The Bulgarian Parliament is to discuss at first reading the amendments to the Interior Ministry Act, which were tabled by the main ruling GERB last month.

According to one of the proposed amendments, the State Agency for National Security (DANS) is to retain its partial ability to use special intelligence means (SRS), electronic daily Dnevnik reports.

Another proposal provides for the General Directorate Combating Organised Crime (GDBOP), which is currently under the authority of DANS, to be returned within the Interior Ministry.

The other suggested change provides for reinvesting the President with the right to appoint the Chief Secretary of the Interior Ministry, which will give opportunity for the replacement of incumbent Svetlozar Lazarov.

Public discussion took place on Tuesday, in which members of parliament, experts from the field of security and internal order, legal and national security specialists and nongovernmental organisations deliberated the proposed amendments in the presence of Interior Minister Veselin Vuchkov.

The most substantive changes are diametrically opposed to the amendments carried out by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski.

Former Interior Minister and current chair of GERB's parliamentary group Tsvetan Tsvetanov said that the motivating force behind the amendments is the establishment of better security environment.

According to him, one of the main accents is to return the balancing role of the President, which is an additional guarantee that institutions will be equally distanced.

The introduction of competition exams prior to the appointments in the Interior Ministry will ensure the competence of the cadres.

The structural changes will restore General Directorate National Police, which is to provide vital resources.

DANS will retain its right to carry out surveillance and other operations with the aid of special intelligence means, but only for the sake of national security and fighting terrorism.