Bulgaria's Foreign Affairs Minister, Nikolay Mladenov and the parliamentary group of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) failed to reach consensus on amending the law to ban diplomatic appointments of people with "Communist past."

After the scandal, in which it was revealed nearly half of Bulgaria's present Ambassadors have been collaborators or agents of the former State Security of the Communist regime, Mladenov, backed by Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, and the cabinet of the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, declared they want to recall those diplomats.

The BSP leader and former Prime Minister, Sergey Stanishev, said Thursday it would be "dumb and irresponsible" to start a conflict with the President. On Wednesday, President, Georgi Parvanov, stated he opposes the recall, labeling it "purge."

After the meeting with the BSP parliamentary group, Mladenov declared that from now on each political formation must make their own decision on the issue, and make own analysis of the legal changes the cabinet will propose.

"We will soon be in 2011. This page of Bulgarian history must be closed once and forever," the Minister said.

Stanishev pointed out the issue was very serious, but the PM and Mladenov were using it for a media PR that did not make sense.

"At the time, when we were passing this bill, I was the one who insisted we must differentiate between informers; people who wrote reports against their neighbors, acquaintances and friends, and those who worked for the foreign intelligence of the Bulgarian State, the way this State was at the moment," Stanishev stressed.

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