Bulgaria’s President Vetoes Controversial Change to Military Intelligence Act

Bulgaria’s President Rosen Plevneliev has vetoed a legislative change that bans civilian officials from heading the country’s military intelligence service.

“I see no reason why the director of the service could not be a person other than an armed forces officer if civilian officials could be deputy directors in charge of executing the functions of their chief in his absence,” Plevneliev said in his motives to return the controversial legislation to Parliament for further consideration.

Two weeks ago Parliament adopted a legislative change that will force the current civilian head of the service, Yordan Bakalov, to step aside if and when goes into force.

The MPs decided that the head of the Defence Ministry’s Defence Information Service could only be a high-ranking Armed Forces officer on active duty. Bakalov, who meets neither of those requirements, has submitted his resignation but Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev has refused to accept it.

“The President believes that there are no sound arguments to eliminate the possibility for a civilian official with professional  expertise in the field of national security or armed forces to hold this position,” the President’s Office said in a news release.

“Since 2012, the position has been held by a civilian official which has not prevented the Defence Information Service from fulfilling its tasks”.