Bulgaria's National Security Agency has ended taxpayer-funded protection for former Prime Minister and GERB party leader Boyko Borissov and oligarch Delyan Peevski, leader of the New Beginning party and a figure sanctioned by the United States under the Global Magnitsky Act in 2021. Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev insisted the move was not politically motivated, noting that both men had enjoyed state protection for over a decade without any publicly disclosed risk assessment to justify it. The decision is significant in a country where the arrangement had long drawn public criticism, with estimates suggesting millions in taxpayer funds were spent — including years when Peevski held no parliamentary seat and the grounds for his protection were officially deemed a state secret.