Rumyana Bachvarova

Bulgaria's parliamentary legal affairs committee approved at first reading on Wednesday the draft amendments to the Interior Ministry Act.

The amendments were narrowly approved as ten MPs voted in favour, two were against, while seven lawmakers abstained.

Last week, the draft was rejected by the internal security and public order parliamentary committee.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev will convene the consultative council for national security on Thursday.

Bulgaria's interior ministry instructed on Tuesday people living in border regions how to react when they come upon illegal immigrants.

This development comes after the recent cases of citizens taking the law into their hands and detaining migrants who had illegally crossed the country's borders.

Video footage showing the detention of migrants in Southern Bulgaria done by volunteer squads has added to controversy in a country divided over the treatment of migrants trying to cross its borders.

The footage purportedly shows three men, supposedly from Afghanistan, lying on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs.

Bulgaria will deploy 300 additional servicemen to assist in guarding the country's borders in the event of a heightened migrant pressure.

This was announced by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on Monday who attended the opening of a tactical training at the Novo Selo training area.

A meeting of Bulgaria's national council for trilateral cooperation is scheduled to take place in the building of the Council of Ministers on Monday.

The draft amendment to the Interior Ministry Act will be among the topics discussed by the council, which brings together representatives of the government, trade unions and employers' organisations,

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov stated that the Bulgarian army and border police are capable of guarding the country's borders on their own without the need for assistance from NATO.

Borisov said this after he attended the joint training of the navy and border police held in the bay of Burgas on Sunday.

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova said that she will not back down from carrying out the reform of the interior ministry.

Her comments come after the draft amendments to the Interior Ministry Act were rejected by the parliamentary internal security and public order committee earlier in the week.

Bulgarian border police and navy will hold a joint training in the bay of Burgas on Sunday.

Bulgarian Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova and Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev are expected to attend the training which is scheduled to begin at 12 o'clock (EET).

Draft amentments to the Interior Ministry Act will be put to a debate by full Parliament even though they were rejected by the internal affairs committee earlier this week, Bulgarian Parliament Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva has said.

Tsacheva has told private bTV station a reform is urgently needed at the Interior Ministry in line with efforts of Minister Rumyana Bachvarova.