Kalin Stoyanov, a Member of Parliament from „DPS–New Beginning“, has submitted a bill to Parliament aiming to eliminate one of the privileges provided by the National Security Service (NSS) to the presidential administration. The proposal, published on the official website of the National Assembly, foresees the abolition of the service's authority to provide transportation for employees of the president's administration. This initiative comes amid a heightened public debate regarding the use of NSS resources, especially after the incident involving President Rumen Radev's motorcade in Varna.
Details of the Bill
The bill specifically proposes the repeal of item 14 in Art. 14, para. 1 of the NSS Act. In the motives for the document, Stoyanov states that this practice represents a "completely unnecessary privilege for the employees of one administration", which "degrades the National Security Service into an ordinary transport company". He adds that such an arrangement does not exist for the administrations of the National Assembly or the Council of Ministers, which places the presidential administration in a uniquely privileged position without a legal basis for it.
The bill is motivated by the conviction that the existence of this text is "absolutely unnecessary" and creates an unjustified inequality.
Stoyanov emphasizes that employees of the presidential administration are not within the scope of persons under protection as defined by law. However, thanks to the existing text, they are practically equated in terms of privileges with the exhaustively listed persons in Art. 21 of the law, who are entitled to specialized transport and security. These include:
- ministers
- members of the Constitutional Court
- deputy chairs of the National Assembly
- chairs of the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) and the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC)
Former chairs of the NA, prime ministers, and presidents, as well as representatives of international organizations, are also entitled to special transport.
Context and Goals
The initiative of the MP is not accidental. Earlier, in a post on the social network Facebook, Kalin Stoyanov commented on the August 10 incident related to President Rumen Radev's motorcade in Varna. He claims that a large part of the president's administration uses the service's vehicles, driven by its drivers. Stoyanov specifies that it is exactly Art. 14 that allows the entire presidential administration to use the vehicles and drivers of the NSS. According to the MP, the goal of the bill is "to eliminate the possibility of the NSS being used as a personal transport company for the presidential administration", thus emphasizing the need for strict adherence to legal provisions and the effective use of state resources.
The proposal from „DPS–New Beginning“ brings an important issue for discussion into the public space - to what extent are the privileges enjoyed by certain state institutions justified, and whether the use of NSS resources goes beyond the scope of its main mission - to provide security for high-ranking statesmen, not transport services for their administrations.