October 16, 2009


At its meeting on October 16, 2009,the National Assembly approved on first reading amendments to the State Agency for National Security (SANS) Act, a bill submitted by the Council of Ministers.

The amendments curtail some of the functions performed by SANS, such as countering the fraudulent absorption of EU funds. Some of the agency’s activities are reformulated in order to avoid ambiguous interpretation as to what are the SANS functions and to not duplicate its activities with those of the Interior Ministry.

All activities of the agency are are to comply with the requirement to ensure protection of national security. The law sets out definitions for the terms "national security" and "encroachment upon the national security".

The amendments import changes in the powers of the agency’s personnel. SANS won’t be able any more to use undercover officers, and bans controlled deliveries and fiduciary transactions. Employees of the agency will be authorized to arrest only a person who has breached security and trespassing procedures in the area of secured sites of SANS. Agency officials are obliged to inform the competent police authorities and transmit to them the detainee. The amendments reduce the use of certain specific tools and eliminate the use of chemical substances and service animals.

The bill sets new rules on the exchange of information between the structures of the SANS and the Interior Ministry. The bill establishes special procedures for examining the letters, complaints, suggestions and warnings addressed to the agency, in regards to its activities.

In the time for parliamentary scrutiny, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov answered questions from MPs Ivan Kostov and Veselin Metodiev concerning the refusal of the National Audit Office to approve the financial report for the year 2008 of the Council of Ministers. According to them the audit report indicates that the financial statements of the Ministerial Council contain significant violations. Those responsible will be held accountable for the breaches, said on the floor the Prime Minister. He explained that the Audit Office has found considerable data covering the period between 1 January 2008 - July 31, 2009, that contradicts sharply with the earlier positive opinion to certify the financial statements. The conclusive opinion of the National Audit Office on the report is still pending, added Boyko Borisov.

Recent evidence shows that the budget deficit for September 2009 was only 62 million, in contrast with the 565 million euro deficit for July, said during the parliamentary control the Deputy Prime and Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov. He pointed out that the deficit for September was nine times smaller than the deficit in July. We already account for improvements in the balance of the budget deficit on a monthly basis, it was reduced to 92 million in August, and to 62 million in September, said the Deputy Prime Minister.

In response to a question concerning the national payments per single unit area in 2009, Simeon Dyankov said that 211 million leva have been allocated in the 2010 State Budget to subsidize the measures in agriculture and the funds remain on the expenditures account plan of the State Fund “Agriculture”.

With the proposed amendment to the excise duty on cigarettes in Bulgaria, the law aims to get closer to the average level of excise duty on cigarettes for Central and Eastern Europe, said today, in response to a question, the Minister of Finance. After the amendments in the Excise Duty and Tax Warehouses Act the specific excise duty on cigarettes will become 74 euro per 1000 pieces, and the value added tax - 36 percent of the purchase price, explained Simeon Diankov. Thus, the total excise duty will be 76 euros for a 1000 pieces, he added. The Minister stressed that at present the duty on cigarettes in the EU countries is between 64 euros and 260 euros for 1000 pieces, as in 20 countries it is over 76 euros for 1000 pieces. Only Bulgaria and Lithuania have currently a duty under 64 euros per 1000 cigarettes of the best selling price category, Dyankov said.

The Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Rosen Plevneliev said during the parliamentary scrutiny that next week a meeting with representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development(EBRD) is to be held to discuss the Hemus Highway construction project. He also added that the National Road Agency was planning to commission the construction design.
Rosen Plevneliev said construction works on the motorway “Lyulin” continues non-stop in three working shifts, seven days a week and the contractor had revised the schedule of work. He said that delays in the construction could not be caught up, but the motorway should be completed by the end of 2010.
In response to questions, the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, said that efforts to keep the mountain pass “Beklemeto” open during the winter is uneconomical and technically almost impossible.

During the question time, the Minister of Education, Youth and Science Yordanka Fandakova said that it was high time to make a major reform in the correctional schools’ system of education and that such was also the ambition of the ministry. She pointed out that for this purpose the establishment of an inter-ministerial advisory council to prepare the appropriate structural and legislative changes in these institutions was initiated.