The protection of Bulgarian and foreign citizens in Bulgaria from terrorist attacks remains a top priority for the security services, President Rosen Plevneliev said after a meeting that he convened of the Consultative Council on National Security. For the first time in 18 years, the Consultative Council on National Security approved internal rules of procedure, and also approved reports on the first meeting of the Council, held on April 25 2012. At its meeting, the Council discussed the state of the security environment and national security system in the context of the terrorist attack at Burgas Airport, as well as assessments and recommendations in the European Commission’s five-year report on Bulgaria under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism.

Members of the Council were unanimous that the attack at Burgas Airport required a new analysis of the dynamics of the security environment. It is essential to update the national model for combating terrorism in accordance with the new realities. On the basis of this analysis, short-term and long-term programs should be updated to ensure and guarantee the necessary organizational, human and financial resources and develop the necessary organizational and system capabilities to combat terrorism.

Council members agreed that the optimal allocation and management of resources and successful cooperation of the institutions involved in combating terrorism would be key in achieving success, the President said.

Council participants agreed on the following proposals to the Council of Ministers:

- To organize and carry out a new comprehensive analysis of the dynamics of the security environment, to clarify the causal relationships between factors and events that gave rise to the terrorist attack at Sarafovo airport. To draw conclusions about their development and evaluation of their complex impact on the national security of the Republic of Bulgaria;

- To update the conceptual model for national counter-terrorism in accordance with changes to the security environment and resources available, and to forward this to Parliament;

- To improve the work of the National Situation Centre at the Council of Ministers in crisis management;

- Develop detailed procedural rules for operating during a crisis for the Security Council at the Council of Ministers and services;

- To analyze and update the National Plan for Combating Terrorism, indicating the resources and capabilities necessary to counter terrorism effectively, and to forward this to Parliament.

Regarding the European Commission’s Cooperation and Verification Mechanism for Bulgaria and Romania, the Consultative Council of National Security aims to achieve unification of institutions around the measures and recommendations to be implemented by the end of 2013. State institutions all agree that the recommendations of the Commission are actually achievable by the end of 2013, President Plevneliev said.