Ministry, that want security for urbanized areas. The amendments only legalize that activity and lay down rules. There are 1,800 private security firms with a workforce of more than 200,000. Mayors and other municipal staff have applied such rules before, and the amendments only sort out some details, said Radev. They were subject to broad discussion, including with NGOs, but the prosecuting magistracy and the President have found some flaws, he added.

The Interior Ministry is less than 50,000-strong, of whom 25,000 are uniformed staff, as against 200,000 private security officers, said Radev. "Should we decide to do away with private security firms, the Ministry's workforce will have to increase."

Radev commented: "Such security guards are needed for objective reasons. What the law does is to lay down rules and preclude varying interpretations."