Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov, says to have 45% of Ambassadors as former agents of the secret services of the Communist regime is a colossal embarrassment. Photo by BGNES
Bulgaria's Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov, extended a request to the Parliament to issue an official political assessment of the diplomatic scandal shaking Bulgaria and its allies since December 14.
On Saturday, Mladenov told the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR, the Parliament must commit to a position on the issue, otherwise it would continue to tarnish the already tarnished enough image of the country, adding the Members of the Parliament should hold a debate and then publish an official declaration.
The Minister pointed out this matter was something that needed to be done 20 years ago.
Last week Bulgaria's special panel, investigating the communist-era police files, known as the Files' Commission, the numbers indicating that nearly 50% of all Bulgarian diplomats have been collaborators and agents of the former Communist State Security. The probe involved 462 diplomats.
Ambassadors, Consuls and Deputy Directors of diplomatic missions in the Great Britain, Germany, Italy, UN (New York and Geneva), Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey, Russia, China, Sweden, Romania, Norway, Japan, Qatar, Kuwait, Syria, Egypt, Bosnia, Greece, the Vatican, Slovakia, Albania, Georgia, Armenia and Venezuela are among those mentioned as the former Bulgarian State Security's collaborators.
The Foreign Minister reacted strongly, saying Bulgaria should no longer be represented abroad by Ambassadors' who have been collaborators and agents of the former Communist State Security, and asking for their immediate recall.