site.btaMajority in Parliament Resents Vazrazhdane MP Heading Security Services Oversight Committee

Members of the parties in the majority in Parliament Friday made it clear they are unhappy with having a representative of the nationalist Vazrazhdane party head the parliamentary committee that oversees the security services and the use of special surveillnce means. That happens a day after Nikolay Drenchev MP took the rotational chairmanship of the said committee.

Vazrazhdane took over the chairmanship as per the parliamentary rules of procedure which say that a new committee chair is elected each session as the parliamentary parties rotate in the job.

The first to comment was Movement for Rights and Freedoms floor leader Delyan Peevski. He said: "The pro-Russian Vazrazhdane party has taken control of the special services committee and this is the biggest outrage. I don't understand why the colleagues from the Euro-Atlantic majority have made no comments, but this is the biggest scandal there can be. Our national security is threatened. I will insist today that we take measures. The chair of this committee has access to the most secret information in the country. An amendment to the parliamentary rules will be drafted today so that the chairmanship of this committee will not be rotating."

GERB leader Boyko Borissov commented that the committee had quorum, which made it possible to elect Drenchev, thanks to Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria. Borissov believes that a new election for a committee chair should be held.

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria co-leader Kiril Petkov said he backs the idea for a change in the rules of electing this committee's chair and said the matter would be discussed by the whole group.

The other Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria co-leader, Atanas Atanassov, would not commit to supporting the proposal but said that it would be considered and a decision would be made.