Bulgarian PM Unwavering on Ousting Disgraced Diplomats

Politics » DIPLOMACY | December 16, 2010, Thursday // 12:36
Bulgarian PM Unwavering in Ousting Disgraced Diplomats: Bulgarian PM Unwavering on Ousting Disgraced Diplomats Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov (center), says he is convinced it is not ethical to make a former secret service agent an Ambassador in a country the latter worked against in his past. Photo by BGNES

The diplomats, who were exposed as collaborators and agents of the former Communist State Security, will be recalled, Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, declared, reiterating his earlier statements.

Borisov spoke to the members of his cabinet during the Council of Ministers meeting.

The government press office distributed the full text of Borisov's statements:

"Mladenov (Bulgaria's Foreign Minister) and I have been working on this issue since last night. You know, the Ambassadors' files have been exposed, so let me inform you too. Our political decision and our understanding is that it is not ethical to make a former secret service agent an Ambassador in a country the latter worked against in his past. Regretfully, over 40%, 45% of our diplomats, checked so far by the Files' Commission, have ties with the former State Security.

I am convinced that 20 years after democracy arrived in Bulgaria, now when we are EU and NATO members, it is high time. If some of them were then younger, it is understandable they let them keep their posts, but now they are at the age when they should be writing memoirs about their spying activities. They certainly would be very interesting to readers and their authors can make good money. However, a political formation such as our Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, and myself as its leader, and the Foreign Minister, as an ardent democrat, we think we cannot let them keep their assignments.

This is our decision. I am just informing you. After the meeting Minister Mladenov will explain to you the exact steps we plan to undertake, but our political understanding in unison with our North-Atlantic commitment, is that this is not right, even more because now we have official information. Until now, we might have had some doubts; we overheard some things, but we did not know – imagine sending a former agent of the State Security to any government in Europe! After a meeting, his or her colleagues will have to check their offices for bugs. You also must take into account the sinister reputation the services of the former Socialist countries have. So, this is just a clarification on what we decided last night and what we are doing," Borisov is quoted saying.

"Colleagues, I propose we hold a meeting so that I can explain to you what exact conclusions we made; what our analysis is, and what we recommend to undertake as concrete steps. Then we will announce it to the media and coordinate it with our Parliamentary group," Mladenov had stated in conclusion.

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Tags: Boyko Borisov, Prime Minister, diplomats, State Security, DS, collaborators, Nikolay Mladenov, Bulgarian, diplomats, Ambassadors, agents, files, State Security, communist regime, Communist Bulgaria, Foreign Minister, Georgi Parvanov, DS, collaborators

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