The conservative "Order, Law, Justice" (RZS) party stated that it would leave the Parliament hall while the amendment in the Interior Ministry Law were being voted.

“In this way we will not vote against, and will keep our promise to support the GERB government”, Todor Velikov, Member of the Parliament from the RZS group, said.

A scandal arose Thursday during the discussion of the Interior Ministry Law amendment. This is the first serious between the rightist forces of GERB, the Blue Coalition (DSB and UDF rightist parties), and RZS. Together with the far-right party Ataka, they all agreed before the forming of the new government that they would generally support each other in the Parliament.

MP from the rightist Blue Coalition, Yordan Bakalov, said that the changes will result in bigger centralization of power in the Ministry, which is against the political program of the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party. In his words, GERB promised before the elections that it would seek decentralization of the Interior Ministry, and the Civil Protection Service and the fire department will be transferred to the municipalities for better efficiency.

“No changes have been made in some legislature decisions. With these amendment, the old, rejected by the European Union practices, in which police structures and counter-intelligence are combined under one hood. By restoring the Main Directorate for Fighting Organized Crime (GDBOP) the problem with doubling functions in the Interior Ministry will be worsen. The law does not make it clear whether GDBOP has security or police functions”, Bakalov said.

On the other hand, RZS called the amendments “unmethodical legislation act and socialist legislation anachronism”. It will lead to heavier bureaucracy, which does not help solving the problems in the Interior Ministry. The responsibilities of the managing personnel hare not clearly stated. The question about the responsibilities of the Minister and the Secretary General in case of failure remain unclear, too, RZS said.

Moreover, the law does not offer definite rules on how the good Interior Ministry employees will be distinguished, and the options for their professional promotion in case of good results. The extent of the power of GDBOP has also not been established in the amendment, RZS added.

There are obstacles for the regular citizens who would want to access information, which makes the Interior Ministry even more non-transparent.

“By reestablishing GDBOP as a separate directorate, the operative collaboration between all other directorates will be improved, and opportunity for improving the Ministry's work in the fight against organized crime and corruption will be created”, Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov answered in defense of the amendments.

In his words, the government does not aim to increase the Interior Ministry's monopole, but rather to improve its efficiency.

“The changes are obligatory and temporary. Temporary, because national strategy in the Interior Security sector which will include more thorough revision of the law will soon be created. The Interior Ministry's profile must first be cleaned, in order to become clear what everyone there is doing”, Tsvetanov explained.

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