Bulgarian President, PM to Discuss Ambassadorial Reshuffle

President Rosen Plevneliev and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov are meeting Wednesday morning, the press office of Bulgaria's new head of state said in a statement.

The agenda of the meeting is to include the upcoming ambassadorial reshuffle.

The talks will be brief because the Prime Minister will head for the southern city of Pazardzhik for a session of the government.

The ministers will also vote on a draft law expanding the capacity of the national Ombudsman.

The amendments include additional functions such as the monitoring of living conditions and the observance of human rights in the country.

The government will also hold debates on amendments to the Trade Registry Act setting rules for the companies which failed to re-register by the 01 January, 2012 statutory deadline

Plevneliev, in his part, will depart for Brussels Wednesday afternoon on his first foreign visit as head of state.

Plevneliev will meet Wednesday evening with Bulgarian MEPs representing different parties in the European Parliament.

On Thursday, the new head of state will meet with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, EP President Martin Schulz, EC President Jose Barroso and Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council.

Wednesday's talks between the President and the Prime Minister may also include the preparation of a plan for drafting and approving laws on the statute of the National Intelligence Service and the National Security Service.

The agenda of the Pazardzhik-based Cabinet session will include a review of the 25 ambassadorial nominees and a discussion on regional issues with the 11 mayors of municipalities in the region.

Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov is expected to propose a major diplomatic reshuffle during Wednesday's cabinet sitting

As many as 25 new Ambassadors abroad will be proposed, dnevnik.bg reports, citing own sources.

Many of them are expected to substitute the Ambassadors who were exposed as former secret agents of the Bulgarian Communist State Security.

According to dnevnik.bg, Bulgaria's Deputy Foreign Ministry Konstantin Dimitrov will be appointed as country's new Ambassador in London. Another Deputy Foreign Minister, Dimitar Tsanchev, is expected to be appointed as Permanent Representative to EU.

Angel Cholakov, Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, is expected to be appointed as Ambassador to Italy. He would replace ex-Communist agent Atanas Mladenov.

Five Bulgarian interim Ambassadors are to be named as permanent envoys abroad, the report says, citing Vienna, Pretoria, Damascus, Bratislava and Islamabad.

Gen. Nikola Kolev, former President Georgi Parvanov's cabinet chief, may become Bulgaria's Ambassador to the Netherlands.

In the beginning of January, Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court revoked the recall orders issued by Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov to Bulgaria's ambassadors to the Netherlands, Serbia and Greece.

In September, Mladenov ordered a group of Ambassadors to return to Sofia on business trips for an indefinite period that could well last until their terms in office expired or their successors were appointed.

The Foreign Minister based his actions on the amended Diplomatic Service Act which allowed him to resort to such measures if the Ambassadors' terms in office were about to expire.

In end-November, however, the Constitutional Court revoked the amendments to the Diplomatic Service Act banning former State Security agents from taking up key diplomatic positions. The Foreign Ministry is currently appealing the Constitutional Court's ruling.

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