site.btaCC-DB Co-leader Petkov Says His Parliamentary Group Will Submit Security Services Reform Bills on Monday

Continuing the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) will submit bills for reform of the security services on Monday, CC-DB co-leader Kiril Petkov said Friday in a video address from the Austrian parliament, distributed by the parliamentary group’s press centre and published on his Facebook page.

"If [GERB Leader] Borissov does not want to implement these reforms - let him say why. If he wants to - let's not delay a day more because we all hold responsibility," Petkov added.

"Today we are in the Austrian Parliament. I had meetings with MPs from the ruling parties, the opposition parties," he stated, adding that the Schengen topic was discussed during the talks. The CC-DB co-leader highlighted the security topic as the most important for Bulgaria's accession in Schengen. He expressed confidence that Nikolay Denkov's government will do everything possible to ensure the security needed for the Schengen area and to prove to partners that this is achievable. "We, the parliament, must do the same," Petkov stressed.

The issue of security services is one of the government's priorities outlined by CC-DB and has been a source of tension between the parliamentary forces supporting Denkov's cabinet. GERB-UDF and Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) initially supported the idea of merging military and civilian intelligence, but MRF subsequently insisted it was not the time for structural reforms in wartime.