site.btaGERB Proposes Amendments to Interior Ministry Act

119 POLITICS - PARLIAMENT - GERB - INTERIOR MINISTRY - AMENDMENTS

GERB Proposes
Amendments to
Interior Ministry Act


Sofia, November 12 (BTA) - GERB floor leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov
introduced a bill amending the Interior Ministry Act into
Parliament on Wednesday. The proposed changes entail amendments
to the legislation on the State Agency for National Security
(SANS) and the State Agency for Technical Operations (SATO).

These amendments supersede legislation passed by the previous
parliament and end the police functions of the SANS by returning
the Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime to the
Interior Ministry.

The changes were prompted by a need to restore the President's
balancing role in the appointment of the Interior Ministry's
Chief Secretary and to reinstate the National Police Chief
Directorate, Tsvetanov said. The Border Police Chief Directorate
will again be independent and will function alongside all the
units of the regional directorates of the interior.

The proposed changes will restore the Interior Ministry to its
normal functioning. "We are not talking about returning
technical operations to the Interior Ministry but about having a
single unit responsible for listening and following, namely
SATO," said Tsvetanov, adding that it will act on all requests
for use of special surveillance means from the prosecuting
magistrates, the police and the SANS.

At the end of 2013, the SATO was separated from the Interior
Ministry to become an agency with the Council of Ministers to
avoid misuse.

Deputy Interior Minister Krassimir Tsipov said that as a result
of the reform of 2013, the Migration Directorate is not working
and no one exercises real administrative control over foreigners
in Bulgaria. "Many key structural units are not regulated by
law, meaning that the minister could close down any unit at any
time. Those are the Directorates for Migration, Bulgarian
Identity Documents, the Anti-Fraud Coordination Service (AFCOS)
and the National System 112," Tsipov said. These directorates
will be reinstated by law and Parliament will make decisions
about them. Stability at the Interior Ministry will be restored,
as well as stability in its relations with other institutions.

Asked to comment on the planned appointment of a deputy of the
Interior Ministry's Chief Secretary Svetlozar Lazarov, Tsvetanov
said he was convinced that Interior Minister Vesselin Vouchkov
would abide by the law and would not allow two power centres in
the Ministry's professional leadership. Vouchkov said earlier
that for now Lazarov would stay for a five-year term in line
with the Interior Ministry Act, and that a deputy secretary
would be appointed by the year's end.

Tsvetanov said GERB would introduce legislative changes
concerning the National Intelligence Service, the National
Bodyguard Service and the Military Information Service. He said
he was convinced that the opposition in Parliament could be
engaged in constructive dialogue on the proposed changes in the
security sector. LI/DD