The Parliamentary Committee on Internal Security and Public Order supported on the first vote that the chairmen of the State Agency for National Security (SANS), the State Agency for Intelligence (DAR) and the State Agency for Technical Operations (DATO) should be elected by a decision of the National Assembly and not appointed by a presidential decree. The proposals for legal amendments are from MPs from the ruling coalition, BTA reports.
According to the current legislation, the chairmen of the security services are appointed by decree of the president upon a proposal from the Council of Ministers.
The MPs who submitted the proposals are Alexander Rashkov (ITN), Stanislav Balabanov (ITN), Dragomir Stoynev (BSP), Maya Dimitrova (BSP), Iliyan Yonchev (BSP), Manoil Manev (GERB-SDS) and Hristo Terziyski (GERB-SDS). The ruling parties are proposing changes to the laws on the State Agency for Intelligence, the State Agency for National Security and on special intelligence means.
It is proposed that the chairmen of the three security services be elected by the National Assembly upon a proposal from the Council of Ministers. The current legal model provides for the appointment of the chairmen of DATO, SANS and DAR to be carried out in the hypothesis of shared competence between the president and the Council of Ministers, it is written in the motives of the three bills.
Both the Constitution and the laws do not provide for legal mechanisms for resolving any conflicts that may arise between the president and the Council of Ministers when exercising their shared competence. There are not isolated cases in which the Council of Ministers proposes a certain person to take the position of head of a state body, but the president refuses to coordinate, respectively, to issue a decree for his appointment. In this situation, it is necessary for a certain, sometimes long period of time, for the relevant body to be headed by a person who temporarily performs the functions until a holder is appointed, the motives of the bills state.
According to the submitters of the proposed amendments, the balance in the relations parliament - president – government, has not been violated, since in a republic with parliamentary government, the parliament is at the center of this balance.
The proposed change does not affect the constitutional powers of the President of the Republic in the field of defense and national security, the submitters also point out.
I have already answered in writing with "no", said President Rumen Radev yesterday in response to a journalistic question whether he would officially respond to the Prime Minister to appoint Denyo Denev as Chairman of SANS. I have completed the coordination procedure with the government, added Rumen Radev.
In early September, the government sent the president a request for coordination for Denyo Denev as Chairman of SANS. Denev currently serves as Chairman of the agency.