Bulgaria to Go Ahead with Diplomatic Lustration Despite Court Ruling - Minister
Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov has expressed regret over Wednesday's decision of the Constitutional Court (KS) obstructing the anticipated recall of Bulgarian diplomats abroad exposed as former Communist State Security agents.
"The decision of the Constitutional Court revoking the amendments to the Diplomatic Service Act concerning people with proven ties to the secret services of the communist regime makes me feel sorry that this important body decided to block the road to cleaning up Bulgaria's image,"Mladenov said in a statement.
"There are authorities that prioritize maintaining dark dependencies from the past over modernizing Bulgarian diplomacy and providing chances for the development of a new generation of diplomats.
The political will of the Parliament, the government and the President-Elect, as well as mine, has been firmly stated and remains unchanged: Bulgaria will not be represented globally by people with links to the repressive apparatus of the communist regime.
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we cannot afford to allow this topic to continue casting a shadow over the Bulgarian nation.
This is why Bulgaria's representatives whose ties to DS were established by the Files Commission will be recalled and brought back to the country. Wednesday's decision of the court does not change in the slightest the rights and opportunities of the government and the President to decide which Ambassadors will represent our country.
From now on, I will not present nominations for Ambassadors of persons with ties to the former DS or the intelligence services of the Bulgarian People's Army," Mladenov declared./Source: Sofia News Agency/