Bulgaria's President Calls Meeting of Consultative Security Council

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev is calling an extraordinary sitting of the Consultative Council on National Security (KSNS) to discuss the current political situation in the country and the steps necessary to meet public expectations.

KSNS includes Parliament Speaker Mihail Mikov, Prime Minister Oresharski, the Ministers of Defense, Interior, Foreign Affairs, and Finance, the Chief of Defense, and the chairs of the parliamentary groups in the 42nd National Assembly, according to reports of dnevnik.bg.

The agenda of the meeting will include reform in the security sector and guarantees for transparency of appointments.

The meeting was scheduled over the decision adopted in early June to spin off the Interior Ministry's Chief Directorate "Organized Crime" (GDBOP) and merge it into the State Agency for National Security (DANS), as well as the appointment of notorious media mogul and MP of ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), Delyan Peevski, as Chair of DANS and the ensuing ongoing mass protests.

Peevski's appointment on Friday last week caused Plevneliev to declare that he was withdrawing his confidence in the socialist-led government of Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski.

On Wednesday, both Oresharski and the leaders of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and DPS admitted that they had made a political mistake by appointing Peevski as DANS Chair and Bulgaria's Parliament backed a motion to reverse the decision.

Center-right party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) has said it will insist during Thursday's sitting of KSNS that the DANS Chair must be appointed by a presidential decree, not by Mps, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT).

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!