Bulgaria's Constitutional Court has ruled that changes to the law on the State Agency for National Security (DANS) - which now let parliament pick and remove the agency's head - do not break the constitution. The court turned down a challenge from 59 MPs in the 51st National Assembly, the court's press office said.

Under the disputed changes, the heads of the State Agency for National Security, the State Agency for Technical Operations and the State Intelligence Agency will be chosen by a vote in parliament, on a proposal from the Council of Ministers. Until now, the president appointed them by decree, also on the cabinet's proposal. The number of deputy heads at each agency rises from two to three.

Lawmakers can decide for themselves whether an institution's head is appointed and removed by the president, or chosen and removed by parliament, the judges wrote in their reasoning.

Letting parliament's majority choose the DANS head does not make the agency's work political, the ruling says, because the law on the agency spells out the principle of political neutrality. A head chosen by MPs does the job under the law and because of the law, so he is not politically tied to the majority that picked him, the judges found.

The constitution allows parliament to choose and remove the heads of institutions set out in law. It also allows the president to appoint and remove other state officials set out in law. The only exception is when this touches constitutional principles or limits constitutional powers.

Judge Sasho Penov was the rapporteur on the case, and all 12 constitutional judges took part in the hearing. Atanas Semov, Yanaki Stoilov and Nevin Feti filed a dissenting opinion on Article 8, paragraphs 1, 5 and 6 of the DANS law.

In late 2025, the court agreed to hear three constitutional cases brought by a group of MPs from the 51st National Assembly, a notice on the Constitutional Court's website says.