President to Appoint Chair of State
Agency for National Security,
Interior Ministry's Chief Secretary


Sofia, February 11 (BTA) - The State Agency for National
Security (SANS) will be headed by a chairperson, who will be
appointed by presidential decree on the Council of Ministers'
proposal for a five-year term, Parliament decided on Wednesday
by adopting second-reading amendments to the Interior Ministry
Act.

The SANS chair will be assisted by two deputy chairpersons, who
will be appointed by a decision of the Council of Ministers on
the proposal of the SANS chair for a five-year term. A person
can be appointed SANS chair if he or she has 12 years of
juridical experience or professional experience in the security
and public order services, of which 5 years on a managerial
position. The requirements for a deputy SANS chair are 10 years
of experience in the security and public order services, of
which 3 years at a managerial position.

In June 2013, the previous National Assembly decided that the
election and removal from office of the SANS chair would be
carried out by Parliament on the Prime Minister's proposal, and
that the nominee should have at least 8 years of juridical or
professional experience. This allowed the election of Delyan
Peevski, MP of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms in the 42nd
National Assembly, to the position, which triggered months-long
anti-government protests.

At its Wednesday sitting, Parliament also decided that the chief
secretary of the Interior Ministry will be appointed by
presidential decree on a Council of Ministers' proposal, and
that the Chief Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (CDCOC)
will be part of the Interior Ministry.

The newly adopted revisions amend the provisions adopted by the
42nd National Assembly, which read that the Interior Ministry's
chief secretary is appointed by the Council of Ministers on
the Interior Minister's proposal for a five-year term, and that
CDCOC is part of the State Agency for National Security.

A person can be appointed Interior Ministry chief secretary or
deputy chief secretary if he or she meets the requirements for
civil service under the Interior Ministry Act and has worked for
at least ten years in the security and public order services,
of which at least five years on a managerial position, the newly
adopted amendments read.

Parliament also decided that the Interior Ministry will have an
administrative secretary, who will assist the Interior Minister
in the implementation of his functions by planning, organising
and controlling: the subsidiary activities at the ministry,
the elaboration and implementation of measures for preventing
conflicts of interest and conditions for corruption, and the
interaction with other state institutions, nongovernmental
organisations and trade unions.

Chetin Kazak MP of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms asked
whether the administrative secretary is not a type of "party
secretary" in the Interior Ministry's system. Deputy Interior
Minister Krassimir Tsipov said that the idea behind the creation
of this position is related to the implementation of
administrative activities. He explained that the administrative
secretary will deal with the Interior Ministry's employees who
have the status of civil servants.

Another amendment reads that Interior Ministry employees will be
promoted to higher positions after competitions, the
conditions and order of which will be determined by ordinance
of the Interior Minister. No competition will be held for
senior managerial positions.

The MPs also decided that municipalities and companies with 100
per cent state participation will be able to make donations to
the Interior Ministry. Also allowed to donate are state
structures with functions related to the implementation of state
power, international bodies or organizations, foreign state
bodies, the EU, and EU bodies or institutions.

Parliament also approved a list of 22 sites and activities to be
guarded by the police, including: the Iskar, Kurdzhali and
Stoudena dams; the Novi Han radioactive waste storage facility;
the railway junctions Sofia, Plovdiv, Gorna Oryahovitsa, Varna
and Rousse; the airports in Sofia, Varna, Bourgas and Plovdiv;
the buildings of the Bulgarian National Radio, the Bulgarian
National Television, the Bulgarian News Agency, the National
Assembly, the Council of Ministers, the IRT 2000 Research
Reactor with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences' Institute for
Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy, the Shipka-Bouzloudja
Museum, the National History Museum in Sofia, the Rila Monastery
and the Bachkovo Monastery; buildings or parts of buildings
used by the Bulgarian National Bank, as well as its property and
valuables.

The National Policy Chief Directorate assumes the assets,
liabilities, rights, obligations and archive fund of the
Criminal Policy Chief Directorate and the Protective Police
Chief Directorate. The Migration Directorate assumes the Border
Police Chief Directorates' activities of regulating the
migration processes and exercising administrative control over
migrants' stay in the Bulgaria.

The MPs removed from the Interior Ministry Act the provision
allowing the forced retirement of the ministry's employees on
the initiative of the appointment body. Interior Ministry
Vesselin Vouchkov said that there is no need of such a power and
that his ministry's trade-union organisations are against this
provision.

PK/DS




/ДЛ/