Bulgaria's Interior Minister Refutes Accusations of Administrative Purge

Politics » DOMESTIC | September 7, 2013, Saturday // 19:08
Bulgaria: Bulgaria's Interior Minister Refutes Accusations of Administrative Purge Bulgaria's Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev, photo by BGNES

A total of 350 employees of the Interior Ministry were dismissed during the first 100 days in office of Bulgaria's current socialist-led coalition government, according to Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev.

Yovchev, as cited by Presa daily, emphasized that Bulgaria's previous center-right GERB government had dismissed a total of 537 employees of the Interior for the same 100-day period.

"There are people who are good professionals but are unprepared to be leaders. There are people I learned I could not rely on because they fail to follow the principles of professional loyalty, duties and the law," he explained.

In an attempt to refute accusations that the government has implemented a serious administrative purge in the past few weeks, the Interior Minister presented statistics about dismissals during the government headed by ex-Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the current Cabinet.

"The GERB government dismissed 240 government officials, and we dismissed 132. Another important indicator: GERB dismissed 126 senior officials, while we dismissed 57," he said, adding that the involuntary dismissals during GERB's term in office had been 62, compared to 47 of the current government.

Asked to comment on the ongoing anti-government protests, which started on June 14 in response to the election of controversial media tycoon Delyan Peevski as Chair of the State Agency for National Security (DANS) and did not end with the cancellation of the decision, he said that the rallies were "an act of aggression deeply-rooted in society."

"Even if the protests die down, this does not mean that we have solved this crisis. It may break out any moment when there is reason to," the Interior Minister claimed, adding that Bulgaria had reached a state of division unseen since the 90s.

Regarding the refugee wave triggered by the conflict in Syria, he drew attention to the risk of terrorists entering Bulgarian territory.

Yovchev informed that he had issued orders for officials of the State Agency for National Security (DANS) and the investigative services to be present at the point of initial detention of refugees, when their papers were being sorted out, and before they were sent to accommodation centers, in order to minimize the risk.

He noted that it was important to understand that the crisis in the Middle East would not be over soon and the people seeking asylum in Bulgaria would not leave soon.

Yovchev made clear that a prolonged crisis was likely to make Syria's neighboring countries change their policy on refugees, thereby exacerbating the difficulties faced by Bulgaria.

He claimed that the US was unlikely to ask Bulgaria to participate in military operations against Syria or to use the Sarafovo airport for such activities.

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Tags: Tsvetlin Yovchev, GERB government, Socialist-led government, protest, anti-government, Syria, refugees, State Agency for National Security, DANS

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