Bulgaria to replace new security chief after public backlash

Bulgaria's
Socialist-led government said
on Saturday it would reverse
its appointment of a
powerful media figure as
head of state security just a
day after rushing it through
parliament, bowing to public
outrage two weeks after
taking power.
About 8,000 people rallied in
downtown Sofia for a second day,
chanting "Mafia!" and "Resignation!".
Legislators from the ruling Socialists
and the allied ethnic Turkish MRF
party had endorsed Delyan Peevski,
also an MRF deputy, for the security
chief post by a simple majority
without debate on Friday.
"We backed Peevski with the clear idea
that we need a strong and decisive
person who was able to open a front
on organized crime and corruption ...
But we hear the voice of the people
and we will comply," the Socialist
party said in a statement.
Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski,
whose alliance has a fragile position in
parliament, said he would make a
new nomination once legislators had
reversed their decision.
The appointment of Peevski, who lacks
experience in the security field, was
seen by diplomats and observers as
subjecting powerful state institutions
to private interests.
Post-communist governments have
failed to sever mutually advantageous
links between politicians and
businessmen. This has deterred
foreign investment and kept the
Balkan country under strict EU
monitoring and outside the passport-
free Schengen zone ever since its
admission to the bloc in 2007.
The same year, Peevski was sacked as
a deputy minister in the Socialist-led
administration in a corruption
scandal. But an investigation against
him was later dropped and he was
reinstated.
Peevski plays a leading role in his
mother's powerful network of
national newspapers and television
channels, deciding on editorial policy
and staffing even though he has no
formal position there, Bulgarian
media say.
President Rosen Plevneliev had urged
the new government to reconsider
the appointment, saying it could
alienate Bulgaria's partners and would
have "long-term negative
consequences".
The new government took office on
May 29, after a snap election triggered
by protests over low living standards
and corruption.
The outgoing center-right GERB party
once more became the biggest party
in parliament, but failed to secure a
majority, leaving the Socialists to
assemble a coalition that relies on the
passive support of a small nationalist
party.