„We Continue the Change“ and „Democratic Bulgaria“ /DB/ submitted important legislative changes, the press center of the PP announced. They are related to the security of citizens and the state.
The proposed legislative initiatives are four in total. They are as follows:
- Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). One of the key changes is the abolition of the role of the prosecutor as an intermediary between the court and the police when a court ruling is required for certain investigative actions. All the proposals aim at a faster and more efficient criminal process in detecting crimes and holding offenders accountable. While preserving the prosecutor’s core competence to provide guidance and supervision in the pre-trial phase, the Bill also proposes the possibility for investigating authorities to initiate pre-trial proceedings outside cases of urgency. Carrying out extrajudicial actions, where there is sufficient evidence that a crime has been committed, but the urgency of the case cannot be substantiated, only leads to delays, and in many cases to the carrying out of actions that cannot carry the weight of evidence in the criminal process, and often to the need to repeat them.
- Law amending the Law on the State Agency „National Security“. It proposes that the Chairmen of the State Agency for National Security (SANS), the State Agency for Technical Operations (SATO), the Military Intelligence Service (SIR) and the State Intelligence Agency (SIA) be appointed by the Council of Ministers on the proposal of the Prime Minister instead of by Presidential Decree. The purpose of this change is in line with the Constitution, according to which the Council of Ministers ensures public order and national security and exercises general direction of the public administration and the armed forces. Both parties demand guarantees that the executive will assume full political responsibility during crises that threaten the country’s national security. For the sake of transparency and objective criteria for the selection of the presidents, the bill stipulates that any appointment should be preceded by a hearing of the nominations in the relevant portfolio committee in the National Assembly. The legislative proposal is imperative in the context of the development of the war in Ukraine and the refugee pressure, where the protection of national security should be a top priority of the government to achieve the objectives set out in Article 24 of the Constitution. According to the Bulgarian Constitution, the implementation of policies guaranteeing the national security of the country is the prerogative of the Council of Ministers. This cannot be effectively implemented if, in practice, the Council of Ministers does not have the ability to directly appoint the chairpersons of the SIA, SATO, SIR and SANS. The Bill does not limit the powers and information that the President has and receives in his interaction with these bodies.
- Law amending the Ministry of Interior Act, providing for the appointment of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior by the Council of Ministers on the proposal of the Prime Minister instead of by Presidential Decree. This again follows the constitutional dictate that the Council of Ministers implements public order and national security policies and removes the atypical role of the presidential institution in directly influencing the organisation and activities of the executive branch of the Ministry of Interior through personal appointments of the Secretary General.
- Law amending and supplementing the Law on the State Agency „National Security“, which proposes that the National Security Service be transferred to the Minister of Defence and that the compulsory security of senior officials be reduced to 1 year after vacating office. The possibility to provide longer security if necessary is retained. In order to optimize the activities of the service and its human and financial resources, it is proposed to limit the range of persons holding positions in the general administration of the Presidency to those occasions when they accompany senior officials at events posing a source of increased risk.
