site.btaNational Assembly Approves 2018 National Security Report

September 12 (BTA) - Bulgaria's National Assembly
Thursday approved the Report on the State of National Security
for 2018 by a vote of 154-47 with 10 abstentions.

The report says that the measures taken in 2018 for the
development of strategic energy projects made it possible to
start the implementation in the first half of 2019 of long
delayed energy infrastructure projects of strategic importance
for Bulgaria as well as for Southeastern Europe and Europe at
large. Bulgaria's top priority is to ensure the security of gas
supplies through diversification of sources and routes.

The document points out that a register of all critical
infrastructure installations in the country needs to be
established, communication among institutions needs to be
improved, and a National Situation Centre for Crisis Management
needs to be set up in 2020. The report concludes that financial
stability and the rates of economic development underlie the
legitimate expectations of Bulgaria joining shortly the Exchange
 Rate Mechanism and subsequently becoming a member of the
eurozone.

During the debate, BSP for Bulgaria criticized the report and
said they will vote against it. MP Kristian Vigenin argued that
the document lacks highlights and recommendations. In his
opinion, one of the key issues which is not clarified
sufficiently is the deepening social divisions which have been
worsened rather than mitigated in the period since Bulgaria
joined the EU. Another flaw that the opposition MP identified in
 the report is its failure to analyze the deepening regional
disparities in the country and the depopulation of entire
villages, and the lack of analysis on the functioning of
institutions, of e-governance and the crash of the Commercial
Register.

Valentin Radev MP of GERB, who is a former interior minister,
countered that the report is compiled by the same experts and
specialists and the opposition cannot possibly come up with a
different report.

Georgi Krustev, Secretary of the Security Council with the
Council of Ministers, thanked for the lawmakers'
recommendations. RY/LG