EU concerns forced the Ministry of Interior to withdraw the draft bill for changes to the Alien Act from the ministries with which it expected to co-ordinate the project, it was announced last Thursday.

The text of the bill was discussed by a working group of representatives in the Foreign and Interior Ministries, headed by Deputy Minister of Interior Boiko Kotsev, and scheduled for review by the Ministry of Justice last week.

The changes to the Act had to be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval before the Christmas vacation. They are part of a programme which the Government promised to implement by year-end.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) also insisted on quick approval of the changes. Last year, MRF demanded the abolishment of what they call the "Anti-Chorny act". Deputy floor leader of MRF Liutvi Mestan refused to comment on the parallel changes to the Act for lack of sufficient information. During the last parliamentary session, Mestan urged coalition partners from the National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) to co-ordinate with the MRF its ideas for reform of the Alien Act.

It is not clear yet whether the MRF proposals would be included in the bill of the Interior Ministry or the two draft bills will be co-ordinated in Parliament. "We demand something very simple, to subject to judicial control the obligatory measures against foreigners and their expulsion for reasons of national security, because we consider the Supreme Administrative Court as a body of the state power could no less effectively guarantee the interests of the state," Mestan said.

The MRF argued the regime in Bulgaria had no analogue in the EU and all acts for imposing administrative measures against foreigners were subject to judicial control. "The acting ban violates the European Convention for Human Rights, the International Pact for Civil and Political Rights, as well as the Directive 2015 of the European Commission," Mestan said.