Bulgaria Abstains from Blocking Ex-Communist Agents from Diplomatic Missions

With most of the attending MP abstaining from voting, the Bulgarian Parliament did not accept the rightist Blue Coalition's propositions to prohibit former communist State Security agents from working in diplomatic missions abroad.

The first proposition, which concerned only diplomats, received 16 votes for, 20 against and 61 MP abstained. The second one, which all employees in diplomatic missions to have a "clear" past, was also rejected.

During the parliamentary discussion, Bulgaria's Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov was positive that former State Security agents will be prohibited from joining diplomatic missions, but that will happen only once the new law on diplomatic missions prepared by his own Ministry is ready.

"There is no way that, 20 years after Bulgaria started its transitional period, it could keep those 40% of its diplomats abroad who have been agents," Mladenov declared.

The diplomatic scandal flared at the end of 2010, when the Files Commission exposed about 200 diplomats, 90 of whom still employed by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, as former State Security agents or collaborators. 35 are ambassadors and permanent representatives. Just days ago, another 75 employees of the Ministry were exposed for ties with the Communist Security Services.

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