Bulgarians, who were collaborators of the State Security, the intelligence and secret police during the communist regime, will be banned from receiving medals and orders.

The proposal, tabled in parliament by the right-wing Blue coalition, was surprisingly supported at first reading on Wednesday by 83 MPs, while 18 voted against it and another 27 abstained.

The news comes exactly a year after the Constitutional Court overruled a parliamentary decision that prohibited MPs with state security records to head parliamentary commissions, join international delegations and be members of the interior security and defense commissions, as well as those that control the county's State Agency for National Security (DANS) and European funds.

The Constitutional Court was approached by the formerly ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party and its ally the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, now in opposition, who vehemently protested against the ban.

The court ruled the decision unconstitutional, saying it limits the rights of the members of parliament to be elected in parliamentary bodies and breaches the basic law for equality of all citizens.

The files of the former State Security are a thorny issue in Bulgaria, especially when it comes to the past of high-ranking officials.

Bulgaria's communist-era security service is believed to have remained potent after the fall of communism with the ex-operatives closely linked to the political and business establishment.