The National Assembly adopted key changes to the Law on the National Security Service (NSS) on first reading, which restructure the transport services of the head of state. With the votes of 127 MPs, the MPs approved the proposal of the Council of Ministers to transfer the service's cars directly to the presidential administration.
The changes were made after a parliamentary decision in early October, which terminated the transport services of the presidential administration by the NSS. The government's draft law adopted today regulates the transfer of movable property (cars) and staff positions, as well as legal relations with employees who have previously served the presidential administration.
The Council of Ministers indicates that the changes will not place an additional burden on the state budget, since the funds will be compensated between the budgets of the two structures. The goal is for the presidential administration to independently organize its transport services and control its expenses.
The parliament also approved the second bill, submitted by Hamid Hamid from "DPS - New Beginning". It provides for an explicit ban on individuals providing personal cars to the NSO, as well as for private cars to be equipped with a special traffic regime (blue lights and sirens).
"The NSO is a highly specialized structure that should guarantee the security and inviolability of state bodies", states the reasons of the submitters, who insist on a legislative guarantee for the professional performance of the service's duties.
During the debates, a sharp dispute broke out between the representatives of "Vazrazhdane" and "DPS - New Beginning". Ruse MP Zlatan Zlatanov ("Vazrazhdane"), whose bill to abolish the NSO security for deputies was rejected, described the proposals as part of an institutional war.
"An institutional war is being waged against the presidency, at the heart of which is the DPS - New Beginning", said Zlatan Zlatanov, quoted by BTA. According to him, the bill of Delyan Peevski's party is "a mockery of the presidency".
In response, Kalin Stoyanov from "DPS - New Beginning" sharply replied: "You haven't understood what we did with the changes to the NSO law, with which we took away the privilege of the presidential administration to use cars on duty". He rhetorically asked whether it was right for paramilitary NSO employees to serve administrative personnel.
The proposal by "Vazrazhdane" The proposal to exclude MPs from the circle of protected persons was rejected, gathering the support of only 61 MPs. Zlatanov argued his request with the claim that privileges are being abused and unjustified resources are being spent on protecting party leaders.
The "Moral, Unity, Honor" (MECH) party also criticized the legislative initiatives. Nikolay Radulov predicted that the changes would lead to the departure of many employees from the National Security Service and stated that MPs should be protected in the same way as the people are protected - – "poorly".