The Constitutional Court ruled on the admissibility of constitutional cases No. 14/2025, No. 16/2025, and No. 17/2025, which were initiated on the basis of requests from a group of members of the 51st National Assembly.
The requests allege the unconstitutionality of parts of the provisions of the State Agency for National Security Act, the Special Intelligence Means Act, and the State Agency for Intelligence Act, as last amended by the Act Amending the State Agency for National Security Act , the Law Amending the Law on Special Intelligence Means, and the Law Amending the Law on the State Agency for National Security, adopted by the 51st National Assembly.
The amended provisions provide that the chairpersons of the State Agency for National Security, the Technical Operations Agency, and the Intelligence Agency to be elected by a decision of the National Assembly upon a proposal by the Council of Ministers, and the number of deputy chairpersons to be increased from two to three. This changes the previous procedure whereby the chairpersons of these agencies were appointed by presidential decree upon the proposal of the Council of Ministers.
Constitutional case No. 14/2025 requests that §2 of the Final Provision of the Law Amending the Law on the State Agency for National Security, which repeals Article 7, paragraph 2, item 5 of the Law on the Management and Functioning of the National Security Protection System, be declared unconstitutional. The same is requested in Constitutional Case No. 16/2025.
The request in Constitutional Case No. 17/2025 also alleges the unconstitutionality of the new provision of Article 7, paragraph 1, item 6 of the Law on the Management and Functioning of the National Security Protection System, which empowers the Council of Ministers to make proposals to the National Assembly for the election and dismissal of the chairpersons of the State Agency for National Security and the State Agency for Intelligence, respectively.
In Constitutional Case No. 14/2025, the Court admitted all of the petitioner's claims for consideration on their merits.
Link to the text of the Resolution – https://www.constcourt.bg/en/case-706
In Constitutional Case No. 16/2025, the Court admitted part of the petitioner's requests for consideration on the merits. The Court rejected the petitioner's request for "the repeal of Article 7, paragraph 2, item 5 of the Law on the Management and Functioning of the National Security Protection System (amended and supplemented, State Gazette No. 94 of 2025)" as inadmissible because no provision of the Law Amending the Law on Special Intelligence Means repeals this legal text. The repeal of this provision by §2 of the Final Provision of the Law Amending the Law on the State Agency "National Security" is the subject of proceedings in case No. 14/2025.
Link to the full text of the Resolution – https://www.constcourt.bg/bg/act-10222
In Constitutional Case No. 17/2025, the Court admitted all of the petitioner's requests for consideration on their merits.
Link to the full text of the Resolution – https://www.constcourt.bg/bg/act-10223
Twelve constitutional judges participated in the sitting.
The resolutions were adopted unanimously.