site.btaUPDATED Parliament's Leadership, Floor Leaders Discuss National Security with PM, Interior Minister and Security Services

The Parliament Chair and his deputies, and the leaders of the six groups in Parliament held a meeting to discuss national security matters in the light of the Middle East crisis. Among the attendees were Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov and the leaders of the security services.

The meeting was held a day after President Rumen Radev invited the chiefs of security services and government officials to talk about the impact of the Middle East crisis and other ongoing conflicts. 

GERB, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) argued Thursday that the matter merits a meeting of the Consultative Council on National Security and the President should have held a meeting in that format so that the situation could be discussed by representatives of the three power branches, the security services and the political parties in Parliament.

Following is a takeaway from remarks by the participants after the meeting.

GERB leader Boyko Borissov: I cannot say that we have nothing to worry about. Quite the contrary, and the security services and the Interior Ministry should be vigilant. There are communities in this country which hate each other are we need to watch out for that, and be careful about what we say. Remember also the Sarafovo bus bombing [of July 2012, which killed six Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian man]. We need to take a firm stance against those who cause terror.

The world will be focused on Israel, Palestina and the Arab world, the other key players: Russia, China... Very difficult situation. Even Ukraine will drop out from the focus. If Denkov wanted to see the political leaders at the meeting with the President, he would have asked the President to convoke the Consultative Council on National Security. He could have chosen not to go to the kind of meeting of the President held on Wednesday. 

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov: I did not hear anything to worry about. We only heard trivialities. I would have been more worried had we heard something more specific. I am not sure what exactly was the purpose of the meeting. I want to thank the security service chiefs for not disclosing any details. I would not have if I was them, I would not trust the people who represent the state leadership at the moment because these people have been proven to leak state secrets to foreign embassies. All this is very artificial: they schedule a meeting of Parliament's Presiding Body and all of a sudden we start to worry about the war in Plestina and Israel when we have a military conflict very close to us. Only 80 km from our western border is Kosovo where a very serious conflict has never stopped simmering. We should worry about events in Kosovo and how they can set on fire the entire Balkans. But the conflict in Israel and Palestina is indeed very serious and what need to do is stay out of it and hope for a peace agreement.

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria co-floor leader Atanas Atanassov: I believe there is no direct threat to national security. One should put themselves in the place of the security service chiefs who attended a meeting with the President last night to tell him something [about the Middle East escalation] and today they came to say the same in Parliament - and all that when there is an established format where all can participate at once, the Consultative Council on National Security.

Continue the Change co-leade Kiril Petkov: I learned more from the CNN than from the report by the State Agency for National Security. Some services, such as the military intelligence, have done a good job. Clearly, a reform of the security services is needed. What is happening in Israel shows the importance of having security services that work well because a failure of the services can have a huge impact on national security.

MP Delyan Peevski of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms: We were told that there is no direct threat for Bulgaria. Maybe only [increased] migrant pressure but they will tell us more about it later. The security services should remain vigilant. We must support fully Israel after all that happened there.

Socialist leader Korneliya Ninova: We heard nothing about decisions to the real problems at the meeting under the President and the same happened today: the security services offered an account of the events and no solutions.

There Is Such a People floor leader Toshko Yordanov: Our intelligence services do what they can and don't hide behind the hardships they face. This country is faced with a difficult situation because if this conflict [in the Middle East] escalates, the prices of fuels and oil will increase.