Atanas Atanasov
Атанас Атанасов
Official portrait, 2021
Member of the National Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 April 2021
Constituency	23rd MMC - Sofia
In office 27 October 2014 – 26 January 2017
Constituency	23rd MMC - Sofia
In office 25 June 2005 – 25 June 2009
Constituency	23rd MMC - Sofia
Co-Leader of Democratic Bulgaria
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 April 2018 Serving with Hristo Ivanov and Vladislav Panev
Preceded by	Position established
Leader of Democrats for Strong Bulgaria
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 June 2017
Preceded by	Radan Kanev
Director of the State Agency for National Security
In office 8 September 1998 – 14 December 2001
Preceded by	Vladimir Manolov
Succeeded by	Ivan Chobanov
General Secretary of the Ministry of Interior
In office 8 September 1997 – 8 September 1998
Prime Minister	Ivan Kostov
Minister	Bogomil Bonev
Personal details
Born	17 May 1959 (1959-05-17) (age 64) Batin, Bulgaria
Political party	Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (part of Democratic Bulgaria)
Other political affiliations	Union of the Democratic Forces (2002-2004)
Occupation	Lawyer and politician

Atanas Atanasov is a Bulgarian lawyer and politician. He was a former member of the UDF (2002–2004), DSB (since 2004), Secretary of the Minister of Interior (1997–1998), and a director of SANS (1999). He is an MP.^[1]

Biography

Atanasov was born on 17 May 1959 at Batin, Ruse, Bulgaria. He graduated from Sofia University. He worked as a judge in Ruse (1987–1988) and a prosecutor in Razgrad (1989–1992). From 1992 to 1995, Atanasov was the regional director of Minister of Interior at Razgrad. He became a lawyer.

In 1997, Atanasov briefly became the Secretary of the Minister of Interior. He was also the director of the SANS for a year.^[2] He resigned from the post of Secretary and he became the director of the SANS.^[3] He became a Major General.^[4] He began to be in politics. On 10 December 1999, he provided Kostov a list of 226 people who were corrupt. Due to this, ten of the ministers were fired, including Bogomil Bonev, Mario Tagarinski, and Alexander Bozhkov. On 5 December 2001, his list was quoted on a presidential debate, leading many to not support him.^[5]

On 14 December 2001, he resigned as the director of the SANS.^[6] He then was involved in public activities. He was a member of the Dialog Club, which later became the DSB (2004). He was a MP for the DSB (2005-2009). Since 2006, he has been the regional chairman of the DSB in Sofia. He became the chairman of the DSB since June 10, 2017.

In 2009, Atanasov did not have a seat yet, but he was appointed director of the Information Services AD until August 2010, being replaced by Dyankov. In 2011, he became a local councilman for Sofia, being part of the Blue Coalition. In October 2014, he became an MP from the Reformist Bloc.

He was chairman of the DSB since 10 June 2017.

On 12 April 2018, as chairman, he co-founded an electoral alliance called Democratic Bulgaria. He was elected as the deputy speaker of the 45th and the 46th National Assembly.