site.btaParliament Passes Amendments on First Reading Returning Organized Crime Control Directorate to Interior Ministry

Parliament Passes Amendments on First Reading
Returning Organized Crime Control Directorate
to Interior Ministry


Sofia, December 18 (BTA) - Bulgaria's Parliament Thursday passed
on first reading amendments to the Ministry of Interior Act
transferring the Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime
from the State Agency for National Security (SANS) back to the
Interior Ministry.

The GERB MPs who entered the motion propose a re-establishing of
the President's balancing role in appointing the most senior
professional at the Interior Ministry, the Chief Secretary, and
in appointing the Chairperson of SANS. The competitive principle
of career growth at the Ministry will be restored, and the
Chief Directorate National Policy will be re-established. Under
amendments to the SANS Act and the Special Surveillance Means
Act, the SANS Specialized Directorate for Technical Operations
will be closed and its activity will be transferred to the State
Agency for Technical Operations under the Council of Ministers.

The legislature approved amendments to the Ministry of Interior
Act proposed by the Reformist Bloc, according to which Interior
Ministry employees policing events under the Meetings, Rallies
and Demonstrations Act, sports competitions and other mass
congregations of people will wear a personal number in a
conspicuous place on their outer garment, enabling their
subsequent identification.

Interior Minister Vesselin Vouchkov said that no exceptions will
be made to competition-based career growth at his Ministry.
Vouchkov said that all experts had backed the return of the
organized crime control directorate to the Interior Ministry.
"There will be no scandalous personal appointments," he pledged.
He is certain that the changes will not disturb the services.

During the debate on the bills, Tsvetan Tsvetanov MP of GERB,
who was interior minister in the first Boyko Borissov cabinet
(2009-2013), said that between 1991 and 2013 all entities
combating serious crime were always part of the Interior
Ministry, and this is the reason why they proposed the return of
the Chief Directorate to the Ministry.

Atanas Atanassov MP of the Reformist Bloc that the transfer of
the Chief Directorate from the Ministry to the
counterintelligence service severed the links between the crime
detection services. "The removal of the Chief Directorate from
the Ministry impeded coordination," he added.

Atanas Merdjanov MP of BSP-Left Bulgaria said that his party
objects to the amendments because the underlying idea is to
reinstate the President as an authority appointing the Interior
Ministry Chief Secretary and to replace the senior personnel of
the security services. The Socialists also disagree with the
return of the Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime to
the Interior Ministry.

Hamid Hamid MP of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms pointed
out that his parliamentary group would not support the
amendments because they seek to remove the people appointed in
2013 and to curb the powers of SANS. In his opinion, the amended
law duplicates powers of the Chief Directorate and SANS.

Svetoslav Belemezov MP of ABV said that his parliamentary group
will back the bill on first reading and called for the formation
of a broad coalition on drafting a strategy for the Interior
Ministry

Emil Dimitrov MP of the Patriotic Front said that a reform must
be carried out. He argued that the functions of SANS must be
duplicated because it will not function for at least one more
year. Dimitrov said that the Chief Directorate for Combating
Organized Crime should be returned to the Interior Ministry
where it belongs.

Yavor Haitov of the Bulgarian Democratic Centre said that the
proposed amendments are right. VI/LG

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