If Bulgarian Simion is on a white horse
What do the country’s special services do, part of the Eastern NATO flank, although not as significant as Romania, and are able to counteract cyber -terrorism, misinformation, economic pressure, destabilizing campaigns?
National Private Order Security
In Bulgaria, the State Agency for National Security (SANS) is mainly oriented towards inter -intelligence activities, with mainly information functions and limited in its powers. However, Romania not only has developed much stronger and complex secret services, but has also created legislation that expands their powers in key spheres, such as cybersecurity and counteraction to misinformation. This discrepancy in the approaches reflects the deep differences in the strategies of the two EU Member States and the Alliance in terms of national security.
| Parred in spheres of influence and vulnerable to external pressure, Bulgarian intelligence services are part of political instruments and seems impossible to function as an independent shield against hybrid threats. |
It is full of general formulations and wishes, corruption is marked as a problem but has not been considered as a fundamental threat to national security as it is, since it erodes the institutions. The national security system is foggy structured. Although it is mentioned cyber -threshing, hybrid attacks and misinformation, they are examined superficially, without an adequate assessment of their weight. The Russian influence or Chinese interests in critically important sectors have not been analyzed, nor has it been updated after the war of Russia in Ukraine began, when Bulgaria was identified as a « enemy state » by the Putin regime.
SANS has sown dozens of Russian spies in Bulgaria in 2024.
The new strategy does not speak.
All these deficits are no surprise.
| The services were depoliticized after democratic changes, de facto remained in the shade of political dependence – controlled and used as instruments for internal party balance, for eliminating opponents and for concealing systemic corruption. |
Their directors are persons agreed by political leaders and do not surprise the definitions that they are of the President/GERB/Peevski/Alexey Petrov (already deceased). The arrays of information are used by the appointments, and taxpayers withstand these guards of narrow and private interests, but not of public security.
GERB offers SANS chief Plamen Tonchev as chairman of the Dossier Committee
| Keeping Tonchev with a high salary in a prestigious position, albeit in a deaf line, shows that a political deal is most likely. Changing one senior chief with another will not affect the « national security » – it will only affect the flow of information that will change its direction as well as the list of orders. |
In Romania Serviciul Român de Informații (SRI) holds politicians
For example, all organizations providing « publicly significant » or « available online » services are obliged to report incidents within 48 hours. The Office has access to sensitive IT systems without judicial sanction. In case of non -compliance with the legal provisions by companies, they threaten them to fines up to 1% of the annual turnover.
Romanian voters are still looking for Tiktok answers to whom to vote
Within the framework of hybrid threat counteracting operations Sri Other services may also want metadata and technical data from communication service providers in real time. And they do not always need a court order when it comes to national security.
| Unlike Bulgarian services, Romanian are significantly better integrated into NATO operations. |
Declaring that he has invested zero funds in the campaign, and without television debate, the nationalist is advertised through a large -scale campaign in Tiktokand in posts he offers Romania and Russia to divide Ukraine.
Simion’s first victory is worth billions of euros by Romanian Central Bank so far
« In the information I have been taken, I have told the same thing that I have argued in recent months – there are serious indications that some of the Bulgarian services, instead of working for national interest, have been working to increase Russian influence in the country. Over the years, various services have been said, usually when leaving. »
After Georgesko, however, a new ultra -nationalist, George Simion, won the first round of the presidential vote in Romania and will fight for a run on May 18 with the pro -Western candidate Nikushor Dan, who lags behind him by as much as 20%.
« You can believe that it is wrong to buy Russia in social media to influence your election. We certainly believe it. You can even condemn it on the world stage. But if your democracy can be destroyed by several hundred thousand dollars from a foreign country, then it was not very strong at first. »
| The anti -European rhetoric of the Romanian national populists is known by Bulgarian political leaders such as Kostadin Kostadinov (« Revival »), Radostin Vasilev (Sword) and Ivelin Mihailov (« Great »). It will not be a surprise if for the presidential election they unite and their voters behind a candidate, as they do now, ally for votes of distrust and other votes in parliament. |
Each of them uses different degrees of propaganda escalation – Kostadinov is extreme, while Vasilev and Mihailov cover the wings of more moderate Eurosceptics.
For more than a year he has divided Bulgaria from the presidential election in the fall of 2026, an attempt can not be ruled out for a Romanian scenario. But will the SANS understand and if he understands, counteract or inform?
