Parliament has rejected changes to the Cybersecurity Act put forward by Vazrazhdane. The bill would have changed how the state limits high-risk technology. Only its sponsors backed it, with 10 votes in favour.
A total of 132 MPs voted against and 11 abstained. Progressive Bulgaria, the DPS, Democratic Bulgaria and one GERB-SDS MP voted no. The GERB-SDS group and one MP from We Continue the Change abstained.
Vazrazhdane proposed a new paragraph in Article 27. Under it, entities that work with information and communication technology (ICT) would have to act to reduce any high cybersecurity risk. The Council of Ministers would set a deadline in a decree, based on the nature and level of the risk.
Under the current rules, the Cybersecurity Council uses the information it receives to draw up a reasoned proposal for a decree and sends it to the Council of Ministers. The decree limits specific technologies or critical supply chains for ICT services and products. It must not clash with binding EU or Bulgarian law, or with the EU's coordinated risk assessments.
In its reasons for the bill, Vazrazhdane says the current rules allow broad limits on technology. It says this creates regulatory uncertainty, raises costs for business and puts competition and innovation at risk. The party wants a more flexible approach based on assessing and managing risk, with proportionate steps, as digitisation speeds up and reliance on ICT grows. It says limiting or halting a technology should be a last resort, used only when a high risk to national security is proven.
Georgi Grigorov of Progressive Bulgaria said his group would not back the text. He said the bill removes the only guarantee of Bulgaria's digital autonomy, because its main change is to drop the strongest measure the EU directive allows as an option. Progressive Bulgaria says the bill weakens cybersecurity.
Tsoncho Ganev of Vazrazhdane said the bill brings in a mandatory assessment by the Security Council. If a risk is found, proportionate steps would apply, not a blanket approach, he said. He said Bulgarian business and interests are being harmed under the current rules, and Chinese firms lose the chance to sell equipment in Bulgaria. Ganev said business groups put the cost of replacing existing equipment at over 2bn, and most of it was supplied by Chinese firms.
Ganev added that the ruling parties say at meetings that they will warm relations with China, but rejecting the bill limits Chinese investment, mostly in telecoms.
Bozhidar Bozhanov of Democratic Bulgaria replied that lobbying for one or two Chinese firms is being pushed from the parliamentary rostrum. Bozhanov said the firms want to sell equipment, which is not an investment, and the aim of the EU directive is to limit risks.