Bulgaria's future Security Agency should be managed by professionals and not by political figures, US Ambassador to Bulgaria, John Beyrle said in an interview for the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) on October 16, as quoted by mediapool.bg.

The government-proposed restructuring of the country’s intelligence services was something good and made sense. However, they should remain under the strict control of the National Assembly. If the principles of management expertise and parliamentary control were abided, Bulgaria would end up with a national security agency that would be up to date and corresponding to the present day needs, Beyrle said.

Last week, the National Assembly voted on first reading the draft law on the new body, but an extensive and heated political debate has been going on with regard to the management of the agency. Opposition MPs, backed by some of their colleagues from the ruling three-party majority demanded that the new Security Agency should not be led by people who had in any way been related to the former communist state security.

The ruling socialists however, said there was no good expert to be found, at a proper age, who had not been related to the communist system of security. The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) would not admit any lustration texts, blocking the position for those who had been involved in the former security system, in the new law. BSP claimed it would not put a political figure on top of the agency, mediapool.bg said.

Beyrle called the debate “a bit politicised” and said that “when fighting corruption and organised crime was at stake, capacity and will to fight are the things to talk about”. Speaking of political will, this was a topic between the political leadership and the Bulgarian society, he said.